FSR June 2023

FIREBIRDS

Up front, Firebirds has a lobby designed to serve two virtual brands— Fireburger and Noodles & Greens—to customers in the surrounding mar ket. ere’s a shiny, fully equipped test kitchen—complete with the brand’s sig nature FIREBAR—to ful ll orders, from virtual to catering, as well as test and refine what’s fast become an evolved culinary approach (more on this later). It's a space capable of accentuating what the pandemic uncovered. “We’ve got an incredibly bright and creative team,” Kislow says. “And during that time, I think this team did things that maybe would never have thought of doing before, whether it was virtual restaurants, fam ily meals, holidays feasts—there’s just so many new ideas that came up that, pre 2020, we probably would have looked at somebody like they were crazy.” is torrent has become a familiar COVID theme for restaurants. Inno vation cycles sped up as dine-in’s exit forced operators to meet guests in fresh

channels. However, where Firebirds con tinues to separate, Kislow says, is in its ability to continue setting new in ec tions. Where a lot of brands zzled on initiatives as COVID entered the rear view, Firebirds keeps raising the bar. “Over these last three years, the aggres sive nature of which we attack the busi ness has allowed us to gain market share while others eroded it,” Kislow says. It's a multi-faceted point, and one that ties as much to Firebirds’ DNA as its transformation. Kislow, a former GM at Morton’s e Steakhouse who joined Firebirds in 2003, is an operator to his core who watched the brand grow up over the years. On a Monday night in February, dining at the original Stone crest location in Charlotte, the lobby is stu ed with patrons. Kislow points out how the dine-in experience, which returned in force, hasn’t lost any of its luster. Less visible than virtual brands and other pivots, Firebirds spent much of the past three years learning how to

blend technology and innovation with hospitality, and not swing the pendulum too far on the former’s side. e restau rant is operating more e ciently, but the customer isn’t exactly let in on the secret. “How to make that dance and make operations better,” Kislow says. “Yet still, the guest doesn’t necessarily walk out feel ing like they were just served by a robot.” Let’s rewind. In the early innings of the pandemic, Firebirds, like countless others, stood up make-shift drive-thrus in parking lots so people could pull up in their cars and have employees bring food out and drop it wherever asked. Stephen Loftis, Firebirds’ chief brand o cer, got in line and personally worked shifts. e brand started selling cut steaks and sea soned beef for customers to take home and grill themselves. at’s still a busi ness for Firebirds, namely as summer approaches, and curbside has held in as well, Loftis says. But it was always a task of guarding synergy and trying to main tain what the brand stood for.

THE FIREBAR REMAINS A MAIN ATTRACTION AT EVERY LOCATION.

FIREBIRDS

30

FSRMAGAZINE.COM

JUNE 2023