Brusters Ice Cream franchise warms to idea of cobranding with Nathans Hot Dogs
After growing a successful franchise selling desserts, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream is ready to serve up a full meal.
Tim Schooley reports in the Pittsburgh Business Times, that the Bridgewater, PA, based ice cream chain recently began a strategy to co-brand its stores with The Nathan’s Famous Corp., the publicly traded New York-based hot dog chain known for its nationally televised Fourth of July hot dog-eating contests.
So far, six of Bruster’s 260 locations have become two-in-one Bruster’s/Nathan’s stores, including the region’s first in Dormont, said Dave Guido, vice president of concept development for Bruster’s. Two more area locations are slated for conversions, said Guido, estimating that 15 to 20 Bruster’s could operate jointly with Nathan’s by the end of the year.
While Bruster’s only began testing the co-branding strategy in February, and the Dormont location was the pilot store, Guido sees broad potential from early sales tallies, which he declined to disclose. “The results are going to tell the tale. But early on, we’re very, very happy with how it’s gone,” said Guido, adding the company is considering co-branding with other franchises, although he declined to name them.
“If we continue to get favorable results, it will be an option for everyone who is an existing store.”
Randy Watts, vice president of operations for Nathan’s, sees the co-branding franchising effort as a way for Nathan’s to reach new markets through Bruster’s territory, which extends throughout the eastern United States.
“It seemed like a natural synergy for the two brands to use their real estate a little better,” Watts said. “We’re the No. 1-selling all-beef premium hot dog in the world. We definitely think they have a real top-quality ice cream brand.”
Co-branding is nothing new for Nathan’s, which also owns Kenny Rogers Roasters. Nathan’s also operates joint locations with Subway in Wal-Mart locations, Sbarro and Pizza Hut, among others.
Bruster’s began considering teaming with Nathan’s because it wanted a daytime component to add to its made-from-scratch ice cream, which sells better at night.
Adding Nathan’s to established Bruster’s locations has not been complicated.
Besides adding a fryer and a few other pieces of cooking equipment, as well as new signage, Bruster’s expanded its menu to include hot dogs, french fries, chicken tenders and lemonade.
Co-branding in franchising is an increasingly popular formula employed by such companies as Yum! Brands, which often operates its Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC restaurants out of single locations.
“The advantage is you save money in management and personnel,” said Gary Garda, principal of Downtown-based TLC Brokers/Garda Realty, and formerly an area supervisor for Pizza Hut.
“With Yum! Brands, you have one manager managing three concepts in one location.”
Garda also said rising real estate costs made it increasingly difficult for a fast-food chain to exist on a single-menu item alone.
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[...] Cross Posted at: Let’s Talk Franchising similar posts:Two for One Ice Cream Franchise Consolidation [...]
[...] Cross Posted at: Let’s Talk Franchising [...]
I had the unpleasent experience of trying to make a purchase at on of your stores today. And as a result I thought this is the type of franchise for me to invest in. The people behind the counter take a screw attitude toward customers and yet people still come to spend money. When the middle aged woman stood in the window before me, looke me in the eye and then all she was concerned about was where to place the tip jar, I thought gee 6 to 10 people at this window and 7 people behind the counter, with the attitude screw the customer and yet people were still gathering in line. Kind of makes you wounder how these places stay in business. I know that I’ll never frequent another brewsters again.
That’s not typical of a Bruster’s experience. Visting any fast-food outlet today can be a disheartening experience, but in my estimation, Bruster’s is second only to Chik-Fil-A in the overall quality of experience.
There’s no way a Bruster’s store has more than three employees in it during the day, anyway - an ice cream maker you couldn’t see, a manager, and a scooper. Not sure what those ’seven people’ were supposed to be doing, but if there are more than 2 customers in line, it’s expected that another team member will step up to a window. I’m wondering if this was posted by someone from another ice cream chain’s management team.
I would like to have a list of all Bruster Stores . We travel and could use a complete
listing.
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