Fast Casual Executive Summit
Chicken Salad Chick, Main Squeeze Juice Co, Original ChopShop, Dog Haus leaders talk marketing on a limited dime
A panel of fast casual executives shared that maximizing social media ROI with limited budgets is best achieved through deep community involvement, leveraging influencers and maintaining an agile content strategy focused on the authentic customer voice.
November 14, 2025 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group
For operators at the recent Fast Casual Executive Summit, the challenge of cutting through digital noise with a limited budget is constant. However, one popular session promised a crucial solution, revealing how fast casual brands can maximize their social media ROI without sacrificing profitability.
Speakers for the session included Tom Carr, chief marketing officer for Chicken Salad Chick; Jennifer Dodd, CEO of Main Squeeze Juice Co.; Jason Morgan CEO of Original ChopShop and C.J. Ramirez, EVP of marketing for Dog Haus. Crystal Anderson, partner and chief strategy officer for session sponsor 3Headed Monster, moderated the event.
Working with social media
Anderson asked the panelists how social media fits into the ecosystem of the speakers' brands.
Carr said social media is critically important to the success of Chicken Salad Chick. "Our core consumer is Millennial moms," Carr explained, "and they've grown up with social media — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. It's loyal moms, some Gen Xers too, and their daughters. They're using the platforms to create content of their own (and) engaging with our content."
Carr said there are two "$0 Dollars" that leads to social media. The first is sampling Chicken Salad Chick's menu items and the second is community involvement. "That local operator being involved with the community is very important," Carr added.
Dodd said at Main Squeeze Juice Co., they tell the story of fresh fruits and vegetables, cold pressed juices, smoothies and acai bowls very well in their community.
"We're rooted in the community as one of our core values," Dodd said. "Our franchise owners need to be out in the community really being that arm of wellness, making healthy (eating) easier. When they're living that, obviously social media is on fire because we live in that influencer culture."
Main Squeeze rebranded as a beauty brand last year, and Dodd said what you consume is just as important as what you put on your face and body.
"The better job we tell that story with the influencers, the local activists, even our governor is really excited about making healthy easier," Dodd said. "So, we're trying to take advantage of those trends."
Morgan said at Original ChopShop, better-for-you protein bowls, sandwiches, juices, protein shakes and acai bowls are top sellers.
"About half of our social media is about brand awareness," Morgan said. "We're small. We have to tell the story. It's difficult for us. We're competing against the CAVAs and the Sweetgreens and the Chipotles of the world who have massive budgets and dollars to spend. Really the hard part for us is when we go to a new market, getting someone to walk in that store for the first time and to spend their money with us. About 50% of our posts are all about driving brand awareness and telling the brand's story. That's where we spend a lot of our efforts."
Ramirez said at Dog Haus, everything they do is dedicated to the highest quality of ingredients — burgers, sausages, chicken sandwiches and breakfast burritos. When it comes to social media, "we try to be very current — we have Jake Paul as one of our influencers and a franchisee, he owns 25 locations," Ramirez said.
Dog Haus also uses micro- and nano-influencers: local influencers with X number of local but loyal followers.
"At the end of they day, we firmly believe that nobody cares about what the brand has to say about the brand," Ramirez said. "What they care about is what somebody else says about them, and that's why being in the community is so important."
Brand voice
When a brand comes to 3Headed Monster for help with social media, Anderson she talks to the client about what their brand strategy is and then what their social strategy is.
"Those are two different things," Anderson said. "They are related, but you should understand how to translate your brand strategy into a social strategy. What platform, what strategy, what voice, what are your pillars? If all you're doing is pumping out content, you are wasting somebody's time."
She asked the panelists how they make sure their brand voice breaks through, especially when it comes to competing with big brands.
Dodd said when Starbucks began putting protein foam on drinks, it became a viral sensation. She said smaller brands can capitalize on the same trends, and that it takes a consumer nine times seeing something before he or she will buy it. If they see protein additives at Main Squeeze Juice Co., they may be apt to try it if they've seen it advertised elsewhere.
Ramirez asked what's relevant in social media, and then said it is different than it was even 10 minutes ago. Social media trends move that quickly. "Someone on your team needs to be dedicated to what's really happening," he added. "It's very complicated. It's not a kids' toy."
Anderson said in the past, they've had a three-month social calendar, but today it's all done in real time.
Morgan said he has a social calendar but leaves 20% of it open for current trends. "Even though we're planning on the future, if something comes up where I'll beat those bigger brands is I can get it a lot faster. And, I'm willing to take more chance because I don't have a legal department I have to go through where there's four levels of bureaucracy I have to go through to get something approved."
The Fast Casual Executive Summit is operated by Networld Media Group which owns Fastcasual.com, Pizza Marketplace.com, QSRweb.com and FoodTruckOperator.com. The next in-person restaurant event is the Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit March 16-18, 2026, in San Diego, California. Click here for more information.
About Mandy Wolf Detwiler
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.
