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Emerging Brands Podcast

Emerging Brands Podcast

Written by: Foodable Network
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 Emerging brands are redefining the restaurant business with innovation, and creativity by taking the road least traveled. We explore the trailblazers that are creating a whole new expectation in food today. This podcast is a must listen if you are just beginning your journey or a veteran seeking a new direction to success for your brand.

You'll get insights, ideas and action items from the best leaders, change makers and innovators in the business, as they tell the story that has set them apart from the rest of the field!Copyright Foodable Network, LLC Economics Leadership Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Franchising and Maintaining a Brand’s Standards | Jeremiah's Italian Ice

    Franchising and Maintaining a Brand’s Standards | Jeremiah's Italian Ice
    Dec 16 2021
    On this episode of Emerging Brands, Nicole Di Pietro, vice president of Jeremiah's Italian Ice talks about brand standards, franchising, and maintaining a strong local presence.

    Di Pietro, who started in hospitality when she was thirteen years old at a local bakery, says even though she worked there all four years of high school, she never thought that her long-term career would end up in the hospitality industry. She went to college and got a job at Tijuana Flats, where she continued working for twenty years before joining Jeremiah’s Italian Ice. Di Pietro refers to herself as a lifer in the industry.

    In 2016 Di Pietro joined Jeremiah’s Italian Ice as vice president preparing the brand for growth. She says one of the main reasons she wanted to be a part of the brand was their culture. “The culture is really what drew me in. Just having a servant heart and passion for people was really important for me to align myself with a brand that matched my personal core values and would be able to continue to scale that so the vision for Jeremiah's Italian Ice is really simple, it's to be the coolest frozen dessert brand” says Di Pietro. Adding, “our mission is to consistently create flavorful experiences for our staff and guests while inspiring them to live life to the coolest.”

    In terms of core values, Di Pietro says, “It's really important for us that the core values that we have are not just something that hangs in a frame on the wall. It's something that we utilize and we use and we exemplify on a daily basis and it's something that when we're looking for employees, franchise partners to grow with we need to ensure that our core values align with the people that we're aligning with because the people are the most important component to any concept.”

    Di Pietro talks about the future and says, “Jeremiah's franchising in 2021 for the future is really simple. We're trying to create a thoughtful franchising program with franchise partners that truly align with our culture and our core values, that have a people-first mentality and that implements that in their daily actions.”

    Tune into this episode of Emerging Brands to learn more about Jeramiah’s franchise community, company culture, and developing a brand with strong local presence.
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    23 mins
  • FAT Brands CEO on Acquisitions, Third Party Delivery, and the Future

    FAT Brands CEO on Acquisitions, Third Party Delivery, and the Future
    Nov 18 2021
    On this episode of Emerging Brands, Andy Wiederhorn, chief executive officer of FAT Brands talks about the impact of the pandemic on FAT Brands, partnering with third party delivery, and the benefits of becoming a franchisee. 

    Wiederhorn shares with us the impact the pandemic had on FAT Brands saying, “The impact of the pandemic on FAT Brands was really challenging because we have multiple categories of restaurant companies, we have QSR brands, we have fast casual brands, we have casual dining brands and polished casual dining brands. So the effect here across our different brands was different in each category.” He adds, “the brands that were the most resilient of course were the QSR brands and the fast casual brands that always had delivery and togo and they went from thirty or forty percent delivery and to eighty five percent delivery and togo.” 

    FAT Brands has fifteen different brands including Johnny Rockets, Hot Dog on a Stick, Marble Slab Creamery, Pretzelmaker, Round Table Pizza, Great American Cookie Company, FAT Burger, Elevation Burger, Yalla Mediterranean, Buffalo’s Cafe, Hurricane Grill, and their most recent acquisition of Twin Peaks. Wiederhorn says, “recently our acquisition of Twin Peaks the sports lodge is really our first entry into polished casual dining, where you have much larger average unit volumes five or six million dollars a restaurant. These restaurants are quite large, six thousand square feet. They cost five or six million dollars to build and you know it's a whole different business being in the sports bar business.” 

    Wiederhorn talks about the benefits of being a franchisee partner saying, “being part of the FAT Brands family brings all kinds of benefits to the franchisee. Our purchasing power today is more than five hundred million dollars a year in food, paper, beverages, and so when you're a franchisee joining our family you're getting two or three percent lower food costs just because of our global purchasing power.”  

    To hear more about the benefits of becoming a franchisee partner in regards to marketing power, the value of third party partnerships, and why restaurants should consider being on the plant-based protein train, tune into this episode of Emerging Brands on Apple Podcasts.
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    12 mins
  • Retail Coffee Expansion and Sustainability | illycaffè

    Retail Coffee Expansion and Sustainability | illycaffè
    Oct 28 2021
    On this episode of Emerging Brands, Michele Waits, Vice President Marketing of illycaffè North America, Inc., talks about the brand's history, new real estate opportunities, and direct to consumer trends.

    Waits shares the long history of illycaffè, saying “The history of Illy is relatively long I think for many coffee companies. It was founded in 1933 in Trieste Italy which is an important port city for europe and in a place where all coffee comes into Europe and it's a family company so we are in the third generation of the illy family playing an important role in managing the company. There is a heritage of both. Rich Italian coffee culture but also innovation with the illy brand and the illy family are known to be the first to bring an espresso machine to the marketplace many years ago.” Adding, Illy has been around for more than 80 years and has been in the US for a little over 20 years and we are happy to say that we are making it as I mentioned a concerted effort to really grow our presence here in the us.”

    Waits talks about new real estate opportunities, she says, “there are opportunities for us to really build our brand and to expose new customers to Illy in airports. We have been really excited to gain new business in airports around the country and particularly in markets where we are placing some strategic bets. So airport is definitely a big part of our real estate priority.”

    When it comes to the Illy store model Waits says, “we are also seeing opportunities to really refocus and clarify if you will our store model and so we are experimenting a bit with some new services and some new products in some of our stores that we hope to roll out once we get some good learnings.”

    Waits discusses direct-to-consumer trends during the pandemic and then post pandemic. She says that, “what we're seeing is there is a shift in some cases back from online to offline to brick and mortar. But I would say not all of the gains that we got in direct-to-consumer have been passed back to brick and mortar. There are definitely more people shopping online both in our E shop and also on retailer’s sites and so there's definitely that increase. But the growth in direct-to-consumer has slowed a bit since the height of the pandemic.”

    To hear about Illy’s retail tech innovation, commitment to sustainability, and their Welcome On The Road To Happiness campaign tune in to this episode of Emerging Brands Podcast.
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    13 mins
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