Melting Pot, the “polished casual” fondue franchise with 90-plus units in the United States and Canada, has long been a favorite spot for special occasions, date nights and those seeking more than just a place to eat. The restaurant is devoted to providing an intimate and exciting dining experience for patrons, and continues to remain a favorite for lunch and dinner after nearly a half-century in business.
The brand’s success is, in part, a result of the diligent and focused leadership team. Headed by Bob Johnston, CEO of Melting Pot, the team includes seven other driven individuals with extensive experience who have brought their strengths together to successfully steer the company through the pandemic and towards the future.
“The work that this team does navigating through environments that we've never seen before and have no playbook for is really remarkable,” said Johnston. “All of the members of the leadership team are enormously gifted, and we're grateful that they're a part of the team.”
Johnston commends the leadership team’s efforts to help the brand, which relies on in-person experiences, survive the effects of COVID-19. He said they were quick to assess the status of the industry amidst lockdowns and learned to pivot to still cater to customers. Johnston said that having strategic members like Ana Malmqvist, Chief Marketing Officer for Melting Pot, who joined the brand six weeks before the nationwide shutdown, on the team is incredibly valuable in times like these.
“Ana is tremendously talented and extremely calm under pressure; the more chaotic things are around her, the calmer she becomes,” said Johnston. “She built two fantastic programs that have been responsible for lifting weekday sales in enormous ways.”
One of those programs is “Thursdate,” which is part of the company’s vision to convince customers that the fondue restaurant is not simply reserved for special events and days. It features a romantic dinner experience for a couple reminiscent of a Valentine’s celebration but brings it to a weeknight when their profits are typically lower. The other initiative Malmqvist has been instrumental in creating is “Best Fondue Friends Forever,” which encourages friendship and meeting up with loved ones around some delicious food and fondue. The program has been especially popular as COVID-19 restrictions ease and people are able to gather in public again.
“We're all about the consumer, how to make it work for the consumer and craft it for their needs, because it's all about having their loyalty and their love of the brand. We look at how to harness that brand love to make them always want to choose us. And when we drive in traffic of happy consumers, we create happy franchisees.”
Malmqvist works closely with fellow leadership team member John Crawford to ensure that the marketing strategies they create translate well in an operational sense at each location. Crawford, Executive Vice President of Franchise and Restaurant Operations for Melting Pot, is a seasoned restaurant executive, who worked with brands like Bennigan’s and Roy’s, the Hawaiian fusion concept, and ran all Ruth’s Chris Steak House locations for many years before coming to Front Burner Brands. He works directly with franchisees to ensure the brand delivers “The Perfect Night Out”, to every customer, every time.
Crawford also joined Melting Pot right before COVID-19’s first big surge, and he can attest to how hard the leadership team worked to adjust and adapt. “It was certainly challenging. But I was able to come in and add some guidance on how we can approach protecting the brand. I’m proud of the best-in-class support our all-star team provided to support our franchisees and their teams, from guidance on how to renegotiate leases to guidance on PPP loans and the things they could do. Within a couple of weeks we were able to put together a system for to-go orders so the franchisees could have some revenue.”
And now, with locations up and open for service again, the company is doing incredibly well. Melting Pot currently sees about 25% more demand than they have space for, Johnston said, which is why they are seeking to grow the franchise and open more restaurants. Crawford’s job in the expansion process is to work with other leadership team members to anticipate what they will need to see continued success.
“My role is to collaborate with all the different departments — with marketing, with our CFO, with development, with IT — and just really make sure that what we're doing is going to help support the growth of our franchisees’ successes,” Crawford said. Ensuring that their goals are focused and well-planned out is instrumental in paving a path for owners to succeed, he said.
Many executives agree they have done an excellent job at honing in on specific objectives to work on and establishing key performance indicators. Dan Stone, Chief Operating and Development Officer, said “the caliber of individuals we have right now is the most efficient and talented leadership team in the 16 years I've been with the company.” He explained they have added a few positions in recent years, and expanded the business’s “vision house” from having one-year goals to plans for the one, three, and five-year marks. “We've become much more focused, much more disciplined, clear and concise. By prioritizing, we can put more energy towards specific goals, and our odds of success increase exponentially,” Stone said.
Malmqvist agreed that elongating their strategic planning to have a five-year outlook has been monumental in providing a sort of “North Star” for what Melting Pot wants to accomplish. “We have to be visionary, but we also have to be disciplined. It doesn't mean we come up with something new every year, but we continue to evolve our plans with focus."
And Melting Pot has plenty of plans for the future. The brand is looking to sign new franchise agreements and is in the process of a refresh and remodel of over 20 of the locations, which Stone has been an important part of. The units he has helped go through the sleek and contemporary renovations are performing well — with 22% higher sales than the others, Johnston said — showing that the brand's vision to evolve is working. Year-to-date sales are up more than 39% versus 2019, and guest counts are up almost 25% against last year.
“It's pretty impressive performance, and franchisees get a lot of credit through their hard work, but the leadership team also deserves a lot of credit,” Johnston said. “They get a tremendous amount of high praise because they helped people through a very difficult time and put together a very good plan for reopening — and the numbers state that plan has been real successful. We all worked on how to support the franchisees as best we could and prepare them for what we believed would be a flood of interest in the brand once people were able to come back to the restaurants, and that's exactly what's happened.”
About Melting Pot
Founded in 1975, Melting Pot has offered a unique fondue dining experience for more than 45 years. As the premier fondue restaurant franchise, Melting Pot has 97 restaurants in 31 U.S. states and Canada. Known for offering a variety of fondue cooking styles and unique entrées, Melting Pot’s menu also features cheese fondues, salads, fine wines, spirits and chocolate fondue desserts. Fondue fans can join Melting Pot’s Club Fondue for exclusive promotions, special events and advance holiday reservation privileges. Melting Pot is an affiliate of Front Burner Brands, a restaurant management company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit www.meltingpot.com. To learn more about franchise opportunities with Melting Pot, please visit www.meltingpotfranchise.com.
About Front Burner
Headquartered in Tampa, Front Burner is the restaurant management company for Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc., the new casual whimsical dining concept Melting Pot Social and fast-casual concept Oronzo Honest Italian! Melting Pot currently has more than 96 restaurants in 31 U.S. states and Canada. Melting Pot Social opened its first location in July 2021 in Asheville, NC. Oronzo opened its first location in Tampa, FL. in June 2020 and will open a second location in the area in October of 2021. For more information, visit http://www.frontburnerbrands.com.
Melting Pot
SPONSORED
The fondue franchise’s eight-person executive team works hard to hone the company’s vision to create memorable dining experiences that are about good food and gathering.
Melting Pot, the “polished casual” fondue franchise with 90-plus units in the United States and Canada, has long been a favorite spot for special occasions, date nights and those seeking more than just a place to eat. The restaurant is devoted to providing an intimate and exciting dining experience for patrons, and continues to remain a favorite for lunch and dinner after nearly a half-century in business.
The brand’s success is, in part, a result of the diligent and focused leadership team. Headed by Bob Johnston, CEO of Melting Pot, the team includes seven other driven individuals with extensive experience who have brought their strengths together to successfully steer the company through the pandemic and towards the future.
“The work that this team does navigating through environments that we've never seen before and have no playbook for is really remarkable,” said Johnston. “All of the members of the leadership team are enormously gifted, and we're grateful that they're a part of the team.”
Johnston commends the leadership team’s efforts to help the brand, which relies on in-person experiences, survive the effects of COVID-19. He said they were quick to assess the status of the industry amidst lockdowns and learned to pivot to still cater to customers. Johnston said that having strategic members like Ana Malmqvist, Chief Marketing Officer for Melting Pot, who joined the brand six weeks before the nationwide shutdown, on the team is incredibly valuable in times like these.
“Ana is tremendously talented and extremely calm under pressure; the more chaotic things are around her, the calmer she becomes,” said Johnston. “She built two fantastic programs that have been responsible for lifting weekday sales in enormous ways.”
One of those programs is “Thursdate,” which is part of the company’s vision to convince customers that the fondue restaurant is not simply reserved for special events and days. It features a romantic dinner experience for a couple reminiscent of a Valentine’s celebration but brings it to a weeknight when their profits are typically lower. The other initiative Malmqvist has been instrumental in creating is “Best Fondue Friends Forever,” which encourages friendship and meeting up with loved ones around some delicious food and fondue. The program has been especially popular as COVID-19 restrictions ease and people are able to gather in public again.
“We're all about the consumer, how to make it work for the consumer and craft it for their needs, because it's all about having their loyalty and their love of the brand. We look at how to harness that brand love to make them always want to choose us. And when we drive in traffic of happy consumers, we create happy franchisees.”
Malmqvist works closely with fellow leadership team member John Crawford to ensure that the marketing strategies they create translate well in an operational sense at each location. Crawford, Executive Vice President of Franchise and Restaurant Operations for Melting Pot, is a seasoned restaurant executive, who worked with brands like Bennigan’s and Roy’s, the Hawaiian fusion concept, and ran all Ruth’s Chris Steak House locations for many years before coming to Front Burner Brands. He works directly with franchisees to ensure the brand delivers “The Perfect Night Out”, to every customer, every time.
Crawford also joined Melting Pot right before COVID-19’s first big surge, and he can attest to how hard the leadership team worked to adjust and adapt. “It was certainly challenging. But I was able to come in and add some guidance on how we can approach protecting the brand. I’m proud of the best-in-class support our all-star team provided to support our franchisees and their teams, from guidance on how to renegotiate leases to guidance on PPP loans and the things they could do. Within a couple of weeks we were able to put together a system for to-go orders so the franchisees could have some revenue.”
And now, with locations up and open for service again, the company is doing incredibly well. Melting Pot currently sees about 25% more demand than they have space for, Johnston said, which is why they are seeking to grow the franchise and open more restaurants. Crawford’s job in the expansion process is to work with other leadership team members to anticipate what they will need to see continued success.
“My role is to collaborate with all the different departments — with marketing, with our CFO, with development, with IT — and just really make sure that what we're doing is going to help support the growth of our franchisees’ successes,” Crawford said. Ensuring that their goals are focused and well-planned out is instrumental in paving a path for owners to succeed, he said.
Many executives agree they have done an excellent job at honing in on specific objectives to work on and establishing key performance indicators. Dan Stone, Chief Operating and Development Officer, said “the caliber of individuals we have right now is the most efficient and talented leadership team in the 16 years I've been with the company.” He explained they have added a few positions in recent years, and expanded the business’s “vision house” from having one-year goals to plans for the one, three, and five-year marks. “We've become much more focused, much more disciplined, clear and concise. By prioritizing, we can put more energy towards specific goals, and our odds of success increase exponentially,” Stone said.
Malmqvist agreed that elongating their strategic planning to have a five-year outlook has been monumental in providing a sort of “North Star” for what Melting Pot wants to accomplish. “We have to be visionary, but we also have to be disciplined. It doesn't mean we come up with something new every year, but we continue to evolve our plans with focus."
And Melting Pot has plenty of plans for the future. The brand is looking to sign new franchise agreements and is in the process of a refresh and remodel of over 20 of the locations, which Stone has been an important part of. The units he has helped go through the sleek and contemporary renovations are performing well — with 22% higher sales than the others, Johnston said — showing that the brand's vision to evolve is working. Year-to-date sales are up more than 39% versus 2019, and guest counts are up almost 25% against last year.
“It's pretty impressive performance, and franchisees get a lot of credit through their hard work, but the leadership team also deserves a lot of credit,” Johnston said. “They get a tremendous amount of high praise because they helped people through a very difficult time and put together a very good plan for reopening — and the numbers state that plan has been real successful. We all worked on how to support the franchisees as best we could and prepare them for what we believed would be a flood of interest in the brand once people were able to come back to the restaurants, and that's exactly what's happened.”
About Melting Pot
Founded in 1975, Melting Pot has offered a unique fondue dining experience for more than 45 years. As the premier fondue restaurant franchise, Melting Pot has 97 restaurants in 31 U.S. states and Canada. Known for offering a variety of fondue cooking styles and unique entrées, Melting Pot’s menu also features cheese fondues, salads, fine wines, spirits and chocolate fondue desserts. Fondue fans can join Melting Pot’s Club Fondue for exclusive promotions, special events and advance holiday reservation privileges. Melting Pot is an affiliate of Front Burner Brands, a restaurant management company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit www.meltingpot.com. To learn more about franchise opportunities with Melting Pot, please visit www.meltingpotfranchise.com.
About Front Burner
Headquartered in Tampa, Front Burner is the restaurant management company for Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc., the new casual whimsical dining concept Melting Pot Social and fast-casual concept Oronzo Honest Italian! Melting Pot currently has more than 96 restaurants in 31 U.S. states and Canada. Melting Pot Social opened its first location in July 2021 in Asheville, NC. Oronzo opened its first location in Tampa, FL. in June 2020 and will open a second location in the area in October of 2021. For more information, visit http://www.frontburnerbrands.com.
Sign up for the 1851 Franchise newsletter to get our biggest stories before everyone else
By signing up, you agree to our user agreement (including class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and acknowledge our privacy policy.
No related articles found
