Article
The name game: Why one CEO rebranded his 'new' burger concept
Bo’s Steak & Grill closed its doors for several days and re-opened last month as Cole’s Backyard Grill.
July 24, 2015 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
Launching a successful restaurant brand is never quick and easy. In fact, successful restauranteurs expect to do a lot of prototyping, testing and retesting before getting anything totally right. Menu offerings, kitchen design and customer flow, for example, are often tweaked soon after a concept opens. Tom Sacco, CEO of Homestyle Dining, which also owns Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse, however, faced a more unique challenge last year when he helped launch Homestyle’s first fast casual brand, Bo’s Steak & Grill.
After testing the one-unit prototype for about a year in Lindale, Texas, Sacco and his team realized the name wasn’t working. This year-long test phase was Step 1 in turning the concept into a national franchise, so Sacco knew he’d have to change the name before getting in deeper.
Why the name mattered
After Homestyle decided to jump into the fast casual arena, Sacco set out last year to test the concept, which offers certified Black Angus burgers and steaks, sandwiches and a create-you-own salad bar. Instead of opening in a big city, Sacco wanted to see if Bo's could thrive in small town, USA, which is one reason he chose Lindale, population 5,000. The doors opened in May 2014.
“I knew this concept would work in a big city where there’s a fast casual concept on every corner, but the true test would be if it could work here,” he said.
Sacco said the business was doing well but he had high expectations and wanted to figure out how to make it better; he sought customer feedback to figure out exactly what his customers wanted. After conducting consumer research for several months, Sacco learned that having “Steak & Grill” in the name was confusing customers, who were showing up expecting a higher-end, full-service dining experience.
“They loved our food, but it wasn’t what they expected,” said Sacco, who explained that because the market in Lindale was so small, residents weren’t used to the fast casual format. “Customers were expecting to come in, be seated and have a casual dining experience.”
Sacco believed changing the name to omit “Steak and Grill” may give consumers a better idea of what to expect.
“The last thing I wanted to do was to have an unhappy customer just because his expectations weren’t met,” said Sacco, referring to some of his rural customers who often drive 30 minutes to dine out. If those customers expected a full-service experience, they may be let down no matter how much they liked the food, for example.
During the discussions about the name change, Sacco and his team also learned that Bojangles’ was contesting the use of “Bo’s.” Rather rather than investing resources into legal action, the team opted to change the entire name.
A new image
Bo’s closed its doors for several days and re-opened last month as Cole’s Backyard Grill, which has helped cut consumer confusion, Sacco said. The remodel included several service enhancements as well, which customers have been excited to test. The popular build-your-own salad bar, where customers walk down the line “Chipotle-style,” watching employees create their salads, is now a standard part of the menu. It used to be just an “add on,” but studying customer feedback showed Sacco that it was a favorite among nearly all of his customers.
Another new service adaption is a self-service drink station, but staff still delivers the food to the table after guests order at the counter. Lastly, Sacco streamlined kitchen operations by implementing a conveyer-belt oven to speed up cook times.
“The restaurant has seen a tremendous response from the local community since we changed the name to Cole’s Backyard Grill and enhanced our operations and speed of service,” he said.
A franchise debut
Cole’s is now prepared to franchise across the nation with its next second unit opening this fall in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, under franchisees Wayne and Jill Manternach. The husband-wife team is just one of many franchisees Sacco hopes to partner with in the near future.
In fact, Cole's franchise program is debuting this month with special incentives including reductions in franchise and royalty fees for the first 10 deals as part of the company's “Pioneering Program. It reduces the initial franchise fee from $29,500 to $19,500 and royalty fees from 5 percent to 3 percent, Sacco said. The cumulative 15-year royalty savings potentially covers a majority, if not all of, the entire FF&E and build-out conversion expenses.
"The early-entry discount can translate into hundreds of thousands of real dollar savings," Sacco said.
About Cherryh Cansler
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