QSR December 2022

DECEMBER 2022 / NO. 298 THOUGHT LEADERSHIPFOR25YEARS

®

PLUS:

Meet QSR’s Digital Disruptors P. 26 The Future of

Virtual Brands P. 11

GROWTH WITH A PURPOSE Clean Juice’s rapid ascension has even bigger goals in sight. / P. 20

Tim Tebow(left) found common ground with Clean Juice cofounders Kat and Landon Eckles on day one. And it started with making a difference.

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE

GROW YOUR SALES WITH GHIRARDELLI BRAND POWER

Crafted with dutched cocoa and real milk powder, our Premium Hot Cocoa Mixes easily combine with water, milk, coffee or espresso so you can offer delightful seasonal mochas or hot cocoas. Non-GMO with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, they deliver the unmatched quality of Ghirardelli— the most preferred brand to order for mocha and hot chocolate.* Order FREE samples at 800.877.9338 or professionalproducts@ghirardelli.com

*Technomic, Ghirardelli Brand Equity Study, 2020

©2021 Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

D E P A R T M E N T S December QSR / LIMITED-SERVICE , UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S D E C E M B E R

2 0 2 2 # 2 9 8

F E A T U R E S

N E W S 18 OPERATIONS Dollars and Sense of Reviews Engaging with online feedback shouldn’t be an afterthought. BY ADAM LEFF 59 INNOVATION A Second Look at QR Codes The early COVID headliner has plenty of life in a post-pandemic landscape. BY LIZ MOSKOW I N S I G H T 11 FRESH IDEAS A Virtual Lock One of COVID’s early trends has found lasting power. BY BARNEY WOLF 16 ONES TO WATCH ROCA The cofounder of a casual icon has a new, di erentiated pizza brand built for scale. BY BEN COLEY 60 Virtual kitchens can’t take a backseat to industry-wide best practices. BY HAL KING 64 START TO FINISH Je Chandler The CEO of HiBar Hospitality continues to focus on building a best-in-class leadership team. OUTSIDE INSIGHTS Don’t Ghost Food Safety

20 / TIM TEBOW JOINED A BRAND IN CLEAN JUICE THAT SUPPORTS HIS LIFESTYLE.

CLEAN JUICE LLC

20 Growth With a Purpose BY DANNY KLEIN Clean Juice and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow first found common ground. Now, they’re looking at plenty of opportunity ahead.

26 QSR’s Digital Disruptors BY DANNY KLEIN, BEN COLEY, AND ISABELLA SHERK

For the second year, we recognize the change-makers and innovators laying the blueprint for a more connected restaurant world than ever.

2 BRANDED CONTENT

4 EDITOR’S LETTER

7 SHORT ORDER

63 ADVERTISER INDEX

O N T H E C O V E R Tim Tebow isn’t just an ambassador for Clean Juice— he’s a franchisee as well. PHOTOGRAPHY: CLEAN JUICE LLC

QSR is a registered trademark of WTWH Media, LLC. QSR is copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions of columnists are their own. Publication of their writing does not imply endorsement by WTWH Media, LLC. Subscriptions (919) 945-0704. www.qsrmagazine.com/subscribe. QSR is provided without charge upon request to individuals residing in the U.S. meeting subscription criteria as set forth by the publisher. AAM member. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any fashion without the express written consent of WTWH Media, LLC. QSR (ISSN 1093-7994) is published monthly by WTWH Media, LLC, 1111 Superior Avenue Suite 2600, Cleveland, OH 44114. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, OH and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to QSR, 101 Europa Drive, Suite 150, Chapel Hill, NC 27517-2380.

www.qsrmagazine.com | QSR | DECEMBER 2022

1

BRANDED CONTENT

E D I T O R I A L EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Danny Klein dklein@wtwhmedia.com

IN THIS ISSUE BRAND STORIES FROM QSR

MANAGING EDITOR Nicole Duncan nduncan@wtwhmedia.com SENIOR EDITOR Ben Coley bcoley@wtwhmedia.com SENIOR EDITOR Callie Evergreen cevergreen@wtwhmedia.com

14 This 56-Unit Premium Sandwich Concept Has a Unique Recipe for Growth Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop is ready to franchise nationwide. SPONSORED BY MR. PICKLE’S SANDWICH SHOP

C U S T O M M E D I A S T U D I O DIRECTOR OF CUSTOM CONTENT Peggy Carouthers pcarouthers@wtwhmedia.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR , CUSTOM CONTENT Charlie Pogacar cpogacar@wtwhmedia.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR , CUSTOM CONTENT Kara Phelps kphelps@wtwhmedia.com

A R T & P R O D U C T I O N ART DIRECTOR Tory Bartelt tbartelt@wtwhmedia.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Erica Naftolowitz enaftolowitz@wtwhmedia.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Mitch Avery mavery@wtwhmedia.com

MR. PICKLE’S

SmartChain / p.39

THE POS REVOLUTION / CONSUMERS AND THE BACK OFFICE NEED MORE, AND POINT-OF-SALE SYSTEMS ARE INNOVATING.

SmartChain V E N D O R R E S O U R C E S / T R E N D S / N E W P R O D U C T S

S A L E S & B U S I N E S S D E V E L O P M E N T GROUP PUBLISHER Greg Sanders gsanders@wtwhmedia.com NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Eugene Drezner edrezner@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0705 NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Edward Richards erichards@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0714 NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Amber Dobsovic adobsovic@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0712 NATIONAL SALES MANAGER John Krueger jkrueger@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0728 SALES SUPPORT AND DIRECTORY SALES Tracy Doubts tdoubts@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0704

DECEMBER 2022

40 Doing More with Less Maximize resources with advanced POS systems. 46 The Modernized POS POS systems aren’t just for counter service anymore.

50 Powerful POS Practices What defines an ideal POS system?

®

Consumers and the back office need more, and point-of-sale systems are innovating.

THE POS REVOLUTION BY KARA PHELPS

56 Key Players

Do More with Less P. 40 Modern Tech P. 46 The Ideal POS P. 50 Key Players P. 56

Here are the biggest names in the world of POS.

TOAST

SPONSORED SECTION | DECEMBER 2022

39

ONLINE S E E T H E S E S T O R I E S A T Q S R M A G A Z I N E . C O M / S P O N S O R E D

MENU TRENDS

MEDIA SOLUTIONS

CULTURE

F O U N D E R Webb C. Howell

A D M I N I S T R A T I O N 919-945-0704 / www.qsrmagazine.com/subscribe QSR is provided without charge upon request to individuals residing in the U.S. who meet subscription criteria as set forth by the publisher.

R E P R I N T S The YGS Group 800-290-5460 FAX: 717-825-2150

PURATOS

qsrmagazine@theygsgroup.com www.qsrmagazine.com/reprints Sponsored content in this magazine is provided to the represented company for a fee. Such content is written to be informational and non-promotional. Comments welcomed at sponsoredcontent@qsrmagazine.com.

Clean-Label, Artisan, Sourdough: Digging into the Latest Bread Trends Engage customers with fresher, tastier, more natural breads. SPONSORED BY PURATOS

MOOD MEDIA

Here’s How Tip Pooling Builds a Strong Brand Culture Tip pooling plays a big role—and it doesn’t have to be complicated. SPONSORED BY 7SHIFTS

MOOD MEDIA

3 Ways Restaurants Must Evolve Strategies for thriving— and surviving—amid the

WTWH MEDIA LLC RETAIL, HOSPITALITY, AND FOOD GROUP

current landscape. SPONSORED BY MOOD MEDIA

2

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

E D I T O R ’ S L E T T E R

Is The Price Right? Inf lation has created a convoluted

I was invited in mid-October to address a room full of Bojangles franchisees at the chain’s fall conference. This was definitely a first on my end. I put a picture of my basset hound on the opening slide and told a story about how some teenagers threatened to break my legs when I was a sports writer. Thank fully, nobody did, but the experience made me rethink my career track. And, in some twisting way, that was day one of how I found my way to the stage that morning in Charlotte. But beyond the nerves and Godfather like anecdotes, I wanted to share some feedback I had from operators. It was a revealing look into the state of things. My presentation covered the industry’s out look, focusing mainly on inf lation and drive-thru. Here’s what struck the loudest chord: I spent a good bit of time trying to answer how much price is too much price. Or, what’s the ceiling for brands to take? I had worked with Revenue Management Solutions in September on this topic. Its data, which analyzed in-store price increases by percentages (Q2 2021 versus Q2 2022) across 25,000 quick-service outlets, examined at what percentage price increases started to create a dimin ishing effect, ultimately hurting traffic and negating some/all of the additional net sales recorded in recent months. Put differently, at what inf lection would price increases result in such an erosion in traffic that the upside vanished? What RMS discovered was net sales hit the highest threshold at about 13 percent. Beyond, traffic was so negatively dented that net sales turned downward. It’s a straightforward indicator. You can go up to 13 percent in price but should be wary thereafter. However, what was interesting

to me was the reaction between extremes. A franchisee asked whether I thought it made sense to sit at, say, 11–12 percent of price, in order to make sure they could pay the ( suddenly more expensive ) labor needed to staff up. In RMS’ data, the traffic decline at 6–10 percent of price was negative 4.6 percent. At 11–15 percent, traffic dropped 5.3 percent ( it cliffs at 15 to negative 10.2 percent traf fic ). Just looking outside in, there doesn’t appear to be a ton of difference in guest kickback from 6 to early double-digit price increases—anywhere in that 11–13 percent range. My answer then: Yes. From all the data I’ve seen and operators I’ve spoken with, consumer studies, et al, it seems a better trade off to pass along price below the threshold than it does to cut hourly positions. Because one thing has felt very clear: Value doesn’t play by the old rules in this inf lationary climate. It’s no longer as simple as racing to the $1 bottom. More than anything, value is defined by whether or not somebody feels the experience was worth what they paid for it. As we discussed at the conference at length, guests today are paying more, not just in food, but in everything they’re doing. Interestingly, it’s a reality that’s resulting, somewhat, in higher-income consumers trading down to fast food (14 percent noted this in Bludot’s study). To date, the gains in price, alongside off-premises expansion, have shielded quick-serves. However, we can’t lose sight of the backbone and purpose of this seg ment and how far it all stretches. Know your customer and keep asking questions. We’ll find the answers together.

value equation for a sector built on it.

DKLEIN@WTWHMEDIA.COM QSR MAGAZINE

Danny Klein, Editorial Director

ROSIE ROSENBROCK

4

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

SHORT ORDER

At last, pets and owners can be united in their love of Sonic menu items.

ADay for theDogs Sonic’s famed swag turned its attention to pets this past spooky season.

SONIC-DRIVE INGAVE ITS CUSTOMERS something to bark about in October. The chain launched a special, limited-time collection of Sonic-inspired merchandise for dogs and their two-legged companions through its online swag shop. From Cherry Limeade costumes to plush Corn Dog chew toys, the Sonic Wag Shop collection enabled customers to match their pets with their favorite menu items. In addition, Sonic offered a surprise for dogs when they visited the drive-in. Across October, dogs could get a free Wag Cup (whipped topping) treat with any Sonic app purchase. “Guests have been bringing furry friends along on their drive-in visits for decades,” says Kim Lewis, VP of integrated marketing for Sonic. “The newWag Shop collection lets fans show off their love of Sonic and their pets, and trips to Sonic are even sweeter when you can reward your pups with a special Wag Cup treat.”

SONIC-DRIVE IN

www.qsrmagazine.com | QSR | DECEMBER 2022

7

SHORT ORDER

Logic might suggest higher prices due to inflation would drive consumers away from already high-ticket restaurant delivery. But is that actually the case? Deliverect, a global scale-up that simplifies digital orders for more than 27,000 locations across 40 markets, surveyed over 7,000 global consumers to identify preferences and changing habits when it comes to restaurant o erings. And what it found was guests were ordering more delivery and food for takeaway, inflation and all. What this portends is delivery guests, generally, might be more resistant to some of the external hikes than other cohorts. The reason being, they were already conditioned to fork up extra funds in the name of convenience. In the end, it’s a conditioned habit that’s proving very di cult to crack. Here were some other findings from the survey:

While people are putting more thought behind how they spend their money, they are more likely to CUT BACK ON OTHER ACTIVITIES such as

49 PERCENT prior to the inflation increase. 57 %

Consumers who are now PURCHASING UP TO THREE TAKEAWAYS IN A WEEK now, in comparison to

BUYING CLOTHING (44 percent ) , going out for DRINKS AND DINNER (47 percent ) , and TRAVELING MORE (43 percent ) .

The old ways still matter: 69 % Customers are also looking for SOCIAL PROOF before selecting where to eat, with nearly three in five (59 percent ) saying RESTAURANT RATINGS/ CUSTOMER REVIEWS are now more important than ever. Overall, the top reason customers said they’d order from a restaurant again is because of its GOOD QUALITY of food (52 percent ) . Diners are also looking for a variety of great menu choices, with people selecting a restaurant for delivery or takeaway if it has a VARIETY OF MENU OFFERINGS (27 percent ) . People who said the TASTE OF FOOD is more important when watching their spending, as is the QUALITY OF RESTAURANT INGREDIENTS (67 percent ) .

Aggregators count: One-third (37 percent ) of respondents found ORDERING FOOD FROM A RESTAURANT VIA APPS such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats, JustEat, Grubhub, Seamless, DoorDash the most reliable, followed very closely by ORDERING DIRECTLY FROM THE RESTAURANT (35 percent ) . Just over one in seven (or 15 percent ) said they ONLY TRUST PICKING UP TAKEAWAY DIRECTLY from a restaurant.

Don’t forget the tech: FAST DELIVERY was likely to encourage people to order from a restaurant again (41 percent ) , as was food ARRIVING AT THE PROPER TEMPERATURE (31 percent ) . Thirty-two percent of customers were also likely to choose from one restaurant over another due to a quicker delivery time, and 25 percent of people noted they’d select a restaurant due to its proximity/ convenient location.

38 %

The percentage of people who AGREED 21–30 MINUTES

WAS THE MAXIMUM AVERAGE TIME TO WAIT for their order to arrive.

MOBILE FOOD APPLICATION ORDER: ADOBE STOCK / FOTOSPLASH, SCISSORS CUTTING MONEY ICON: ADOBE STOCK / PIXELALEX, RUNNING WITH TRAY OF FAST FOOD: ADOBE STOCK / TATIANASUN, ONLINE ORDER, DRIVE THRU: ADOBE STOCK / MARIIA, MOBILE ORDER: ADOBE STOCK / GRAPHIXMANIA

8

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

| G H O S T K I T C H E N S | fresh ideas AVirtual Lock One of COVID’s early trends has found lasting power in multiple forms. B Y B A R N E Y W O L F

Delivery and digital ordering gave rise to the virtual brand movement. COVID’s cut on dine-in poured gas on the fire.

A lthough there’s something inherently transient and ethe real in the term “virtual,” the concept of virtual brands is very real and apparently here to stay. The idea is not new, having been born out of the online order- and delivery-driven ghost kitchen trend that began in the early 2010s. However, virtual restaurants are distinct entities that allow kitchen facilities, including those at existing eateries, to set up their own, special online brands. Virtual brands grabbed a foothold and gained strength dur ing the COVID-19 pandemic due to restrictions on dining in and a resulting spare kitchen capacity. Even though many full-service restaurants logically took the plunge, so, too, did a budding num ber of quick-service businesses. The result: There are hundreds of digital restaurant brands fuel ing a niche that potentially could grow into a $1 trillion industry

by 2030 if significant automation and heavy investments occur, according to ongoing analysis by research firmEuromonitor Inter national. It turns out, once again, that necessity is the mother of inven tion. For limited-service restaurants entering this arena, their vir tual brands are not only using existing kitchen space, equipment, and staff, but they are employing few, if any, additional ingredi ents or other stock keeping units (SKUs)—steps that keep costs down and boost margins. One way to describe the operational philosophy succinctly is, “keep it simple.” Not all online brands are built the same. Some are available only through units of the company that developed them, while others are also licensed to other operators. And some of the brands born

ADOBE STOCK / ARTURSFOTO

www.qsrmagazine.com | QSR | DECEMBER 2022

11

fresh ideas

| G H O S T K I T C H E N S |

in the ether have been so success ful they resulted in brick-and-mortar versions. The growth in virtual restaurant brands was “definitely driven by the pandemic,” says Laura Rea Dickey, chief executive of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, which has more than 550 fast casual units and three virtual brands. “They are a creative way to add to the revenue stream.” Demand for off-premises food service was growing even before COVID, and that led companies with a large in-restaurant business, like Chuck E. Cheese, to begin consider ing how to meet the trends, explains Sherri Landry, chief marketing officer for the brand’s parent, CEC Entertain ment. The pandemic just shortened that window to develop CEC’s virtual brand, she says. The coronavirus crisis served as a catalyst for virtual brands in the same way the Great Recession did for food trucks, notes Andrè Vener, found ing partner of Dog Haus and its five virtual brands. In that sense, digital

the company’s restaurants. The new brand has “a taste profile geared toward a broader audience,” Landry says. “What we do is leverage the high quality we have at Chuck E. Cheese, including dough made fresh daily,” she says. The basic pizza ingredients are those already at the restaurants, “and it’s amazing with those ingre dients what you can do differently,” Landry adds, andwithmore complex ity and flavors. There were also other consid erations, including new packaging, especially for beverages and des serts. Additionally, the team at CEC learned it had to innovate more quickly, including offering additional, creative sauces for its chicken wings and new items like its dough-wrapped Meatball Dunkers. Of the 465 locations in the U.S. and Canada, only two are not offering Pasqually’s. Since Chuck E. Cheese and Pasqually’s have different sales channels, there is no cannibalization, and comparable sales at the virtual

DOG HAUS HAS BEEN ONE OF THE VIRTUAL CATEGORY’S PIONEERS.

brands are “the modern version of food trucks,” he says. “You’re still out there bringing food to customers, but now it’s DoorDash, Uber, [etc.]” Dog Haus launched its initial virtual kitchen in 2019 after the founders discovered few online customers were ordering anything from the chain’s units beyond hot dogs and burgers, even though the company also had items like hot Nashville chicken. The reason: digital delivery sites only used three or so food items or styles in their restaurant descriptors. As a result, the company set up a virtual brand based on an existing item, Big Mutha Clucka, a sandwich it introduced in 2015. Using the Absolute Brands umbrella for its virtual concepts, four more digital brands were added afterward, using mostly existing ingredients and menu items. The logic behind this is unassailable. “If there are 100 online restaurant listings for a city, Dog Haus was one of 100,“ Vener says. “But if we have five virtual brands, that makes it six of 100.” Virtual sales now make up 20 percent of the company’s rev enue. In some restaurants, one of the virtual brands, Bad Ass Burritos, which added only one ingredient, a 14-inch tortilla, has become so popular it resulted in earlier opening and later kitchen hours, creating additional dayparts. The virtual brands actually became the predominant items in one unit and helped keep that franchise afloat. CEC’s virtual brand, Pasqually’s Pizza &Wings, which is named for one of the characters in the Chuck E. Cheese make-believe band, launched in spring 2020 after the pandemic shuttered

brand are growing in mid- to upper-double digits, Landry notes. Dickey’s joined the virtual movement after the company’s CEO listened in on a conference call during which another multiunit res taurant operation’s chief executive discussed the concept. The pit-smoked barbecue enterprise had launched smoked wings a few years ago, “and we thought that would be a great opportunity for a virtual brand,” Dickey says. “So, we broke that off and did Wing Boss as a digital brand during the third quar ter of 2020.” Two more Dickey’s online brands have followed, with another in the wings. Additionally, Wing Boss opened its first brick-and mortar in 2021, and plans call for actual restaurants for each of the digital properties. Few SKUs have been added for the virtual offerings, and the success is obvious—incremental revenue for each brand, and efficiencies in operations, and more buying power to negotiate contracts. “There have been wins on both the cost-cutting and sales side,” Dickey says. The company is also receiving revenue for licensing the online brands, and Dickey notes that training is key to both company and licensed locations. A number of other limited-service brands are licensing their names and products to other kitchens, includ ing entities like Wow Bao. “[Virtual] is a huge opportunity, if you go all in,” Dickey says, “but keep it simple and keep it in your wheelhouse.” q

BarneyWolf is a regular contributor to QSR and is based in Ohio.

DOG HAUS (2)

12

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

Only 26.2” tall

Small Order, Super-Sized Savings

Reliable, efficient and cost-effective tankless water heaters for the restaurant industry.

(And so compact we didn’t need a full page ad).

The only tankless water heating system designed and built for commercial work Intellihot.com

S P ON S O R E D B Y MR . P I C K L E ’ S S ANDW I C H S HO P

This 56-Unit Premium SandwichConceptHas a UniqueRecipe forGrowth The crowd favorite in northern California since 1995, Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop is ready to franchise nationwide. / BY KARA PHELPS

M r.Pickle’sSandwichShop,abeloved northernCaliforniabrandthathas grown from one to 56 locations over the course of almost 30 years, recently announced plans to expand franchise oppor tunities nationwide. “We are bringing quality back to the sand wich segment,” says Michael Nelson, CEO of Mr. Pickle’sSandwichShop. “Thebrand is spe cial inthat itdoesn’t turntobig-boxvendors for its core ingredients such as its bread and best in-class proteins—instead, we partner with artisanbakers, regional farms, and ranches to source those key products.” Mr. Pickle’s core ingredients are unique by design. Its specialty bread isn’t bound by the sizing scrutiny seen for decades in the rest of the sandwich segment. Rather than the bland uniformity seen so often in other concepts’ breads andmeats, Mr. Pickle’s prides itself on premiumquality.Forexample, ito ers theonly SantaMaria Tri-Tip on themarket that’s free fromliquid smoke. The menu features a range of popular hot andcoldsandwiches, notably thesignatureMr. Pickle sandwich: chicken breast, bacon, Mon terey Jack, avocado, and veggies. It specializes in salads and catering aswell, and the brand is committedtomaintainingclose-knit relation shipswith its vendors as it grows. Mr. Pickle’s is also a leader in online order ing technology. It’s invested in infrastructure for loyalty, order, delivery, mobile, and gift programs with a goal of getting to 50 percent online sales in the next 36months. “We have the support tomake that happenwithout sac rificing onquality,”Nelson says. TheMr. Pickle’s concept iswell-positioned for explosive growth. In the last fewmonths,

it’s already garnered commitments for 25 additional locations in California and six in Arizona. It’s looking forexperiencedmulti-unit restaurant franchisees across the country to signon. All franchisees receive strong and consis tent support. “We stand with and behind our franchisees every step of the way,” Nelson says. “Weuseour long-termrelationshipswith regional commercial brokers to assist with site selection. We also provide construction support, lease negotiation support, in-store training,mentorship, andmore.” The store design is adaptable to nontradi tional constructionandcenters—it isn’t limited toastandardrectangular space, andvery little build-out is required.Mr. Pickle’salsodoesnot

use tra c counts for site selection—instead, it refers tostate-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology that is free for the franchisee. “The Mr. Pickle’s leadership team has a backgroundbothas successfulmulti-unit fran chisees for several brands in the quick-service restaurant space, as well as decades of experi ence infranchise leadershipandsupport,”Nel son says. “They aremarrying everything they have learned through decades of hard work intothisbrandtoensure its long-termsuccess. Theyhavesystems inplace thatwill change the game, ensuring viability andprofitability.” ◗

To learnmore, visit mrpickles.com.

MR. PICKLE’S SANDWICH SHOP

14

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

DEPARTMENT ONES TO WATCH

ROCA The cofounder of a casual icon has a new, differentiated pizza brand built for scale. B Y B E N C O L E Y

ROCA name. The last two letters stand for the inf luence of California and its farm to-table ingredients. Some menu examples include Bell Pepper (tomato sauce, tomato sauce, roasted red and yellow peppers, balsamic glaze, chopped basil, and evoo) , Italian Sausage Potato (Yukon Gold pota toes, housemade Italian sausage, mozzarella, fried rosemary, and evoo) , and Pepperoni Hot Honey (tomato sauce, pepperoni, moz zarella, gorgonzola, andMike’s Hot Honey). Flour is organic and all meats and proteins are free of antibiotics and hormones. Pizza is offered by the cut, half, or full pan. “That’s something that we did at CPK which is, pizza is a canvas that you can paint on, so we can do toppings that are not traditional toppings, and I say CPK intro duced barbecue chicken pizza to the world,” Rosenfeld says. “It introduced Thai chicken pizza to the world. As it turns out, when we put barbecue chicken and our recipe on this crust, and we put Thai chicken on this crust, in my mind, it’s the best version that I’ve ever had. People who are tasting it are saying the same thing.” Rosenfeld’s initial objective was to essen tial ly recreate CPK with a ful l-service wood-burning oven, but he recognized the traditional Neapolitan or New York pizza didn’t travel well—and this was before the pandemic, when the rise of takeout and delivery was noticeably surfacing. The Roman style, however, is the most portable pizza product Rosenfeld’s seen. In late May 2021, ROCA debuted as a pop-up experience at The Americana at Brand in Glendale, California. The plan was for the temporary store to last a fewmonths, but the concept was the victim of the pan demic and struggled to get building permits. So the pop-up lasted a year, and in that time, ROCA was able to develop its team and menu. Yelp reviews were between 4.5 and 5 stars the entire time. CONTINUED ON PAGE 62

small rectangular pieces. “When I was there and introduced to it, I understood that there were several arti sans in Rome taking this traditional street food and taking it to a new level,” Rosenfeld says. “As I started to study about Roman pizza, I really learned it has evolved over the last 50 years.” One of the biggest distinctions is hydra tion. For a Neapolitan pizza, there’s 5 pounds of water for every 10 pounds of f lour. Mean while, the Roman pizza calls for eight pounds of water for every 10 pounds of f lour. It’s then placed in the refrigerator and cold fermented for 48–72 hours. Afterward, the pizza is put in an oven that heats from the top and bot tom to remove all moisture. The result is a lighter and airier crust that’s more digestible. That represents the “RO” part of the

FOUNDERS: Rick Rosenfield, Esther Rosenfield HEADQUARTERS: Los Angeles YEAR STARTED: 2021 TOTAL UNITS: Two by early 2023 FRANCHISED UNITS: Zero

TO UNDERSTAND ROCAA NEW FASTCASUAL concept cooked up by California Pizza Kitchen cofounder Rick Rosenfeld and his wife, Esther—onemust start at Roman pizza. The married couple discovered it while on an extended trip to Italy more than a decade ago after Rosenfeld sold CPK. The style is called al taglio, which translates to “pizza by the cut.” Slices are divided into

ROCA

16

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

The Ketchup You Can Count On. Red Gold ® is the ketchup brand that worked hard for you during the pandemic. We’re the family-owned brand that your customers know and love. Now, like never before, we’re the ketchup you can count on. Learn more and REQUEST YOUR FREE SAMPLE at RedGoldFoodservice.com/sample-request

SCAN FOR FREE SAMPLE

Products must earn the ChefsBest ® Excellence Award by surpassing quality standards established by professional chefs.

Red Gold is a registered trademark of Red Gold, LLC. Elwood, IN

RG-1372-1122

DEPARTMENT OPERATIONS

Dollars andSenseof Reviews Engaging with feedback shouldn’t be an afterthought in today’s digital world. B Y A D A M L E F F

sharing feedback, the manager or staff would respond, but online, guests are being ignored. It’s as if a guest is complimenting the manager on her experience, but the manager is standing with arms crossed not saying a thing. Even worse, when it’s online, brands are doing that in front of tens of thousands of pro spective guests who are considering whether they will select that restaurant. The number of restaurants brands choosing to respond online and, as a result, the percent age of guest reviews we see being responded to is increasing, but is still surprisingly low. Many brands have not made engaging with their guests online a priority. Not yet, at least. Likely, those brands are thinking most reviewers are negative or fake, other priorities are higher, it costs too much, there is no reward to responding, or if they ignore it, it won’t matter. These thoughts are changing as data, tech nology, and experience are proving otherwise. As it turns out, most reviews restaurants receive are positive.

Online reviews can be troublesome and downright dishonest at times. But there are ways to turn them into a positive data tool.

The average rating of guest reviews for the entire industry is hovering around 4 stars out of 5. Furthermore, there is signif icant statistical evidence that a brand’s ratings correlate to their sales success. A Harvard study found that a one-star increase is associated with a 5–9 percent sales increase. Merchant Centric has repeated similar analyses many times and found a one-star increase cor relates with a 4–22 percent increase in sales, depending on the brand’s starting point. Brands that respond to their guests and value their online star rating as an insightful business intelligence tool are reaping benef its that provide a virtuous cycle—they are enhancing guest relations, understanding guests better, identifying operational themes impacting business positively and negatively, building brand value, getting more reviews ( particularly positive ones) and likely improving SEO ranking, which is critical since search site algorithms promote businesses that engage online with users. Having responded to more than a million reviews on behalf of brands we represent, we’ve developed best practices we share with all our restaurant partners. These best practices also reveal how important [CONTINUED ON PAGE 62]

W hen I recently asked a group of restaurant operators how many reviews they believed the industry gets monthly, I was surprised at their estimates. Before sharing their answer, consider the question yourself. The answer? We see about four million restaurant guest reviews each month. That annual level has teetered up and down slightly from 2020 yet remains high at about 50 million reviews per year—and that’s just the res taurant industry. Dining and ordering out is a frequent occurrence, and people love to talk about food and share their experiences. Most of this feedback used to be exchanged face-to-face, often directly with the restaurant staff or to friends. Technology, smart phones, and social media have changed this, along with the impact of COVID, causing more and more guests to opt for online com munication. Despite an increased inf lux of online reviews and guest commu nication, restaurant brands aren’t drinking from the online guest feedback firehose as expertly as they should. The CEO of a large restaurant brand explained it well: If a guest was in the restaurant

ADOBE STOCK / MEEBOONSTUDIO

18

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

Take control one napkin at a time

Save time and reduce waste with Tork Xpressnap Tork Xpressnap ® one-at-a-time dispensing reduces napkin usage by at least 25% compared to traditional napkin dispensers. Cut time on refills and save staff effort with improved, easy to use dispenser design. ​ Visit torkusa.com/xpressnap to learn more​

Tork, an Essity brand

FRANCHI S ING

GROWTH PURPOSE WITH A / B Y D A N N Y K L E I N CLEAN JUICE LLC

20

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

TIM TEBOW (FAR RIGHT), KAT ECKLES (CENTER) AND LANDON ECKLES ARE READYTO EXPAND THE BRAND TOGETHER. 

Clean Juice and Tim Tebow first found common ground. Now, they’re looking at plenty of opportunity ahead.

Landon Eckles is getting into a story on Clean Juice’s origins when Tim Tebow interjects. “If she wouldn’t give [the food] to one of y’alls 19 kids, why would you do that?” he jokes, referencing the brand’s early guidepost—to serve product Landon and his wife, Kat, would be comfortable giving their children (there are actually five). The rapport between Tebow, the 6-foot-3, former Heisman Trophy winner, and the husband-wife duo behind one of the country’s fast

est-growing franchises, however, is evident. And it’s a relationship that began much like Clean Juice did in 2014 when it debuted in Huntersville, North Carolina—from a view broader than ROI. Clean Juice was opening a store in Nocatee, a planned commu nity located in northern St. Johns County, Florida, minutes from where Tebow won a state football title at Nease High School. Tebow was sampling juices and products and asked to meet the brass.

www.qsrmagazine.com | QSR | DECEMBER 2022

21

FRANCHI S ING

“And when Tebow says that, you go,” Landon recalls. The Eckles f lew down and met with Tebow and his wife, Demi-Leigh. Landon says they didn’t talk about business “for months.” It was mostly a conversation around making an impact with Tebow’s Quarters 4 Kids initia tive, and f inding synergy. For three hours, Tebow adds, they spoke about ministry, exercise, and even Jiu-Jitsu. That’s not to say Tebow’s mind wasn’t churning, though. “I started to understand the background of all the product [Clean Juice touts itself as the nation’s first and only USDA-certified organic juice and food bar franchise],” Tebow says. “Since I was 15, I’ve just been so focused on health. I believe in the stewardship of it. I believe what we put in our body either gives us life or it takes life. And what I mean by that is it takes focus, it takes energy, or we lose it from it ... If we want to actually live life to the fullest and the best, let’s give ourselves the nutrients to actu ally do that.”

which was 41 percent higher. The period also included franchise entries into four fresh markets—Con necticut, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Montana. Tebow’s role in this evolving story isn’t going to just be a front-facing one. On September 21, Clean Juice opened its third Northeast Florida location in the St. John’s Town Center, wedged between a Visionworks and BurgerFi. And Tebow was the franchisee. His jersey is on his display and Landon says guests “def initely” real ize it’s the “Tebow store.” When asked if this is unit No. 1 of a potential f leet, Tebow nods at Landon and says, “hopefully.” “I think there’s so much room and so much opportunity in the future to continue to grow to make this more available for people, to get to more stores,” he continues. “I would love to in the future after one, get to more, two, three, four, and continue to grow it. It’s not only something that I’m ambassa dor of, it’s something I use all the time.”

TIM TEBOW’S PHILANTHROPIC EFFORTS WERE AN INSTANT FIT FOR CLEAN JUICE’S BROADER GOALS.

In August 2021, Clean Juice unveiled Tebow as its official brand ambassador and got moving on activations. This included social media, web, point-of-purchase materials, product devel opment (Tebow had his own curated meal ), and the company’s first national TV spot. “Started with a handshake and slowly worked into the part nership,” Tebow says. Clean Juice billed the partnership as an accelerant for its next stage of growth. Or as Tebow puts it, helping “make it a household name in the organic food and beverage business.” The chain opened seven stores in Q2 of this year and awarded an additional 13 units to first-time and multi-unit franchisees. That brought the total number of Clean Juice locations in the company’s system to 203, with 127 opened and 76 in devel opment as of September. Its same-store sales rose 3 percent, year-over-year, with the total guest percentage up more than 9 percent from Q2 2021. Clean Juice cracked the Inc. 5000 for the fourth calendar and was ranked No. 21 on the top fast food brands to watch. It’s been a quick rise. Clean Juice had 72 franchise outlets at year-end 2019, which was up 25 net from the prior year. The brand would add a net of 17 locations in 2020 and 2021, respectively, alongside six corporate venues (none opened last year as franchising, which launched six years ago, has settled in as the main path). Clean Juice reported its best Q4 in brand history to close 2021 with cumulative same-store sales gains of 20 percent. Across the year, comps rose 16 percent against COVID-riddled 2020. But notably, the brand served more than 3.3 million total guests,

The sentiment covers Clean Juice’s wider ambitions, too. Landon says the brand hopes to serve 30 million guests some day. Eventually, 100 million, and beyond. Through COVID, Clean Juice closed only one restaurant. Landon believes the reason dovetails with what’s also fueling expansion, and explains how a brand, relatively small in its category, could land a celebrity endorsement like Tebow. “It’s the passion of our owners,” Landon says. “They truly believe that when they open a Clean Juice in their community that they are making an impact and they’re serving food they can’t get anywhere else.” Going back to Tebow’s f irst meeting with Clean Juice, he explained to the Eckles there were mega-watt offers out there from brands he couldn’t get behind. Clean Juice couldn’t touch the dollar figures, but it had a mission Tebow supported. “Like we tell everyone who gets into franchising,” Landon says, “we have the team to teach you the rest. Start with the best. Start with what you care about it. There are 4,000 con cepts you can be a franchisee of, so pick the one you care about.” Tebow’s goal isn’t new to quick service. He wants to break down barriers to healthy food and widen accessibility. Tebow was on the chair of Florida’s governor’s council of physical fit ness when he was in college at UF. He cites obesity studies and freely talks about nutrition. Making his own juice, Tebow combines spinach, celery, cucumber, lemon, ginger, and turmeric. He generally loads up on protein and cycles through shots. Tebow “crushed” a couple of juices before taking the stage in August to surprise operators at Clean Juice’s annual “Juice Jam” conference, held in Charlotte.

CLEAN JUICE LLC

22

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

COMPETE WITH COFFEE AND TEA In today's environment, foodservice operators are facing ongoing challenges like inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain issues - just to name a few. According to Cleveland Research Company in their recent “State of the Foodservice Industry" webinar, research shows that despite inflation, consumer demand for restaurants looks to remain strong and the outlook for dining out is optimistic. However, with growing competition to win consumer loyalty, how do you ensure you're standing out? By providing a full-scale, top-quality coffee and tea program, you are laying the foundation to greatly enhance your food offerings! By upgrading your coffee and tea programs, your establishment can become a destination for hot and iced coffee and tea all day long!

wmf-coffeemachines.com • schaererusa.com • wilburcurtis.com

FRANCHI S ING

TIM TEBOW MADE A SURPRISE VISIT TO CLEAN JUICE’S “JUICE JAM” THIS YEAR.

But simply, just as the Eckles wanted to make a concept they’d feel good putting on the family table, Tebow felt the same about one he’d open franchises for. “There are a lot of places where you are saying, this is healthy, and they’re putting stuff in it. And I just think it’s really important that you build trust that what you say is accurate,” Tebow says. Landon feels the same, which is why Clean Juice carries the organic banner. It’s an ethos that was never easy to execute and comes at a cost, especially as the brand expanded its menu in recent years to include sandwiches, salads, and wraps. When Clean Juice debuted, it only offered juices, smooth ies, and acai bowls. “But our promise was always we wanted to have something for everyone,” Landon says. “We wanted to be able to cater to somebody like Tim Tebow or cater to some body who comes in and maybe they’ve never eaten healthy in their entire lives.” “What does that mean? Put titles on this stuff,” he adds. “But let’s talk about what does it mean to be certified organic. What happens? What is the grasp? What is the story? And it was a really fun and enlightening conversation that then leads to a lot of conversations, right? Conversations of yeah, sometimes you have to charge more for that because it’s going to cost more to get healthy. We talk about we want to make it as affordable as possible but you’ve also got to keep it as healthy as possible. To do right by people. For us, it never started with ROI—it started with a belief.” Over the years, however, Clean Juice has worked on that profitability plenty. Landon spent years in sales and management in the pharmaceutical industry before moving into a managing partner role at Rose Rock Group, a global investment management firm specializing in Asia spe

cific projects in 2012. He was spending weeks on the road and overseas. Landon stepped back as his family life suffered. The Eckles then moved to Charlotte and launched Clean Juice. Last year, Clean Juice’s average gross sales ( 95 counted units ) clocked in at $570,816. Roughly half met or exceeded the number, with the top 50 percent averaging $684,621. The average gross prof it across those 95 units was $361,315. At 12 corporate locations, average gross sales and prof it were $527,059 and $325,921, respectively. Franchisees: $576,657 and $366,200. It’s all helping the story. When Tebow spoke at Juice Jam, his message was to think about food as a circular opportunity. “Not only can you impact them with the product, but you can impact them with your smile, your kindness, with the way that you serve them, with the way that you care about them,” Tebow says. “And try to back it up with statistics. Statistics on belief. Statistics on loneliness. Statistics on obesity. All of those. When people walk into the store, there’s a lot of people who are hurt ing, who are lonely, who need someone to believe in them, who need encouragement. Right now, when someone walks in you have the opportunity to impact them in more ways than just a bowl or a smoothie or a juice.” Landon says many of Clean Juice’s franchisees arrived with a reverse mindset from much of the industry. They came in buying in and then asked to learn. Tebow adds many he’s met so far aren’t major business groups or portfolio builders. “No, it’s hey, I want to be healthy and then I learned the business model. That’s been pretty cool,” he says. q

DannyKlein is the Editorial Director of QSR magazine. He canbe reachedat dklein@wtwhmedia.com .

CLEAN JUICE LLC

24

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

Domestically & Internationally ! WE ARE JUST STARTING TO GROW ...

ent

Join theMovem

You can become a JERSEY MIKE’S OWNER!

franchise@jerseymikes.com

Founder / CEO

Peter Cancro

Jerseymikes.com/franchise

A Sub Above, LLC, 2251 Landmark Place, Manasquan, NJ 08736

DIGI TAL INNOVAT ION

QSR’s DIGITAL DISRUPTORS

26

DECEMBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com

DIGI TAL INNOVAT ION

Restaurant technology is no longer the laggard. Pandemic conditions— namely the inability to dine in—cracked wide a world of innovation that historically had trailed other industries, like retail. The reason why wasn’t a great mystery. Food is a personal experience and operators have longed relied on their gut instincts to survive. But today’s landscape, rife with technology, flooded in thanks to adoption and, also, what’s fast become an understood point— that guest experience and solutions can, in fact, live side-by-side. As breakneck as these innovations arrived over the past couple of years, however, restaurants are now recalibrating and asking themselves what comes next. There’s no lone answer or sure-fire reality. Yet there is, without debate, a lot to discuss. For the second year, QSR recognizes its

locally but the database is running in the cloud; but there’s software running in the building. That means you have to upgrade it, version control it. We don’t. Even the software is running as a web service. So there’s noth ing really deploying to the field. And that’s a brand-new way to look at the industry, which is you don’t need actual software to run the physical locations.” OneDine early on created handheld tablets that interfaced with a merchant’s existing tech stack. It was a solution focused on labor and creating a contactless and efficient ordering and payment process for servers and diners. It established PCI and EMV compliance and eliminated fraudulent chargebacks. However, this was just an opening shot. OneDine expanded to incorporate addi tional contactless payment tech, mobile menu browsing, and curbside order and payment options to help restaurants gener ate off-premises revenue. AI surveys, guest preference tracking, and offer management eventually made their way into OneDine’s 360-degree solution as well. It then expanded to accommodate multi-merchant venues (like malls), hotels, airports, retail establishments, and event venues, such as the stadium case. In Krupp’s two-plus decades working with restaurants—he spent 16 years with Custom Business Solutions before Marketing Vitals— he’s seen the space evolve from POS’ infancy in 1996 to now. And what’s happened since, he says, is commerce has become increasingly decentralized. That began in the early 2000s as online ordering arrived. Krupp himself was involved in launching the integrated system for Jason’s Deli from the internet into the POS in 2000. Restaurants quickly had different chan nels for online ordering and different ones for digital menus. It was an OK concept when that slice of business represented a “few percent age points here and there,” Krupp says. But in 2018, the world had morphed to 30–50 percent of sales for countless brands sector-wide. So given how many transactions were now decentralized, the amount of effort it was tak ing operators to manage commerce ballooned into a massive, and often messy, undertaking. “Because everything was still anchored in the POS systems,” Krupp says, “and the POS system was built to run the brick-and-mortar; they were never built to run kind of an Amazon concept. An ecommerce concept. Commerce is not only happening in multiple channels for you as a brand that you can control—com merce was also happening in channels you couldn’t control.” Krupp is referencing streams like third party marketplaces and Google ordering. Again, going back to the ideation of OneDine, Krupp says he didn’t look at the industry’s evolution only through the lens of labor. There were a bevy of solutions working to help restaurants maintain new channels

Rom Krupp OneDine F O U N D E R A N D C E O

ONEDINE / JOHN DAVIDSON

The year was 2018. Rom Krupp cleared the table and got dystopian for a moment. What if the restaurant industry never existed? Could a tech company approach food as an all-new sector? Krupp not only thought it was feasible, but fundamental to where consumers were taking restaurants. An industry built on guts was beginning to understand the value of data, as Krupp’s 2012-founded Marketing Vitals was proving out. But the next great disruption was unfurling within the structure of restaurants themselves. “The industry that we’re going to build will serve people food the way today food is being served,” Krupp says. This was the starting point for OneDine, a company that’s capabilities web out into a lot of areas. At its center, though, it’s a platform that supercharges existing POS systems to enable contactless ordering and payment, to optimize labor, eliminate fraudulent chargebacks, and create a “triple-win for servers, managers, and guests alike,” the company says. What Krupp, who has been in the business for 26 years, recognized was a lack of agility among POS devices. As he explains it, “a ground-up rewrite of looking at the restaurant industry as a brand new industry. Not one trying to adopt all of the things that have been adopted for the last 40 years.” Krupp doesn’t believe restaurants need a brick-and-mortar tech stack anymore. Consider a project OneDine recently tackled. It completed a baseball stadium setup—23 concession stands, eight kiosks, 12 hand helds for VIP suites, 7,000 QR codes, and 180 pickup cubbies. But the key was OneDine did so without installing a single piece of software in the building. Everything runs from secure browsers. “Cloud-based POS are not really cloud based POS, they’re cloud-based databases,” Krupp says, “which means the POS is running

Digital Disruptors: the change-makers and innovators laying the blueprint for a more connected restaurant world than ever.

/ B Y D A N N Y K L E I N , B E N C O L E Y , & I S A B E L L A S H E R K

ADOBE STOCK / BY BLANKSTOCK

www.qsrmagazine.com | QSR | DECEMBER 2022

27