The Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard chain is undergoing a refresh of its image and operations to better compete in a crowded world of “better burger” players.
The move comes after investment group Small Island Investments Ltd. acquired a majority stake of Golden, Colo.-based parent Good Times Restaurants Inc.’s outstanding shares in a deal that closed last December.
Other restaurant investments by Boston-based Small Island have included the Piccadilly Pub chain in Massachusetts, and the Elephant & Castle Group Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in July.
For Good Times, the investment has brought working capital to re-energize the brand and allow the company to look for growth opportunities, including the possibility of investment in another concept.
Boyd Hoback, president and chief executive of the 46-unit chain, spoke with Nation’s Restaurant News about the brand’s renewed momentum.
What has Small Island brought to the brand?
We’re still a NASDAQ small-cap company, but it has brought working capital to implement a lot of the initiatives we’ve been working on over the past year. We’ve had 13 months of consecutive same-store sales increases.
Right now we’re rolling out all new menu boards and a new graphics platform. We’ve had the same package for about 10 years or so, so it’s an updating and re-energizing of the brand.
The theme is “Happiness Made to Order.” That reflects our earlier move to a made-to-order platform. We started with our fresh-cut fries last year, which are now cooked to order. We’re now testing in two units a made-to-order platform for our burgers.
Isn’t that a significant change in your operations?
Yes it is. We knew it would compromise our speed of service a bit, but consumers see it as a much better product.
