The Cost of Remodeling a Fast-Fine Concept
Photo Caption: Millennials are welcome here.
Skift Take
It's hard to go a week without hearing of a restaurant that has newly embraced some type of fast-casual, fast-fine, fine-casual model. Here, we look at the costs associated with actually making that leap through the lens of a regional Southern sandwich chain.
When 45-year-old Austin-born sandwich chain Schlotzsky's decided it was time for a rebrand, it didn't have to hunt far for an updated concept. The barbecue-laden food truck scene that Austin had become nationally associated with, thanks in part to events with a nationwide draw like South by Southwest, proved to be a goldmine to draw from for Schlotzsky's rebrand.
"Our research told us that what consumers are looking for is really exactly where we are," Schlotzsky's president Kelly Roddy told Skift Table. "So why don’t we take credit for what we’ve always been?"
The New Look
The rebranded store concept, dubbed Schlotzsky's Austin Eatery, debuted not in Austin where the chain was founded, but in Atlanta, Georgia, where Schlotzsky's corporate headquarters are located. Alongside the usual sandwiches and pizza, Schlotzsky's menu now touted a section of "Street Food" that included an array of tacos, sliders, and "tins," side dishes served in the same small loaf pans used to bake bread f
