News

UPDATED: Denny’s to open fast casual cafe

October 31, 2010

On Nov. 5, Denny's Corporation will open a new fast casual concept, Denny's Café, in Orange, Calif. The restaurant, a separate venture from its Denny's Fresh Express model, will offer a scaled-down version of the traditional Denny's restaurant through a more streamlined menu, counter service ordering and a smaller  footprint.

While the company's Fresh Express model was designed to find a new demographic with growth largely on college campuses, David Demers, director of development projects and services for Denny's Corporation, said Denny's Café is targeted toward existing customers who live in densely populated, urban areas.

Demers said the concept has been in development for several years and stemmed from a company-based real estate survey that highlighted 1,500 potential locations. Of those locations, 700 were in urban markets.

"We saw a unique opportunity to continue growing the Denny's brand in markets where our full size traditional restaurant does not fit due to real estate size constraints. We don't have a lot of units in New York and Washington, D.C., and this is definitely a growth vehicle for those types of markets," Demers said.

The café will feature the company's $2, $4, $6, and $8 value menu, will seat 75 to 90 guests (as opposed to the traditional 140) and will be approximately 3,000 square feet.

"The $2, $4, $6, $8 menu has done wonderfully for our brand and it fits in very nicely with the Denny's Café menu," Demers said.

The menu will feature several of the chain's most popular items in addition to those with faster cook times. Unlike traditional restaurants, the Orange, Calif., concept will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., but the company will consider 24-hour opportunities on a case by case basis.

The company intends to offer the café model in 2011 to franchisees across the U.S. but first wants to work out the operational kinks through the Orange location and a second company-owned store in Livermore, Calif., scheduled to open in December.

"As we are largely franchised base, we wanted a franchise growth vehicle," Demers said. "All markets are open to this, but we wanted to get a couple of units open first. We want to make sure we get everything right and will then open it up in the first quarter of next year."

So far, the company has received a high level of interest in the concept from franchisees, but the number of units set to open in 2011 are "up to the developers and franchisors," Demers said.

The Denny's Café build out will cost less than its traditional restaurants, which has excited several franchisees. However, the company will continue to grow its larger locations.

"We don't want to replace our traditional Denny's," Demers said. "But, (the Café) is at a lower cost and our forecast is it will be a very favorable operating model as well."