New Boss of Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants Plans Expansion

NRD Capital recently completed an acquisition of the classic American brand Frisch’s Big Boy, and Managing Partner Aziz Hashim spoke with the Associated Press about their plans for the restaurant chain. Calling Big Boy a “perfect fit” for NRD Capital, Hashim laid out his reasoning for the acquisition and where he sees the brand going in the near future.

"It was doing just fine, but we felt `Wow! There's tremendous growth potential here,'" Hashim told AP.

According to the article, some future plans for Big Boy already include the following initiatives:

• Adding appetizers and "shareable" plates, possibly including chili cheese fries and buffalo chicken wings, along with hot dogs and other "classic American" items.
• Expanding beverages options to include more coffee varieties and signature drinks; also, reviewing a contract that drew some customer ire by replacing Coca-Cola with Pepsi products two years ago, although Hashim notes it was a seven-year deal.
• Targeting millennial generation customers; Hashim says a "Frisch's Big Boy 2.0" plan will be developed for drawing the younger set.
• Adding franchised restaurants in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, and utilizing the Big Boy trademark rights to expand throughout Tennessee, especially the Nashville area. Hashim expects some new Frisch's to be smaller and of different designs than the current Frisch's restaurants to reduce real estate needs, and to be in nontraditional locations such as college campuses. The current 121 Frisch's Big Boy restaurants include 26 franchises.

Still, Hashim made it clear that the things that make Frisch’s an American icon will not be going away, telling AP, "We bought the brand because of what it is today.”