Nation's Restaurant News: Beef 'O' Brady's Looks to Revamp Image

Tampa-based restaurant concept Beef 'O' Brady's is looking to reinvent its brand image - altering the perceptions of consumers who traditionally refer to the chain as an "Irish pub." With more than 180 locations nationwide that boast Beef 'O' Brady's green signs and shamrocks, CEO of parent company FSC Franchise Co. Chris Elliott said it's time for a change.

“We’re not an Irish pub, although sometimes we get called an Irish pub,” Elliott said in an interview with Nation's Restaurant News. “We want to get away from that distorting image.”

With the recent investment from restaurant equity firm CapitalSpring and the planned corporate acquisition of some franchise-owned locations, Beef 'O' Brady's aims to consolidate its franchise base to promote multi-unit ownership and encourage growth.

"We think that’s a more efficient way to run the brand long-term,” Elliott said to reporter Jonathan Maze.

In tune with this new messaging, Beef 'O' Brady's aims to open the prototype of a new design prior to the end of the year which would include an updated kitchen to improve consistency, speed and quality

“I look at Beef O’Brady’s and I see only one casual dining brand that had higher stacked [same-store sales] growth over the past six years and that was Buffalo Wild Wings,” Elliott said to Nation's Restaurant News. “We had five years of positive comps. We went negative in 2016 and are about flat in 2017, but we’ve outperformed our category for the last six years.”

The brand attributes some of this growth to new marketing initiatives like Taco Tuesday and Wing Wednesday that help generate traffic on business days that are traditionally slower.

“We found clever ways to provide a significant amount of value without smaller portions or lesser quality,” Elliott said in an interview. “You can’t cut portions and stick a lower price on it and expect people to respond to it. You have to do it in a way to maintain margins. I wouldn’t sell burgers for $5.99 every day, but I could do it on a Monday, and get Monday in good shape.”

You can view the entire article here.