How Layne’s Chicken Fingers is Combating Rising Costs and The Current Economy

Everyone is feeling the effects of inflation nowadays. Living costs have continued to climb this year, and businesses everywhere have been impacted. As prices for their products and the cost of labor both rise, companies have to reevaluate things to ensure they are still profitable.

The executives at Layne’s Chicken Fingers, an emerging quick-service restaurant, have worked diligently to develop a financial plan that helps to support franchisees during tough economic times while still continuing to be priced fairly to attract customers.

“We looked at our profit and loss statement and figured out how many labor hours you'll need for every dollar in sales. Then we have developed systems to manage productivity to keep in line with our targets,” said Samir Wattar, chief operating officer at Layne’s.  “We've taught franchisees to combat high commodity prices and taught our managers to look at the business as a whole, manage prime costs and how to curb overhead costs for things like chemicals and utilities.”

While Layne’s Chicken Fingers has had to make a small price increase to adjust for inflation, the brand was careful not to “price itself out of the market,” Wattar explained. “We're an emerging brand, and we want to make sure that people know about us and that we are affordable.”

And another thing Layne’s refused to do — that many other companies have — is decrease portion sizes to cut costs. They have worked with vendors to ensure that customers still get a hearty serving of protein for a good price.

“Layne’s will continue to remain affordable. With our family meal, you can feed four or five people for under $40,” Wattar noted. 

And the data shows that how the franchise is handling things is working out well: both traffic and sales have been up at Layne’s, and Wattar attributes that to the brand’s careful strategy to balance and carefully manage costs. 

“These small things combined combat the high food and labor costs we're seeing. And we see the light at the end of the tunnel where prices are coming down a little bit for us,” he said. “That’s why we have diligently done things the right way.”

Layne’s franchise opportunities range from $656,000–$1,280,500, with different buildout options available. Learn more about franchising with Layne’s here.

ABOUT LAYNE'S CHICKEN FINGERS

Founded in 1994 in College Station, the original location became a Texas A&M legend known for its small-town charm, friendly service, iconic chicken fingers and secret sauce. While opening corporate locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the leadership team focused on fine tuning its operations and starting to franchise.  Now, the company is planning to bring Layne’s Soon to be Famous™ Chicken Fingers to the rest of the world with plans to open 100 locations by the next four years.