Franchising

Why Teriyaki Madness sales aren't declining during pandemic

May 15, 2020

When the coronavirus crisis forced businesses across the country to shut down in March, Denver-based Teriyaki Madness found itself uniquely positioned to continue providing teriyaki bowls to loyal customers through catering, takeout, delivery and other off-site dining options. Two months later, those off-site operations, along with some other pivots, are continuing to pay off for Teriyaki Madness customers, franchise owners, employees and even frontline workers.

For the past four weeks, Teriyaki Madness sales have been on an upward trajectory, on some days even beating same-store sales numbers from last year, long before the coronavirus crisis was keeping customers out of restaurants across the country, according to a company press release.

"We've invested in a fantastic marketing strategy that has allowed us to keep Teriyaki Madness top-of-mind both for our most loyal customers and new customers who are looking for some comfort food now that so many other restaurants are closed," Teriyaki Madness CEO Michael Haith said in the release.

Much of that success can be attributed to the brand's Pay-it-Forward marketing strategy, which allows its fans to help the company provide free meals to health-care workers. Participating customers visit catering.teriyakimadness.com and select the "Healthcare Teriyaki Bar" to have a fully loaded teriyaki spread delivered to the health-care location of their choice. Delivery location must be within six miles of a Teriyaki Madness location, and the Teriyaki Bar costs $150. Customers, however, pay $75, and Teriyaki Madness matches and covers the rest and also offers free delivery.

In less than a month, the campaign has proven an enormous success, delivering more than 4,000 meals to healthcare professionals across the country. And it's not just frontline workers who are benefiting. Customers and employees, too, are cheering the campaign's success.

"The campaign has been a major boon for our communities," Haith said. "That includes the health-care workers who are receiving hot and delicious meals for free, our fans, who have a new way to directly support their local heroes, and each of our restaurants, which have stayed open and busy and allowed team members to stay gainfully employed. It's been an absolute win-win-win."

The Pay-it-Forward campaign exemplifies the community spirit that franchisees say has long distinguished the franchise from other fast casual brands.

"Teriyaki Madness is an amazing community of people who actually care about not only each other's success but the health and well-being of the community," said Lombard, Illinois, Franchisee Nik Patel. "I am more than proud to be a franchisee of this brand."

The brand has seen an influx of interest from prospective franchisees and has already signed four new franchise owners in the 60 days since the onset of the crisis. Five shops will have grand openings in the coming weeks when in-restaurant dining is limited due to the stay at home order, Haith said.

Teriyaki Madness was founded in 2003 and has franchise agreements for nearly 150 shops in the United States.