Two Years After Receiving Backing From Restaurant Investment Firm CapitalSpring, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Has Innovation on the Menu

The world of restaurant franchising is certainly not for the faint of heart. Thankfully, family-friendly Beef 'O' Brady's is big on heart and on flavor—so it’s no surprise that the casual-dining franchise recently hit an impressive milestone: 35 years in business. What helped the brand get there? In a word: continued innovation.

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s was founded in 1985 in Brandon, Florida by Jim Mellody, who had a dream of creating a sports- and family-oriented pub that would serve as a beloved community gathering place. It’s safe to say that Mellody had the Luck of the Irish on his side; since its founding, the all-are-welcome sports restaurant concept has grown to over 150 locations in markets ranging from the Southern Gulf Coast up to the Minneapolis metropolitan area. 

In addition to a crowd-pleasing menu, exceptional customer service and welcoming atmosphere, another major contributor to the brand’s success has been the 2017 investment by dedicated restaurant investment firm, CapitalSpring. Since CapitalSpring’s investment, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s has enjoyed major innovation, including a transition to a single, system-wide point of sale (POS) system, a kitchen technology upgrade and a remodel initiative, among other refreshes.

According to CEO Chris Elliot in a recent interview with Franchise Times, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s has seen 3.4% positive sales in 2019 comprised of “actual traffic growth of 1.5% and price and menu mix providing the remaining 1.9%.” Over the past 10 years, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s average unit volumes (AUV) have increased 53%, Elliot shared in the article. 

While numerous factors have contributed to the family-friendly sports restaurant’s growth amidst a competitive environment, according to Elliot, one of the biggest contributors to that exciting growth has been the near-systemwide rollout of the POS platform, Toast.

“We’re in the process of moving the entire brand to Toast and are about 85% finished with rollout right now, with hopes to finish by the end of the first quarter of next year,” said Elliot. “That initiative has given us customer-serving options we didn’t previously have, such as online ordering capability and a loyalty program. We also have the opportunity to gather data from one POS system instead of multiple, which is more efficient and delivers critical insight.”

In addition to the ongoing implementation of Toast, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s is also rolling out a new back-of-house system which will make food cost, labor management and scheduling more streamlined. 

“We’re going with a new company called SynergySuite and we’ve just wrapped up testing in our 25 corporate stores and will begin to roll it out to the system soon,” said Elliot. “We hope to have SynergySuite operating across all units by the end of next year.”

With both updated customer-facing and back-of-house technology, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s is well-positioned to continue to grow its footprint. Equally important is the fact that with software comes data—and with data comes efficiency and the ability to market more effectively to the guest.

“One of our major projects for next year will be building a kind of data warehouse,” explained Elliot. “We’re working on developing a place to house and synthesize data coming in from Toast and from SynergySuite so that we can do a better job managing the business. Looking toward the future, our major IT initiative will be the data warehouse.”

Elliot shared that, complementing the technology changes, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s has also streamlined its operations.

“We’ve installed high-tech fryers that hold their temperature more consistently and which have built-in filtering systems and timers,” Elliot said. “It’s just much more efficient in terms of cooking our product consistently and maintaining the shortening.”

This fryer upgrade, plus the remodel of the kitchen to improve quality, accuracy and speed of service, has the dual yield of benefitting both the employee and the customer. The customer sees their order come out of the kitchen faster, and because the technology level and quality of the equipment in the kitchen is better, it’s also easier for Beef ‘O’ Brady’s staff to do their jobs well.

Finally, in terms of Beef ‘O’ Brady’s recent remodel initiative, Elliot shared that “corporate has led the way in updating the brand in terms of its look and feel.” At present, 14 of the 25 corporate stores have been completely remodeled—and, according to Elliot, have correspondingly seen “excellent results.” 

“Franchisees are following suit and so there have now been 16 remodels at franchisee-owned locations, with a likely 15 in the pipeline for 2020,” said Elliot. Of the remodel, Elliot said that it comprises “an updated aesthetic to give a more current look and feel and provide a pleasing environment for the customer” to enjoy a flavorful Beef ‘O’ Brady’s meal.

Jim Balis, Managing Director of CapitalSpring’s Strategic Operations Group, spoke emphatically of Elliot’s leadership skills, as well as those of the entire Beef ‘O’ Brady’s executive team.

“From our perspective [at CapitalSpring], we look into how a brand performs against others in a given space,” explained Ballis. “In a foodservice environment where a lot of brands in casual or full-service dining—especially heritage brands—are struggling to drive foot traffic, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s is a segment leader in terms of both sales growth and traffic growth. That’s really a testament to the strength of the team and the brand’s offering.”

Like Elliot, Balis said that he anticipates continued growth for the brand and looks forward to all that 2020 has to bring.