April 24, 2025 • 34 mins
In this insightful episode of Restaurant Masterminds, host Paul Barron and co-hosts Robin Blanchette and Rudy Miick welcome Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue, to discuss the critical balance between price and value in today's challenging restaurant economy. Dickey shares how her 866-location barbecue chain is navigating shifting consumer behavior by expanding value options while maintaining profitability without significant price increases. The conversation explores data-driven decision making, menu engineering strategies, loyalty program innovations, and the importance of creating meaningful guest experiences that justify pricing—essential insights for restaurant operators facing similar challenges in 2025.
~This episode is sponsored by: Gusto → https://gusto.pxf.io/PBN ~
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With Gusto’s easy-to-use platform, you can empower your people and push your business forward. See why over 400,000 businesses choose Gusto.
RestaurantStrategy #MenuEngineering #ValueEquation
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Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
~This episode is sponsored by: Gusto → https://gusto.pxf.io/PBN ~
#1 rated HR platform for payroll, benefits, and more
With Gusto’s easy-to-use platform, you can empower your people and push your business forward. See why over 400,000 businesses choose Gusto.
RestaurantStrategy #MenuEngineering #ValueEquation
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are back here on the Restaurant Masterminds podcast and
joining me today, we have a new co host making
her debut on this show right here, and that's miss
Robin Blancheck coming in from North Creative. How are you, Robin, Paul?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Great to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I hear a voice tinge there, what happened?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I know?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Well, I've been at restaurant Leadership conference all week and
I've been talking about seventeen hundred of my closest with rights.
So I love that.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I love going to the events, but you always pay
for it on.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
The absolutely yes, you pay for it.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
And of course also our culture guru, mister Rudy Mick
coming in from Denver, how are you. I'm so good,
excellent Riddy. It's been a while since we've had you
on the show, so good to have you in today.
It's a good topic for you.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
It's great to be back. It's great to be back,
and to sit next to Robin.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Very cool.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Listen, we are going to be jumping into price versus
value and this one is going to be good because
it's going to be with the He's Barbecue, and of
course you guys have seen all about what Dickey's is.
But if you've never met Laura Ray, that is the
person you want to listen to when it comes to
building a brand. So we'll get into that in a second.
(01:14):
Stay tuned right here. My name is Paul Baron. As
(01:39):
the early pioneer in fast casual, I've seen the industry
evolve from just a few operators to the most sought
after segment by consumers around the world. Now we're planning
to shape its future. Tap into decades of my expertise
identifying the emerging brands and tech winners in the space
(02:00):
sabor capital, we'll be fueling the next generation of fast
casual innovation. All right, we're back here on the Restaurant
Masterminds and I'm just going to go right in and
we're going to bring in Laura coming in from Dicky's
Barbecue out of the beautiful state of Texas. How are you, Laura?
Speaker 5 (02:19):
Wonderful? Thanks y'all for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, we're going to rotate you in. So Laura, let's
get into a little bit of quick news about what's
happening at Dicky's right now in terms of growth. Where
is the brand today? Give us an update?
Speaker 5 (02:34):
You know, we are going strong.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
We are still here and serve a great barbecue. We
have over eight hundred and sixty six restaurants actually across
all four of our concepts, but our barbecue is certainly
our most endearing one. We've been serving since nineteen forty one.
In fact, I'm sitting across from our original location here
in Dallas, Texas that opened Upober of nineteen forty one,
and we are still serving. We've been serving there for
(02:59):
over eighty four years, and we are now in forty
states and eight countries and growing.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I'm looking at your website right now, you guys, is
this a fairly new update? I don't remember. Have you
guys made some changes?
Speaker 5 (03:12):
We have constantly evolving.
Speaker 6 (03:14):
In fact, what we lead with in digital a huge
sales channel for us, as it is for all brands
these days. But we put a lot of emphasis into
our digital sales, our e comm and it's a really
good way to take a pull somewhere our guests are
as we dive into price versus value and those sorts
of things. What happens digitally really gives us an indicator
(03:38):
very quickly of where things are going.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So share a little bit about the big yellow Cup
rewards because this has been a topic in terms of
reward programs in general, because there has been a little
bit of a knock on the industry because everybody's been
I won't say everybody, but a lot of brands have
been shuffling how they're counting Rewardsucks is the one that
(04:01):
got the biggest thing because they revalued the reward points
back in twenty three. I think they're still reeling from that.
Talk to me about the Yellow Cup rewards. How does
it work?
Speaker 5 (04:11):
Absolutely?
Speaker 6 (04:12):
You know, we were actually just recognized for our loyalty program.
For us, it is a program we've designed in house,
so we really took a look at the best players
in the market, some of our really good competitors in
industry and out of industry, and really looked at what
was engaging to folks. So for us, it's a point
based program. It's a dollar a point value there actually
(04:34):
not a one to one, but a one to one
hundred points actually, and so you know, we have that
as the base value, but we also go beyond that,
so we have different ways that you can engage with
the program. Certainly a direct spend for value, but we
also have some gamification. We have some you know, sneak peaks.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
We have lots of.
Speaker 6 (04:53):
Different kerks that are layered in. So it's incentivizing folks
certainly to be loyal.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
The more you.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Dine with us, the where you get, and we certainly
do see a higher return on investment for our folks
that are part of our loyalty program. They're certainly not
only dining with us more often, but we are able
to tailor those rewards so that we can get really
down into a personalization and a one to one to
know who's buying with us, why they're buying, when they're buying,
(05:21):
so that we can incentivize them and have a really
good one to one relationship. So it's been excellent with
a guest segmentation, but we're also able to really identify
trends and shifts.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
We can see if customers that.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
Have had one sort of purchase pattern with a certain
say average check value, average things like that, and start
to see a shift, and when we see that across
large segments of the loyalty, it also shows us where
folks are likelyhaded and their purchasing patterns. So for us,
it's been really great. I will say we've certainly launched
(05:55):
a pretty big.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Update about a year year and a half ago.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
And that was for us actually adding to instead of
reshuffling the value that we.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Enhanced the program, and I think it was very key.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
I think that we would probably have seen the same
type of response a few years before that. We actually
implemented a timeline forgets to spend their points.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
And we absolutely made some missteps there.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
We did what we thought was a lot of good communication,
and it was something that we had to go back
and make write with the guests when we implemented that
time for their points, because it was definitely something that
we saw an immediate response because people are very.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Passionate about that, Oh no doubt, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Oil to the brand. They feel like earn those rewards
and they absolutely have. So it's something you have to
be very careful with in that guest trust.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
So okay, So that is something I think that leads
us into the topic today, and that is price versus value.
We're dealing with an economic condition right now. There's probably
like no other that we've seen in the restaurant space.
There was one analyst coming in just the other day
that predicted that this could be the worst summer for
(07:09):
restaurant sales in over three decades, mainly because of what
we're seeing obviously from the American consumer and the pressure
coming in. When you look at that, and we'll start
that off, I'll kind of lead with the question, then
Robin and Rudy can jump in. But I want to
show you a story. This one was from Restaurant Dive
(07:30):
mainly talking about This was last year and we started
this going into what we thought was going to be
a new potentially upside for the restaurant industry. But even
at that time, consumers were starting to dictate value. And
now what we're finding is they're doing it even more
(07:50):
with a lot of these pressures coming in. How are
you guys dealing with the demand of customers saying, hey, listen,
I just want more for my money, and that's the.
Speaker 6 (08:00):
That's exactly what they're saying, and I think listening to
that being responsive also providing options for us. There's a
core where a very heavy protein.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Business, obviously barbecue.
Speaker 6 (08:10):
The majority of our core menu is barbecue, and there's
an expectation there. There's certainly a higher price point than
a lot of other QSR or fast casual. We're definitely
in the comfortable, fast casual space. What we have folks
competitors and QSR fast casual and.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Even casual dining.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
So for us, we're positioned well sometimes for folks that
have been spending more to kind of trade down to us,
but we also have a place on our menu that
is really for value driving. We did a menu expansion
in October kind of in preparation of this because we
saw we see a lot of really mixed messages coming
in from the guests. There's a lot of positive momentum
(08:50):
for US. Sales are up, same source sales are up.
We really had, I think, in trending with a large portion,
not all, but a large portion of the industry from
twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two and part of
twenty twenty three, end of twenty twenty really kind of
peak up.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Folks were spending a.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Lot of money on dining out, largely certainly in the
second part of twenty twenty because they didn't have other
options to spend it. When that adjusted and they were
able to spend again, I think you can see in
categories of you know, vacation travel, different things of those
nature than that certainly pulled some of the over spends
(09:28):
on the category, and you could definitely follow that.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
For us, we follow those turn lines.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
But as we have really settled into a year and
a half almost two years of challenge, and I think
a lot of the uncertainty and that's where you get
in the mixed messages. Yes, and so we've certainly seen that.
We've seen again sales are up, checks are up for us,
which is a good.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Good news net net.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
But how they're spending and why they're spending is changing.
So we're seeing a lot of activity and really too
to spare hearts of our menu, the value menu we
have had.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Folks, and well those new value.
Speaker 6 (10:07):
I would say larger, it's expanded we've always had. We've
always had some true value value meal type of guests,
but not at the level that we have been seeing.
So we had to make on the menu and added
to every category. We've added sliders into our sandwiches, for example,
We've added a chili and a bowl of chili that has.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
Great brisket and porkin.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
But it's definitely a compliment as a lower meal base
to our plates.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
For example. So okay, hey Robin, I want you to
jump in here, because you you mentioned something that I
was thought I thought was really critical. We both were
sharing some stories of events that we had gone to
with major CEOs and research talking about price taking this year.
Share to me and our audience what you've found out,
(10:59):
because I think a lot of people are concerned about
that that's listening to the show. Should they take price
this year? What kind of brand impact is it going
to have?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, I was at RLC this week.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
One of the technomic presentations talked about price increases, and
there's been a lot. I mean, we've seen it since COVID,
there's been a lot over the past couple of years.
Last year it's very high, and already in Q one
this year, we've seen price increase across the industry around
two point seven percent, and they're recommending do not go
(11:32):
above that, stay as low as possible. And you know,
for us, you know, we do a lot of menu
work and we have you know, restaurant clients that are
coming to us and saying, you know, we can't take price,
We're not going to take price, but we know there's uncertainty.
Laura just mentioned that she's seeing with her customers just
you know, sort of using the menu in a different
(11:54):
way right and because there is so much uncertainty right
now and going into the summer, the question is, so,
how do I continue to be profitable within my menu
or within my just four walls or even third party delivery,
all the different areas. How do I continue to do
that without the guests feeling like they're not getting a
(12:17):
value or they're not growing, you know, they're not getting
they're getting.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Stick shocked in some way.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So I think, you know, for us, we don't We're
not recommending anybody pushing price, but more reorganizing your menu.
And we have two concepts, two clients that are buffet
style in an approach, and they are able to sort
of manu that manage their product mix, make sure that
(12:44):
they're you know, if food cost is growing or if
they're not going to be able to get certain products
come this summer, what are they going to do about it?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
So it's a creative.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Approach to how you're managing your menu and your business
with all this uncertainty coming into.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
More menu engineering, which is really focusing in on where
can you get the most profit for the best value,
and then figure out how to promote against that. Rudy,
I want to flip over to you because I know
we kind of talked about this a little bit in
terms of creating value from the and then Laura, I
want to get back to you on what Rudy will
say because I kind of think I know where to
(13:24):
go in terms of creating value with culture and team
because sometimes there's that X factor that is worth money
that people are willing to pay a little extra because
of that. What are you seeing out there right now?
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Well, three things real quick. First of all, everything that
Laura's said and Robin just mentioned to me, we're hitting
the topic of the year, if not the next two
or three years with this whole value price relationship. So
(14:01):
bravo to everybody on the show and everybody watching because
this is a big deal. I'm with everything that Laura
and Robin have said. What we're sitting with certainly in
concept development and growth around the United States, but also globally,
(14:22):
is the service has never the service experience, the contact,
the engagement between the guests and our team, whether it's
drive through, whether it's even online, certainly in person, the
process of if I can be perceived as a teammate
(14:46):
that's engaged and sincerely hearing about you, my guest, no
matter what the price point is, right, this is not
just high end. This is literally in the qs R
market as well. If you're going to if you get
to touch my heart and I get to touch yours,
the value proposition goes up. There's no doubt. Right. So
(15:08):
the Dickey story is so the Dickey story is so cool,
right from nineteen forty one, here is this brand that
is local, that is authentic, right the last point. So,
and I could go on for a long time with that,
Let's not have me do that. What I am intrigued,
(15:28):
What I am intrigued about with something Laura said a
few minutes ago. I'd love to go back, just because
this is part of the engagement.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
Lauria.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
You have the authenticity to say, hey, we made a
big mistake with our guts with our customers, and you
had the temerity, the choice, the guts, the values to
actually own the mistake and name it. And I wonder
how that played to Paul next question. Yeah, how that
(16:03):
authenticity and the integrity to actually own the miss instead
of trying to bury it. I wonder what that did
for you as a brand.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
It made a huge difference. And I think that is
something that our guests rely on.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
The value. I think they genuinely know.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
They might not know, in fact, sometimes hopefully they don't
how large we are.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
I hope that they see that we're.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
That neighborhood barbecue joint around the corner that really cares,
that's involved in the community. But that we are a
real family. That's genuinely we are and what we serve.
But that's the way we approach that. And so when
we have missteps, we're candidate, we're direct, we have that communication,
and so we just let folks know, Okay, we thought we.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Did a better job than we did. Let us make
that right with you.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
And so we really saw a very genuine and push sales.
There was high engagement, much better sentiment analysis, and we
look at all that and something very interestingly that you said,
we are seeing more engaged than at any point in
our history in folks just contacting our guest services, feedback,
good and bad questions, just high levels of engagement.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
That's through more in the social it's just high context.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Well, and so Paul, back to you and in just
one second with this is with eight hundred and sixty
six restaurants and the Dickey's plethora the book. Wow, that
every one of those feels like the original restaurant. Right,
there's there's value and it is. Robin, You're right. It's
(17:39):
really hard to do, is whatever. Our number in our
company is that each one actually feels like the home
original store.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
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you there. So when you look at the franchise, community
has that, I'm sure they're coming to you with all
sorts of complaints right now with the issue of price
and value profit. So what's like the number one thing
(19:42):
they're hitting you up on right now?
Speaker 6 (19:45):
You know, profitability, that's the top that's the name of
the game, right We are food and folks first, that's
who we are. It's a family brand. And when I
say family. It really is. It's very personal to my
husband and I. We're third generation. We love what we do.
We get up every day. This is the business we've
chosen and want to do it, and that's who we
do business with, both as franchises and owner operators as
(20:07):
we call them, because you do have to in a
Dickey's own and operate.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
It's not a passive investment.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
We're a very active, engaged brand because we are pit
smoking everything on site.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
We have a real hickory wood puts.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
We pull in all of our proteins and you smoke
every day twelve to fourteen hours on.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
That brisk that's the pulled pork.
Speaker 6 (20:24):
So it's really a very engaged brand. That being said,
it is also always about profitability. We are here to
serve the most barbecue we can, the very best barbecue
to as many folks as we.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Can every day.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
But we have to do that profitably, and so the
topic of every conversation we have take care of the food,
take care of the folks, but do it profitbly.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, make it mental right in.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
That marketing without business, sure.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Paul, that from a cultural place, right, from a culture
drives brand. To Laura's point, and to Robben's if we're
looking at it only a two point seven margin, there's
still in our industry plenty of room to make profit.
But part of the culture has got to be we've
got management systems looking at prime costs right, so that
(21:15):
we're buying only what we need. We're buying, we're turning inventory.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
It's tracking right so that we were were It's back
to being in the pennies business and the daily business,
not a month and none.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
You know, it's every day.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Where are you guys finding the potential opportunities, whether it's menu,
supply chain, how are you going about this to maybe
squeeze out that extra one to two points.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
Well, in that business, it's every place. You have to
look at everything. In this environment where we are, there's
not one silver bullet. It's not going to be oh,
if you just fixed XIX. That's not the case. Is
beingmpletely engaged in all aspects of the business because when
everything is this tight, and let's face it, we would
all be more comfortable if our guests were more comfortable
(22:08):
spending money, and they're not right now, but they do
have a budget to spend with us. But we really
have to take care of that engagement, that transaction, that interaction.
So we have to provide the value. We have to
provide the right set of choices. We have to provide
the right price point. We have to deliver. On the surface,
the packaging has to be there. The engagement before, during,
and after the transaction, even at the USR fast casual level,
(22:32):
has to be there. But you have to look at
the business overall. You have to address purchasing. You also
it's in the data. You really have to be connected
to your data, and we have a very data driven culture.
We have since two thousand and eight two thousand and
nine because that procession forced us into a different place.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
In the business.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
We really reruled as a brand than both the footprints
of the restaurant open. The kitchen shrunk. The size from
an average almost had one hundred square foot some even
five thousand fare foot large dinner houses to eighteen hundred
to twenty two hundred square feet, and we opened the pit,
we opened the kitchen.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
That we adjusted.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
We stayed the poor what we are, but we adjusted
that engagement of the guests and it really paid.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
Off for us.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
But part of that also came from polling data every
place and now that is part of our tech infrastructure
which we worked with Dietary internally during that time. It
helped really sustain us during the pandemic. We were able to
be very responsive, very digital, carry out every throbrity and
we're seeing.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
That again there.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Because we have those data points, we were able, like
I mentioned in October.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
To see that we needed to expand our menum. We
needed to.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
Add more chicken, we needed to bring our smoke turkey back.
We needed to find value and every category in more
menu because our guests wouldn't be able to dine with
us or dine with us as often if.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
We didn't have that.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
We actually had our check average and not just because
of price do. We have only taken price once in
the past two years, and we will do everything again
to avoid taking price this year. But it came from
engineering and pulling things into the menu to give options,
and so we added a wonderful Christy chicken product, We
(24:18):
added country for at Stake, We've added some Chile and
a big focus on our bakers, which is a great value.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
So it's topped with our smoking and what folks come
to us for. But it's a great value. It's a
great value for our operators, it's a great.
Speaker 8 (24:32):
Value for our guests. And we've also seen a really
big uptick in spind for family PEX and for catering
in groups from that ten to twenty twenty five. And
what we're seeing is folks are coming in to buy.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Two or three minutes of months. It's a very interesting
trand and so it's.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
Really the sparate parts of the menu, really high ticket
items for us and really lower check items for us.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
But we're seeing growth much.
Speaker 7 (25:01):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
A lot of people I think have kind of restructured
the way that they engage with restaurants. New data in
showing third parties starting to decline, especially in the millennial
audience obviously for the service fees that are involved in that.
And I know that all of the third party guys
are now starting to do deep level discounts on delivery fees.
(25:22):
They're getting into it. And then back to your point
where there's a lot of menu mixing where people are
picking up something from here, adding stuff at home to
kind of create the meal for the night or the
lunch on weekends or whatever. But it does change the
dynamic in terms of how restaurants would focus on marketing
because in the past it's always been about marketing kind
(25:44):
of your your banner menu items. Now getting to your point,
you're getting to a lot of how does that change
your marketing, whether it's email or what you show on
the website. What's the process you guys go through for
that great question?
Speaker 6 (25:59):
And it has to that so instead of just the core,
which we always have to have some of the brands,
some of the core to remind folks know who we
are in essence, but it's about personalization and that goes
back to that Biguet Cuple Awards member. The folks that
are highly engaged that then you can extrapolate out, but
it's really customization and personalization.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
We can get down to knowing.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
What an average guess typical order is over the summer,
and we're projecting forward for that and we can extrapolate that.
We're seeing movement really at the guests that most micro level,
and you have to be responsive to that, and that
again is part of that value play. But then we're
seeing shifts also with folks that are really really really
(26:41):
focused on chicken. That's been a growth for us in
the menu. It's very interesting there. So folks can't get
enough of chicken. But we are absolutely harder to work
at how we market, how the value, how we provide,
not how we see the wall, and so that's deal
and adjustment for us.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yeah, well this is good news. I think the cool
thing here is that, first of all, finding that you know,
Dicky's obviously is kind of re designing how you guys
are are interfacing with guests, which I think is what
every restaurant brand is going to have to do right now,
which is going to be I think, become a bit
(27:18):
of an art to do it right. So we're going
to be excited to see everything you guys will continue
to do. Laura will definitely have you back on the
show coming in soon on maybe more topics around this.
Did it work, you know, as we start to see
this change out. But thanks for coming in on the
show today. We appreciate it, my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
You've got I just want to say real quick before
we go, Paul, that I love listening to how intense
Laura is and the around the business and every single
touch point, because every brand's got a different value equation
and you know, what's what matters to the guests, and
every single touch point that you were focused on, like,
(28:02):
I just don't hear that very often, and especially the system, Like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
For sure, that's really beautiful. I love that.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
We're going to give her a scorecard in about six months.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
How did it work?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Did it work Laura?
Speaker 3 (28:19):
For us?
Speaker 5 (28:19):
I get that every day at home.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Yeah, I know what you mean. Thanks, thanks again for
coming in today. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
All right, Well, all right, what a great interview with Laura.
I think that was one of those things that you know,
what we're finding now, guys, is this evolution? Before we leave,
I want to get because I want to get both
of your you guys as kind of go to points
for this very issue, which is price versus value, because
(28:49):
everybody's dealing with this topic. To your point, Rudy, so Robin,
you've talked about menu engineering and kind of restructuring like that.
How would you go to let's just use a twenty
five unit brand as an example for both of you.
How would you go to that brand and say this
could work as a strategy for you to not lose customers,
(29:13):
maintain and or grow sales. What would you do?
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Well, there's that meme out there every holiday season that
talks about like I don't go to Target knowing what
I need.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Target tells me what I need. And I would say that.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
For every individual brand, no matter the size, but for
a twenty five unit brand, to say, what does my
guest need the most?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Ends to build the profitability.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Whether it's in the menu or just using your data
to help you sort of build this is what I'm
best in the world at this, and this is I'm
going to create something profitable around it and showcase that
in every touch point and then people forget I mean
we get it all the time. You know, clients come
and say I need a poster that has chicken on
(30:02):
it or whatever. I'm like, why, what's the point? And
it's got built into not just what you're great at,
but what is also profitable. We see that often and
you know, to back to to what we've been talking about,
the value equation, What is that experience and how does
that build into your value equation because it's not just
(30:22):
about a cheap meal or we cannot go back healing
at this point, Brands cannot.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Go back to that.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
It's got to be about you know, I love going
there because my favorite cashier is there to talk to me,
it's got to be about the added experience. That is
what restaurants have to be about going forward and sort
of the uncertain future that we have.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I hope that is the case, because this sentiment around
hospitality has been really dropping a lot, and people are
starting to kind of point at this industry, is it's
not what it used to be. Rudy, when you you
what are the two things you would say, Hey, if
you're twenty five year brand, you need to focus when
(31:06):
it comes to culture and delivering that experience that can
at least validate the price you're asking for your menu items.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
To me, there's two, there's two pieces, and I just
I can't celebrate enough what Robin just said about this
is not about cheaper, It's not about that. It is
about this, Oh my gosh, this is the best value
for me, for my team, for my lunch that I've
(31:36):
got to have with my clients, for my family. This
is the value. This is the place that is our
go to, right, whatever that might be. That's first. So
how do we create that is to understand. Frankly, to me,
hospitality is not enough. It's why are we That value?
(32:00):
Is that experience that you get unwrapping the package or
just seeing the plate of food or whatever it might be.
What is when I see Robin. When I go to
Location X and I see Robin, she always has a smile.
Now replace Robin's name with anybody's name. This is the experience.
(32:25):
So that experience is part of the brand proposition, right.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah, I think that's you hit it on the head.
Is that you you have to put a you know what,
you call it a name, a line, item, an entry.
You know what is that brand proposition when it comes
to experience for the customer and culture, because you got
to win both sides of the plate here. You got
to win the team side, you know, from your employees,
because you've got to get them really to live that
(32:53):
culture and then breathe it, you know, out to the customer.
And I think that's the point. Listen, guys, we're in them.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
That coaching, I'm sorry, that coaching is a recipe, just.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Like you exact development is.
Speaker 6 (33:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Sure, Well, we're going to be doing a lot more
on this topic because I think this is going to
be one of the issues that restaurant brands are going
to be dealing with all year long. Is price versus value?
What are the tricks? What are the tools? I think
we learned some today here, both from Laura over at
Dickey's and of course from our masterminds here today. You
guys want to catch us and all of our podcasts,
(33:30):
just jump over to Saber dot fm. You can find
out all of the shows over there. We also put
a little banner right there on the main page where
you can go to the last few episodes that have
been done. Fast Casual Nation. There's Paul Molinari usually setting
in over here, and then there's a catering cage the
future of catering right there. A great show with Earl Dartik.
But all of our podcast productions are designed to teach
(33:52):
you guys stuff that hopefully you don't know. That's the idea.
Let us know if we're doing the job, and if
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(34:13):
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so much, And thanks for coming in on the Restaurant
Masterminds podcast. We'll catch you next week.
We are back here on the Restaurant Masterminds podcast and
joining me today, we have a new co host making
her debut on this show right here, and that's miss
Robin Blancheck coming in from North Creative. How are you, Robin, Paul?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Great to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I hear a voice tinge there, what happened?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I know?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Well, I've been at restaurant Leadership conference all week and
I've been talking about seventeen hundred of my closest with rights.
So I love that.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I love going to the events, but you always pay
for it on.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
The absolutely yes, you pay for it.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
And of course also our culture guru, mister Rudy Mick
coming in from Denver, how are you. I'm so good,
excellent Riddy. It's been a while since we've had you
on the show, so good to have you in today.
It's a good topic for you.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
It's great to be back. It's great to be back,
and to sit next to Robin.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Very cool.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Listen, we are going to be jumping into price versus
value and this one is going to be good because
it's going to be with the He's Barbecue, and of
course you guys have seen all about what Dickey's is.
But if you've never met Laura Ray, that is the
person you want to listen to when it comes to
building a brand. So we'll get into that in a second.
(01:14):
Stay tuned right here. My name is Paul Baron. As
(01:39):
the early pioneer in fast casual, I've seen the industry
evolve from just a few operators to the most sought
after segment by consumers around the world. Now we're planning
to shape its future. Tap into decades of my expertise
identifying the emerging brands and tech winners in the space
(02:00):
sabor capital, we'll be fueling the next generation of fast
casual innovation. All right, we're back here on the Restaurant
Masterminds and I'm just going to go right in and
we're going to bring in Laura coming in from Dicky's
Barbecue out of the beautiful state of Texas. How are you, Laura?
Speaker 5 (02:19):
Wonderful? Thanks y'all for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, we're going to rotate you in. So Laura, let's
get into a little bit of quick news about what's
happening at Dicky's right now in terms of growth. Where
is the brand today? Give us an update?
Speaker 5 (02:34):
You know, we are going strong.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
We are still here and serve a great barbecue. We
have over eight hundred and sixty six restaurants actually across
all four of our concepts, but our barbecue is certainly
our most endearing one. We've been serving since nineteen forty one.
In fact, I'm sitting across from our original location here
in Dallas, Texas that opened Upober of nineteen forty one,
and we are still serving. We've been serving there for
(02:59):
over eighty four years, and we are now in forty
states and eight countries and growing.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I'm looking at your website right now, you guys, is
this a fairly new update? I don't remember. Have you
guys made some changes?
Speaker 5 (03:12):
We have constantly evolving.
Speaker 6 (03:14):
In fact, what we lead with in digital a huge
sales channel for us, as it is for all brands
these days. But we put a lot of emphasis into
our digital sales, our e comm and it's a really
good way to take a pull somewhere our guests are
as we dive into price versus value and those sorts
of things. What happens digitally really gives us an indicator
(03:38):
very quickly of where things are going.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So share a little bit about the big yellow Cup
rewards because this has been a topic in terms of
reward programs in general, because there has been a little
bit of a knock on the industry because everybody's been
I won't say everybody, but a lot of brands have
been shuffling how they're counting Rewardsucks is the one that
(04:01):
got the biggest thing because they revalued the reward points
back in twenty three. I think they're still reeling from that.
Talk to me about the Yellow Cup rewards. How does
it work?
Speaker 5 (04:11):
Absolutely?
Speaker 6 (04:12):
You know, we were actually just recognized for our loyalty program.
For us, it is a program we've designed in house,
so we really took a look at the best players
in the market, some of our really good competitors in
industry and out of industry, and really looked at what
was engaging to folks. So for us, it's a point
based program. It's a dollar a point value there actually
(04:34):
not a one to one, but a one to one
hundred points actually, and so you know, we have that
as the base value, but we also go beyond that,
so we have different ways that you can engage with
the program. Certainly a direct spend for value, but we
also have some gamification. We have some you know, sneak peaks.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
We have lots of.
Speaker 6 (04:53):
Different kerks that are layered in. So it's incentivizing folks
certainly to be loyal.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
The more you.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Dine with us, the where you get, and we certainly
do see a higher return on investment for our folks
that are part of our loyalty program. They're certainly not
only dining with us more often, but we are able
to tailor those rewards so that we can get really
down into a personalization and a one to one to
know who's buying with us, why they're buying, when they're buying,
(05:21):
so that we can incentivize them and have a really
good one to one relationship. So it's been excellent with
a guest segmentation, but we're also able to really identify
trends and shifts.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
We can see if customers that.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
Have had one sort of purchase pattern with a certain
say average check value, average things like that, and start
to see a shift, and when we see that across
large segments of the loyalty, it also shows us where
folks are likelyhaded and their purchasing patterns. So for us,
it's been really great. I will say we've certainly launched
(05:55):
a pretty big.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Update about a year year and a half ago.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
And that was for us actually adding to instead of
reshuffling the value that we.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Enhanced the program, and I think it was very key.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
I think that we would probably have seen the same
type of response a few years before that. We actually
implemented a timeline forgets to spend their points.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
And we absolutely made some missteps there.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
We did what we thought was a lot of good communication,
and it was something that we had to go back
and make write with the guests when we implemented that
time for their points, because it was definitely something that
we saw an immediate response because people are very.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Passionate about that, Oh no doubt, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Oil to the brand. They feel like earn those rewards
and they absolutely have. So it's something you have to
be very careful with in that guest trust.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
So okay, So that is something I think that leads
us into the topic today, and that is price versus value.
We're dealing with an economic condition right now. There's probably
like no other that we've seen in the restaurant space.
There was one analyst coming in just the other day
that predicted that this could be the worst summer for
(07:09):
restaurant sales in over three decades, mainly because of what
we're seeing obviously from the American consumer and the pressure
coming in. When you look at that, and we'll start
that off, I'll kind of lead with the question, then
Robin and Rudy can jump in. But I want to
show you a story. This one was from Restaurant Dive
(07:30):
mainly talking about This was last year and we started
this going into what we thought was going to be
a new potentially upside for the restaurant industry. But even
at that time, consumers were starting to dictate value. And
now what we're finding is they're doing it even more
(07:50):
with a lot of these pressures coming in. How are
you guys dealing with the demand of customers saying, hey, listen,
I just want more for my money, and that's the.
Speaker 6 (08:00):
That's exactly what they're saying, and I think listening to
that being responsive also providing options for us. There's a
core where a very heavy protein.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Business, obviously barbecue.
Speaker 6 (08:10):
The majority of our core menu is barbecue, and there's
an expectation there. There's certainly a higher price point than
a lot of other QSR or fast casual. We're definitely
in the comfortable, fast casual space. What we have folks
competitors and QSR fast casual and.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Even casual dining.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
So for us, we're positioned well sometimes for folks that
have been spending more to kind of trade down to us,
but we also have a place on our menu that
is really for value driving. We did a menu expansion
in October kind of in preparation of this because we
saw we see a lot of really mixed messages coming
in from the guests. There's a lot of positive momentum
(08:50):
for US. Sales are up, same source sales are up.
We really had, I think, in trending with a large portion,
not all, but a large portion of the industry from
twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two and part of
twenty twenty three, end of twenty twenty really kind of
peak up.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Folks were spending a.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Lot of money on dining out, largely certainly in the
second part of twenty twenty because they didn't have other
options to spend it. When that adjusted and they were
able to spend again, I think you can see in
categories of you know, vacation travel, different things of those
nature than that certainly pulled some of the over spends
(09:28):
on the category, and you could definitely follow that.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
For us, we follow those turn lines.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
But as we have really settled into a year and
a half almost two years of challenge, and I think
a lot of the uncertainty and that's where you get
in the mixed messages. Yes, and so we've certainly seen that.
We've seen again sales are up, checks are up for us,
which is a good.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Good news net net.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
But how they're spending and why they're spending is changing.
So we're seeing a lot of activity and really too
to spare hearts of our menu, the value menu we
have had.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Folks, and well those new value.
Speaker 6 (10:07):
I would say larger, it's expanded we've always had. We've
always had some true value value meal type of guests,
but not at the level that we have been seeing.
So we had to make on the menu and added
to every category. We've added sliders into our sandwiches, for example,
We've added a chili and a bowl of chili that has.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
Great brisket and porkin.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
But it's definitely a compliment as a lower meal base
to our plates.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
For example. So okay, hey Robin, I want you to
jump in here, because you you mentioned something that I
was thought I thought was really critical. We both were
sharing some stories of events that we had gone to
with major CEOs and research talking about price taking this year.
Share to me and our audience what you've found out,
(10:59):
because I think a lot of people are concerned about
that that's listening to the show. Should they take price
this year? What kind of brand impact is it going
to have?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, I was at RLC this week.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
One of the technomic presentations talked about price increases, and
there's been a lot. I mean, we've seen it since COVID,
there's been a lot over the past couple of years.
Last year it's very high, and already in Q one
this year, we've seen price increase across the industry around
two point seven percent, and they're recommending do not go
(11:32):
above that, stay as low as possible. And you know,
for us, you know, we do a lot of menu
work and we have you know, restaurant clients that are
coming to us and saying, you know, we can't take price,
We're not going to take price, but we know there's uncertainty.
Laura just mentioned that she's seeing with her customers just
you know, sort of using the menu in a different
(11:54):
way right and because there is so much uncertainty right
now and going into the summer, the question is, so,
how do I continue to be profitable within my menu
or within my just four walls or even third party delivery,
all the different areas. How do I continue to do
that without the guests feeling like they're not getting a
(12:17):
value or they're not growing, you know, they're not getting
they're getting.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Stick shocked in some way.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So I think, you know, for us, we don't We're
not recommending anybody pushing price, but more reorganizing your menu.
And we have two concepts, two clients that are buffet
style in an approach, and they are able to sort
of manu that manage their product mix, make sure that
(12:44):
they're you know, if food cost is growing or if
they're not going to be able to get certain products
come this summer, what are they going to do about it?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
So it's a creative.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Approach to how you're managing your menu and your business
with all this uncertainty coming into.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
More menu engineering, which is really focusing in on where
can you get the most profit for the best value,
and then figure out how to promote against that. Rudy,
I want to flip over to you because I know
we kind of talked about this a little bit in
terms of creating value from the and then Laura, I
want to get back to you on what Rudy will
say because I kind of think I know where to
(13:24):
go in terms of creating value with culture and team
because sometimes there's that X factor that is worth money
that people are willing to pay a little extra because
of that. What are you seeing out there right now?
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Well, three things real quick. First of all, everything that
Laura's said and Robin just mentioned to me, we're hitting
the topic of the year, if not the next two
or three years with this whole value price relationship. So
(14:01):
bravo to everybody on the show and everybody watching because
this is a big deal. I'm with everything that Laura
and Robin have said. What we're sitting with certainly in
concept development and growth around the United States, but also globally,
(14:22):
is the service has never the service experience, the contact,
the engagement between the guests and our team, whether it's
drive through, whether it's even online, certainly in person, the
process of if I can be perceived as a teammate
(14:46):
that's engaged and sincerely hearing about you, my guest, no
matter what the price point is, right, this is not
just high end. This is literally in the qs R
market as well. If you're going to if you get
to touch my heart and I get to touch yours,
the value proposition goes up. There's no doubt. Right. So
(15:08):
the Dickey story is so the Dickey story is so cool,
right from nineteen forty one, here is this brand that
is local, that is authentic, right the last point. So,
and I could go on for a long time with that,
Let's not have me do that. What I am intrigued,
(15:28):
What I am intrigued about with something Laura said a
few minutes ago. I'd love to go back, just because
this is part of the engagement.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
Lauria.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
You have the authenticity to say, hey, we made a
big mistake with our guts with our customers, and you
had the temerity, the choice, the guts, the values to
actually own the mistake and name it. And I wonder
how that played to Paul next question. Yeah, how that
(16:03):
authenticity and the integrity to actually own the miss instead
of trying to bury it. I wonder what that did
for you as a brand.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
It made a huge difference. And I think that is
something that our guests rely on.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
The value. I think they genuinely know.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
They might not know, in fact, sometimes hopefully they don't
how large we are.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
I hope that they see that we're.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
That neighborhood barbecue joint around the corner that really cares,
that's involved in the community. But that we are a
real family. That's genuinely we are and what we serve.
But that's the way we approach that. And so when
we have missteps, we're candidate, we're direct, we have that communication,
and so we just let folks know, Okay, we thought we.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Did a better job than we did. Let us make
that right with you.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
And so we really saw a very genuine and push sales.
There was high engagement, much better sentiment analysis, and we
look at all that and something very interestingly that you said,
we are seeing more engaged than at any point in
our history in folks just contacting our guest services, feedback,
good and bad questions, just high levels of engagement.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
That's through more in the social it's just high context.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Well, and so Paul, back to you and in just
one second with this is with eight hundred and sixty
six restaurants and the Dickey's plethora the book. Wow, that
every one of those feels like the original restaurant. Right,
there's there's value and it is. Robin, You're right. It's
(17:39):
really hard to do, is whatever. Our number in our
company is that each one actually feels like the home
original store.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
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Check it all out. Just go over to gusto dot
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you there. So when you look at the franchise, community
has that, I'm sure they're coming to you with all
sorts of complaints right now with the issue of price
and value profit. So what's like the number one thing
(19:42):
they're hitting you up on right now?
Speaker 6 (19:45):
You know, profitability, that's the top that's the name of
the game, right We are food and folks first, that's
who we are. It's a family brand. And when I
say family. It really is. It's very personal to my
husband and I. We're third generation. We love what we do.
We get up every day. This is the business we've
chosen and want to do it, and that's who we
do business with, both as franchises and owner operators as
(20:07):
we call them, because you do have to in a
Dickey's own and operate.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
It's not a passive investment.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
We're a very active, engaged brand because we are pit
smoking everything on site.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
We have a real hickory wood puts.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
We pull in all of our proteins and you smoke
every day twelve to fourteen hours on.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
That brisk that's the pulled pork.
Speaker 6 (20:24):
So it's really a very engaged brand. That being said,
it is also always about profitability. We are here to
serve the most barbecue we can, the very best barbecue
to as many folks as we.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Can every day.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
But we have to do that profitably, and so the
topic of every conversation we have take care of the food,
take care of the folks, but do it profitbly.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, make it mental right in.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
That marketing without business, sure.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Paul, that from a cultural place, right, from a culture
drives brand. To Laura's point, and to Robben's if we're
looking at it only a two point seven margin, there's
still in our industry plenty of room to make profit.
But part of the culture has got to be we've
got management systems looking at prime costs right, so that
(21:15):
we're buying only what we need. We're buying, we're turning inventory.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
It's tracking right so that we were were It's back
to being in the pennies business and the daily business,
not a month and none.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
You know, it's every day.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Where are you guys finding the potential opportunities, whether it's menu,
supply chain, how are you going about this to maybe
squeeze out that extra one to two points.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
Well, in that business, it's every place. You have to
look at everything. In this environment where we are, there's
not one silver bullet. It's not going to be oh,
if you just fixed XIX. That's not the case. Is
beingmpletely engaged in all aspects of the business because when
everything is this tight, and let's face it, we would
all be more comfortable if our guests were more comfortable
(22:08):
spending money, and they're not right now, but they do
have a budget to spend with us. But we really
have to take care of that engagement, that transaction, that interaction.
So we have to provide the value. We have to
provide the right set of choices. We have to provide
the right price point. We have to deliver. On the surface,
the packaging has to be there. The engagement before, during,
and after the transaction, even at the USR fast casual level,
(22:32):
has to be there. But you have to look at
the business overall. You have to address purchasing. You also
it's in the data. You really have to be connected
to your data, and we have a very data driven culture.
We have since two thousand and eight two thousand and
nine because that procession forced us into a different place.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
In the business.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
We really reruled as a brand than both the footprints
of the restaurant open. The kitchen shrunk. The size from
an average almost had one hundred square foot some even
five thousand fare foot large dinner houses to eighteen hundred
to twenty two hundred square feet, and we opened the pit,
we opened the kitchen.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
That we adjusted.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
We stayed the poor what we are, but we adjusted
that engagement of the guests and it really paid.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
Off for us.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
But part of that also came from polling data every
place and now that is part of our tech infrastructure
which we worked with Dietary internally during that time. It
helped really sustain us during the pandemic. We were able to
be very responsive, very digital, carry out every throbrity and
we're seeing.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
That again there.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Because we have those data points, we were able, like
I mentioned in October.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
To see that we needed to expand our menum. We
needed to.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
Add more chicken, we needed to bring our smoke turkey back.
We needed to find value and every category in more
menu because our guests wouldn't be able to dine with
us or dine with us as often if.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
We didn't have that.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
We actually had our check average and not just because
of price do. We have only taken price once in
the past two years, and we will do everything again
to avoid taking price this year. But it came from
engineering and pulling things into the menu to give options,
and so we added a wonderful Christy chicken product, We
(24:18):
added country for at Stake, We've added some Chile and
a big focus on our bakers, which is a great value.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
So it's topped with our smoking and what folks come
to us for. But it's a great value. It's a
great value for our operators, it's a great.
Speaker 8 (24:32):
Value for our guests. And we've also seen a really
big uptick in spind for family PEX and for catering
in groups from that ten to twenty twenty five. And
what we're seeing is folks are coming in to buy.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Two or three minutes of months. It's a very interesting
trand and so it's.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
Really the sparate parts of the menu, really high ticket
items for us and really lower check items for us.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
But we're seeing growth much.
Speaker 7 (25:01):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
A lot of people I think have kind of restructured
the way that they engage with restaurants. New data in
showing third parties starting to decline, especially in the millennial
audience obviously for the service fees that are involved in that.
And I know that all of the third party guys
are now starting to do deep level discounts on delivery fees.
(25:22):
They're getting into it. And then back to your point
where there's a lot of menu mixing where people are
picking up something from here, adding stuff at home to
kind of create the meal for the night or the
lunch on weekends or whatever. But it does change the
dynamic in terms of how restaurants would focus on marketing
because in the past it's always been about marketing kind
(25:44):
of your your banner menu items. Now getting to your point,
you're getting to a lot of how does that change
your marketing, whether it's email or what you show on
the website. What's the process you guys go through for
that great question?
Speaker 6 (25:59):
And it has to that so instead of just the core,
which we always have to have some of the brands,
some of the core to remind folks know who we
are in essence, but it's about personalization and that goes
back to that Biguet Cuple Awards member. The folks that
are highly engaged that then you can extrapolate out, but
it's really customization and personalization.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
We can get down to knowing.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
What an average guess typical order is over the summer,
and we're projecting forward for that and we can extrapolate that.
We're seeing movement really at the guests that most micro level,
and you have to be responsive to that, and that
again is part of that value play. But then we're
seeing shifts also with folks that are really really really
(26:41):
focused on chicken. That's been a growth for us in
the menu. It's very interesting there. So folks can't get
enough of chicken. But we are absolutely harder to work
at how we market, how the value, how we provide,
not how we see the wall, and so that's deal
and adjustment for us.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yeah, well this is good news. I think the cool
thing here is that, first of all, finding that you know,
Dicky's obviously is kind of re designing how you guys
are are interfacing with guests, which I think is what
every restaurant brand is going to have to do right now,
which is going to be I think, become a bit
(27:18):
of an art to do it right. So we're going
to be excited to see everything you guys will continue
to do. Laura will definitely have you back on the
show coming in soon on maybe more topics around this.
Did it work, you know, as we start to see
this change out. But thanks for coming in on the
show today. We appreciate it, my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
You've got I just want to say real quick before
we go, Paul, that I love listening to how intense
Laura is and the around the business and every single
touch point, because every brand's got a different value equation
and you know, what's what matters to the guests, and
every single touch point that you were focused on, like,
(28:02):
I just don't hear that very often, and especially the system, Like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
For sure, that's really beautiful. I love that.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
We're going to give her a scorecard in about six months.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
How did it work?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Did it work Laura?
Speaker 3 (28:19):
For us?
Speaker 5 (28:19):
I get that every day at home.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Yeah, I know what you mean. Thanks, thanks again for
coming in today. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
All right, Well, all right, what a great interview with Laura.
I think that was one of those things that you know,
what we're finding now, guys, is this evolution? Before we leave,
I want to get because I want to get both
of your you guys as kind of go to points
for this very issue, which is price versus value, because
(28:49):
everybody's dealing with this topic. To your point, Rudy, so Robin,
you've talked about menu engineering and kind of restructuring like that.
How would you go to let's just use a twenty
five unit brand as an example for both of you.
How would you go to that brand and say this
could work as a strategy for you to not lose customers,
(29:13):
maintain and or grow sales. What would you do?
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Well, there's that meme out there every holiday season that
talks about like I don't go to Target knowing what
I need.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Target tells me what I need. And I would say that.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
For every individual brand, no matter the size, but for
a twenty five unit brand, to say, what does my
guest need the most?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Ends to build the profitability.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Whether it's in the menu or just using your data
to help you sort of build this is what I'm
best in the world at this, and this is I'm
going to create something profitable around it and showcase that
in every touch point and then people forget I mean
we get it all the time. You know, clients come
and say I need a poster that has chicken on
(30:02):
it or whatever. I'm like, why, what's the point? And
it's got built into not just what you're great at,
but what is also profitable. We see that often and
you know, to back to to what we've been talking about,
the value equation, What is that experience and how does
that build into your value equation because it's not just
(30:22):
about a cheap meal or we cannot go back healing
at this point, Brands cannot.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Go back to that.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
It's got to be about you know, I love going
there because my favorite cashier is there to talk to me,
it's got to be about the added experience. That is
what restaurants have to be about going forward and sort
of the uncertain future that we have.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I hope that is the case, because this sentiment around
hospitality has been really dropping a lot, and people are
starting to kind of point at this industry, is it's
not what it used to be. Rudy, when you you
what are the two things you would say, Hey, if
you're twenty five year brand, you need to focus when
(31:06):
it comes to culture and delivering that experience that can
at least validate the price you're asking for your menu items.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
To me, there's two, there's two pieces, and I just
I can't celebrate enough what Robin just said about this
is not about cheaper, It's not about that. It is
about this, Oh my gosh, this is the best value
for me, for my team, for my lunch that I've
(31:36):
got to have with my clients, for my family. This
is the value. This is the place that is our
go to, right, whatever that might be. That's first. So
how do we create that is to understand. Frankly, to me,
hospitality is not enough. It's why are we That value?
(32:00):
Is that experience that you get unwrapping the package or
just seeing the plate of food or whatever it might be.
What is when I see Robin. When I go to
Location X and I see Robin, she always has a smile.
Now replace Robin's name with anybody's name. This is the experience.
(32:25):
So that experience is part of the brand proposition, right.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah, I think that's you hit it on the head.
Is that you you have to put a you know what,
you call it a name, a line, item, an entry.
You know what is that brand proposition when it comes
to experience for the customer and culture, because you got
to win both sides of the plate here. You got
to win the team side, you know, from your employees,
because you've got to get them really to live that
(32:53):
culture and then breathe it, you know, out to the customer.
And I think that's the point. Listen, guys, we're in them.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
That coaching, I'm sorry, that coaching is a recipe, just.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Like you exact development is.
Speaker 6 (33:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Sure, Well, we're going to be doing a lot more
on this topic because I think this is going to
be one of the issues that restaurant brands are going
to be dealing with all year long. Is price versus value?
What are the tricks? What are the tools? I think
we learned some today here, both from Laura over at
Dickey's and of course from our masterminds here today. You
guys want to catch us and all of our podcasts,
(33:30):
just jump over to Saber dot fm. You can find
out all of the shows over there. We also put
a little banner right there on the main page where
you can go to the last few episodes that have
been done. Fast Casual Nation. There's Paul Molinari usually setting
in over here, and then there's a catering cage the
future of catering right there. A great show with Earl Dartik.
But all of our podcast productions are designed to teach
(33:52):
you guys stuff that hopefully you don't know. That's the idea.
Let us know if we're doing the job, and if
we are, give us a like and subscribe to the
channel right here. Whether you're watching this on YouTube, great
subscribe right now. Over two hundred and twenty thousand of
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(34:13):
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give us a like, just you know, start it, follow it,
do what you do on that platform that you love
so much, And thanks for coming in on the Restaurant
Masterminds podcast. We'll catch you next week.
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