FSR March 2023

FA B I O V I V I A N I

lar products. Furthermore, it’s well-positioned to eliminate the veto vote. “Can you please findme one person that doesn’t like dessert? Now, if you have a medical condi tion or you’re on a specific diet or you don’t need sugar—I get it, fine. But in this case … the niche is the people that don’t eat dessert. I can name 100 people, and 98 will gladly have dessert,” he says. The concept’s product niche might be its jar format, but the menu options pull from across the dessert category and include cakes (straw berry shortcake, birthday cake, chocolate cake), pie ( key lime, banana cream, lemon meringue, apple), s’mores, orange creamsicle, banana split, tiramisu, and more. In terms of revenue projections, JARS won’t be a quick serve that smashes any AUV records, but Viviani expects operators to see robust returns

given the low cost of getting in the game. That was always part of the plan: to stimulate restaurant growth by making the business less intimidating to would-be operators. “We had to for different levels of pain toler ance in the business. We want to have a fast casual with very little headache in running them and little expertise needed,” he says. “A JARS loca tion might never make $10 million because of the square footage and the offerings, but if you can make 15–20 percent to a healthy bottom line at $1.5 million in sales, that’s a lot of money con sidering you probably aren’t going to spend that much to build one.” THE TAVERN FOR TOMORROW At face value, Chuck Lager and JARS couldn’t be more different. One is a sports bar with New American fare, draft beer, cocktails, and bour bon; the other specializes in colorful confections that seem made for Instagram. But when Vivi ani talks about what differentiates each concept from category competitors, the reasons echo one another. In addition to having the support of a proven hospitality group, both have a low bar

“ We had to create a different solution for different levels of pain tolerance in the business. We want to have a fast casual with very little headache in running them and little expertise needed.”

CHUCK LAGER REQUIRES LESS THAN $1 MILLION UPFRONT TO OPEN. 

FABIO VIVIANI HOSPITALITY (2)

54

INDUSTRY-WIDE ISSUE

MARCH 2023