Category: Foodservice

The first Chick-fil-A restaurant in the Canadian province of Alberta opened this week, part of the company’s previously announced plan to open up to 20 restaurants in the province by 2030. Alberta native Karleen Rhodes is the owner-operator for the new restaurant, which is located in West Edmonton Mall’s food court. It is open for dine-in and pick-up from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

“We are thrilled at the response from Albertans who are excited for Chick-fil-A,” Rhodes said in a statement. “I am really honored to bring Chick-fil-A’s delicious food and signature hospitality to Edmonton and can’t wait for everyone to enjoy their first bites.”

Related: Chick-fil-A plans to accelerate its presence in Puerto Rico

The new location will employ approximately 100 part- and full-time employees. Additionally, Rhodes’ restaurant will participate in Chick-fil-A’s Shared Table program, which redirects surplus food from the restaurant to local soup kitchens, shelters, food banks, and non-profits.

Chick-fil-A plans to open three new restaurants in Alberta this year as part of its broader goal. They will open in Calgary and Edmonton and are the first to open outside of Ontario since the chain made its debut in Canada in 2019.

“Alberta has an incredible growth story and is an exciting place for us to continue our expansion in Canada. We can’t wait to offer new guests in the province an authentic Chick-fil-A experience,” vice president of international Paul Trotti said in a statement earlier this year.

This debut in Alberta is part of the company’s long-term investment in the country. In 2022, it announced plans to open seven to 10 restaurants per year in the market, including additional units in Ontario. There are currently 13 existing locations across Ontario. These new openings also fit in with Chick-fil-A’s broader international development plans. Last year, the company announced a $1 billion initiative to expand its presence to five international markets by 2030. The company said it plans to open restaurants in Europe and Asia by 2026.

Canada is a growth target for several American chains of late, including Jimmy John’s, Jersey Mike’s, Taco Bell, Burger King, and Chipotle. According to a recent report from Circana, the market experienced 11% growth in visits last year and 18% growth in sales, with QSRs generating about 67% of all foodservice visits.

Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]

When it comes to technology investment, the question on many restaurant operators’ minds is, “to build or to buy?” While there are several reasons a brand might choose to go with proprietary solutions instead of partnering with tech vendors, much of that decision comes down to the freedom to choose exactly what you want in your tech stack.

When seven-unit Jeff’s Bagel Run first opened up its New York-style bagel shop in Orlando just before the pandemic, founders Jeff and Danielle Perera were working with Square as their first POS system. In March, the company hired one of its top investors, uBreakiFi founder Justin Wetherill, as Jeff’s Bagel Run’s first president, with the goal of taking the brand national.

To do that successfully, they decided they would have to build a custom tech stack because running a bagel shop is unlike most other foodservice operations: the back of the house has to have constant communication with the front of the house, and the bagel bakers have to know exactly how many bagels to continue making throughout the day to meet demand, but also not make too much product. In short, Wetherill and Aaron LeClair had to figure out how to automate much of the bagel-making process without compromising quality:

“We knew that we needed to automate as much of the process as possible so that the folks working in the store can be human and create good customer service,” Wetherill said. “Our intent is making a prep-baked product, which seems simple on the outside, but a lot of what our stores do is significantly different than what’s being done the rest of the industry. Our bagels are rolled daily, proofed overnight, baked the next day. We’re trying to bake them as close to the real-time need as possible, so that it’s the freshest, hottest product possible. They’re being baked constantly throughout the day.”

These days, the only non-proprietary technology in the stores are payment processing integrations and third-party delivery partnerships. The custom tech stack is divided into two applications: one has an in-store operations platform that has a point-of-sales system, kitchen display system, inventory management, as well as metrics and dashboards. The other component is the consumer-facing app. The POS launched last year, while the mobile app launched earlier in 2024.

The front of house and back of house are fully connected and integrated so employees at the front will always know how many bagels are at the back. A front of house employee can easily add available bagels and spreads through the interface. They can also see how many bagel orders are in the queue, and how many bagels are currently in the basket and oven. If a store runs out of dough, for example, an employee can easily pause the mobile app and all third-party delivery orders with the push of a button without having to manually tell customers that they’re temporarily out of bagels.

The machine learning model is able to predict how many bagels a shop needs to prepare on any given day, so that running out of dough is less likely to happen.

“You can see [predictions] right down to the individual types of bagel and what the machine thinks should be produced that day,” LeClair said. “Then we keep updating that model than based on current sales. Then we have our baking system, which serves up each tray. Then all the employees have to do is start prepping each type of bagel and throw it in the oven and start baking…. Then, it tells the front of house person that those bagels are fresh and hot, and they can communicate that with the customer and get them excited about that experience.”

The point of this system, LeClair said, is to reduce waste, make the employee experience easier, and improve the customer service. Throughout the process of creating the custom software, the team was able to make tweaks and changes in real time based on employee needs.

“When we when we first launched our espresso drinks, we were doing the old-school Starbucks way of writing names and orders on the cups with markers,” LeClair said. “It was getting crazy, so we decided that we needed an adhesive label system. We immediately turned around and started developing that with native integration with our system and our printers. It would have taken a year or two with [external partners] doing that for us, but we did it in a couple of months.”

With more than 40 stores in the pipeline, mostly in the Southeast, Jeff’s Bagel Run is poised for success and expansion with the exact right technology they need right out of the gate.

Contact Joanna at [email protected]m

Domino’s Pizza has enlisted TV personality, entrepreneur, and record executive Simon Cowell for its latest marketing campaign. Cowell appears in Domino’s latest TV ads as the restaurant chain’s “quality captain,” ensuring that every pizza is made perfectly before it goes into the oven. The ads begin airing today.

“Onstage isn’t the only place Simon Cowell demands excellence,” Domino’s chief brand officer Kate Trumbull said in a statement. “He has an eye for detail and demands perfection when it comes to making mouthwatering pizzas too. Domino’s has a longstanding history of making sure each pizza is delicious, but now, we’re taking operational excellence to the next level.”

Related: Why Domino’s may be winning the pricing wars

In the spots, Cowell joins a team of other “quality captains” – Domino’s team members in stores across the country – who check every inch of the pizzas to make sure they’re made exactly to order. In a statement, Domino’s chief restaurant officer Frank Garrido said the ads showcase the operational enhancements made throughout the years.

“Domino’s franchisees and their store team members are trained and focused on ensuring customers’ orders meet their expectations. Every order counts, and providing the most delicious, quality food is always top of mind. That includes checking pizza toppings before they go in the oven, to confirming each order has all of its items – down to each dipping cup,” he said.

Domino’s announced its “hungry for more” strategy at the end of 2024 to focus on marketing, menu innovation, operational excellence, value, and franchisees. As part of the “operational excellence” piece, Domino’s recently rolled out a new service program, called “delicious operations,” that includes three product training sprints focused on the dough, building products, and cooking products. During the company’s first and second quarter earnings calls, CEO Russell Weiner said the program is beginning to yield results, including faster service times.

Domino’s reported a 4.8% increase in same-store sales in the second quarter compared to Q2 2023, while revenues increased 7.1%.

Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]