Beautiful Brands' growing empire

Beautiful Brands' growing empire
Tags: Operations Management, Sandwich
January 18, 2010 - Valerie Killifer

The Tulsa, Okla.-based office of David Rutkauskas smells like the lit Harvest-scented Yankee Candle sitting on his desk. A set of large windows lets in the mid-morning sun while pictures drawn by his two children hang from a board by the door.

The office is comfortable and inviting. The furniture consists of two leather chairs and a loveseat in addition to a large desk. A flat-panel television highlights NFL scores from the weekend in which the Dallas Cowboys were crushed 34 to 3 by the Minnesota Vikings.

But the buzz at BBI headquarters surrounds the opening of a sixth FreshBerry location in Saudi Arabia. David's father Otto, 78, has been in the Middle Eastern country for nearly a week overseeing each of the seven locations expected to open there in January.

Riding on the heels of Camille's Sidewalk CafÃ©'s 25-year success, FreshBerry has proven to be BBI's rising star. The first location opened in Tulsa in 2008 and nearly 600 stores are in the pipeline waiting to be developed. Rutkauskas is quick to dismiss any notion that the frozen-yogurt bubble has burst. The company recently signed several franchise deals that cover Northern California and the states of Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona.

Camille's Sidewalk Cafe GM Bill Cobb waits on customers Jan. 18 during an afternoon rush.

"We wouldn't have gone into the space if we didn't think it had legs," he said. "There are a lot of mom-and-pops out there, but they'll open and close. And a lot of the big players don't have a restaurant background. But we do. Our philosophy is we want to get into the space and compete. At the end of the day, if we're one of the top players, I'm OK with that."

Rutkauskas has pinned the couple's 25-year industry success on their ability to lead balanced lives. Family comes first followed by the business.

"Balance came from the way Camille was raised and the way I was raised," he said. "The balance was there in the early days. Did we work more back then? Yeah, but we had to because we were building our business."

And build a business they did.

In 2008, Camille's ranked No. 4 on Technomic's list of the Top 100 Fast-Casual Chain Restaurants with U.S. sales estimated at $83 million. Not bad for a chain that began in Tulsa's Woodland Hills Mall in 1996.

"When Cal was born in 1997, we were well aware of the importance of having that balance," he said. "And when you have the balance â€¦ you're just happier. And when you're happy, you can do anything that you want to do. I'm very aware of what I'm doing and what we're doing within the industry. I understand what's going on around me."

Brand builders

In 2009, Beautiful Brands made the commitment to market and launch worldwide 10 different restaurant concepts that range in menu categorization. Concepts include Dallas-based Greenz, casual dining Sushi In the Raw, Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse, Kyro Pizza and The Crusty Croissant Bakery & CafÃ©. Rutkauskas is especially impressed with Greenz and its founder Cassie Caldwell. Greenz is best described as an upscale fast casual salad concept with three locations in Dallas.

"If you're in the all-you-can-eat salad bar game, you're in trouble," he said. "People nowadays want to be served and taken care of. Her (Caldwell's) retention rate of customers is extremely high and she's proven success for six straight years. We've got a lot of stuff for her right now."

His focus also is on building Rex's Chicken, a 59-year-old concept that Rutkauskas purchased last year for $1,500.

Rex's will replace Coney Beach, a concept that never really took off, he said. And he has found someone who is willing to develop Rex's Chicken throughout the state of Oklahoma.

"It's the best chicken you've ever had in your life," he said. "We brought that into Coney Beach and sales went up 35 percent. If we wouldn't have done Coney Beach, then Rex's Chicken would not have come our way."

Market penetration for Rex's will include 17 Midwestern states. The menu will feature chicken bites, French fries and fry bread, a Native American fried flatbread that can be served with honey.

With the launch of Rex's Chicken, Rutkauskas hopes to capture market share from chains such as Zaxby's, Raising Cane's and Chick-fil-A. "As long as we can sample and get product in people's hands, then we're good," he said.

Beautiful Brands CEO David Rutkauskas checks his iPhone during lunch at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe.

International growth

Between Camille's Sidewalk CafÃ© and FreshBerry, BBI has nearly 15 concepts open throughout the Middle East, with many more expected to open throughout the region in coming years.

Now, the focus has slightly shifted to Asia and parts of Europe.

The company has opened a sales office in Malaysia and recently received a signed letter of intent to open FreshBerry locations in Sweden, Holland and Finland.

"Once I really grasped that we're all kind of together on the planet, it just opened up a whole new world for us of opportunity. I'm feeling good about the future. There aren't a whole lot of people out there who can honestly say that," Rutkauskas said.

"I think Camille and I are getting better with age. We've seen everything that can come our way. I'm definitely living in the moment. I'm not looking to the past, but I am plotting to the future. As long as we keep our relationships intact, we're going to be OK."