QSR June 2022

SERVICE MODELS

Hooters to Hoots Wings DEBUT: February 2017 in Cicero, Illinois

the real validator. As consumers hun gered for value, convenience, and variety, Hoots delivered with naked, breaded, roasted, smoked, and bone less wings as well as 15 different sauces and rubs. “With what we experienced with demand and interest, it’s clear this model fits the bill,” Melilli says. WHAT’S NEXT: Hoots will end 2022 with 15–18 stores in operation and Melilli touts nearly 100 more in the development pipeline. He also cites ghost kitchen and interna tional possibilities as well. “We’ve got runway here to build out and bring more online,” Melilli says. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro to P.F. Chang’s To Go DEBUT: February 2020 in Chicago MOTIVATING FACTORS: Seeing rising appetite for carryout at its bistro locations, P.F. Chang’s leadership began working on a to-go concept in 2018. A quick-service concept, leaders reasoned, would position P.F. Chang’s to build a presence in areas in which it lacked current activity while enabling it to add to markets with already thriv ing bistro locations. “We theorized that people wanted P.F. Chang’s more often, so we tried to figure out how to get it to them,” says Candice Barnett, vice

Though table-service brands like Buffalo Wild Wings and IHOP had quick-service-ori ented formats in motion before the pandemic overturned daily life, COVID threw accelerant on those plans while intensifying the conversa tions many other full-service restaurant leaders were having about diving into counter-service waters. With off-premises occasions like carryout, delivery, and drive-thru orders swelling amid the pandemic, full-service operations saw more promise than ever in the quick-service category, not to mention a shot at survival by taking their brand equity downstream. But even as pan demic restrictions eased, full-service dining rooms reopened, and consumers expressed a greater willingness to dine out, the appeal of the more straightforward, less labor-intensive quick-service model remains strong for full-ser vice brands. Nearly two years after announcing plans for a fast-casual concept, Flip’d by IHOP debuted in Lawrence, Kansas, last September. Over recent months, additional Flip’d restaurants have opened in New York City, Cincinnati, and Silver Spring, Maryland. Meanwhile, Buffalo Wild Wings, which opened its first Buffalo Wild Wings GO unit in May 2020 outside Atlanta, is touting plans for 100 GO restaurants by the close of 2022, while Steak ‘n Shake is convert ing its 500-plus restaurants into quick-service formats, leaning heavily into digital ordering, self-service kiosks, and drive-thru operations to do so. But it’s not just the mighty national full-service chains pushing their way into the quick-service ranks. Independent restaurateurs and restaurant groups are also making the trek. In December 2020, the Duggan family, which had been serving old-school Italian-American fare at Original Joe’s in California’s Bay Area for more than eight decades, launched Little Original Joe’s in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood. The quick-service-styled eatery pairs pizza, pasta, and parmigiana dishes with a marketplace featuring ready-to-cook favor ites from Original Joe’s. And earlier this year, the husband-and-wife team of Joe and Katy Kindred, who found full service success near Charlotte with Kindred and Hello, Sailor, opened a donut-peddling, chicken-slinging fast casual called milkbread in Davidson, North Carolina. QSR talked with five full-service restaurant companies about their moves into the quick service world: ,

MOTIVATING FACTORS: Hooters leadership noticed a healthy rise in off-premises orders as early as 2010, including some Hooters restau rants collecting as much as 20 percent of their sales from carryout. “We saw the appetite for this and went after it,” says Sal Melilli, CEO of HOA Brands, Hooters’ parent company. “We like to be user-friendly to help our guests and cre ating Hoots leaned into their demands.” 5,000–7,000-square-foot spaces of the typical Hooters restaurant. Hoots res taurants also drop the TV packages, world-famous Hooters girls, and full alcohol service found in traditional establishments. Hoots does, however, embrace the top-selling menu items of its full-service sibling, namely wings, shrimp, a chicken sandwich, and ten ders. Menu boards feature bundles and catering packages as well. EARLY RETURNS: Before the pandemic, Melilli saw con sistent positive returns at Hoots across several states, which offered proof of concept. The pandemic, though, was COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Hoots units cover 1,300–1,800 square feet, a far cry from the

HOOTS WINGS SAYS IT HAS NEARLY 100 STORES IN DEVELOPMENT.

HOOTS WINGS

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JUNE 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com