How Did Some Restaurant Chains Grow During the Pandemic?

How did some restaurant chains grow during the pandemic? They had
to pivot and meet new customer demands to answer the consumer
question of “What’s for Dinner?” The Main Course welcomed Carl
Howard, President and CEO of Fazoli’s, to talk about how he
and his team turned the brand around and continued to evolve it
during the pandemic. 


Howard has a long career in restaurants. He went from GM to CEO
of Damon’s, worked as a franchisee, and more. After that, he was
interviewing to run another concept, but during conversations,
one of the interviewer’s said, “You’d be perfect for Fazoli’s.”
It turns out, he was and has been at the helm since 2008.


His first move was to create a new menu. The brand was known as
the “fastest Italian restaurant,” but Howard remarked that the
food was terrible. 


“We had to readdress the culinary side of the business. We were
losing consumers because of food quality. Now we have a
tremendous menu with lots of baked pasta.”


He also changed the experience. They began using real plates and
silverware and bringing food to guests versus them picking up.
Employees now bussed the tables and offered drink refills or more
breadsticks. “That’s a lot of service for $8,” Howard said.


When COVID hit, Howard said they paused for a few weeks focusing
on liquidity drivers, then went on the offense. “We wanted to
solve the problem for Americans. They needed convenience and
value, so we introduced the Super Family Meal. It’s a bucket of
pasta, breadsticks, a pizza, and a gallon drink,” he explained.


That lead to new visitors and a surge, so they placed employees
outside with tablets to make drive-thru lines move quicker. The
brand experienced double-digit growth for the last eight months,
and new franchisees are lining up. “We have a lot of interest
because we’re not collecting franchisee fees or royalties for the
first year, and we’re focused on converting properties, not
building new ones.”