CULVER CITY CALIF. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
The 233-unit grill specialty concept’s U.S. branches, whose alcoholic beverages are limited to beer and wine, are known for their counter-order, pay-first table service format and large salad bars, but Sizzler units throughout Asia are full-service operations with liquor bars. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
A switch to full table service domestically could enable Sizzler to triple its alcohol sales, compete against casual-dining chains and maintain its value-positioned average check of $11.71, said Ken Cole, president and chief executive of Sizzler USA. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Menu prices at a prototype full-service Sizzler being opened this summer by a Las Vegas franchisee will maintain the chain’s current prices, the company indicated. In Los Angeles, Sizzler also could begin tests this year of full service at dinner, while retaining the current limited table service format at lunch, which accounts for about 40 percent of sales. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
The downsized express platform, also likely to be tested first in Los Angeles, could enable the brand to tap smaller-footprint locations, such as airports and college campuses, at a time when franchise interest is picking up, Cole said. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Culver City-based Sizzler recently signed a letter of intent with franchisees in Mexico City to open restaurants for the first time in Mexico, for example. The brand also is returning to Houston, where two franchised units are expected to open this year after a 15-year absence from that market. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Sizzler, once the grill-buffet segment’s largest brand before a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996 by former owners that involved the closure of 130 branches to shed unfavorable leases, is not alone among similar chains in modifying its business tactics. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
The Metromedia Restaurant Group’s Ponderosa and Bonanza budget-steakhouse brands recently began shifting to fixed-portion, multicourse meals as an alternative to those chain’s traditions of bundling grill offerings with all-you-can-eat buffets. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
The 47-year-old Sizzler brand was purchased in 2005 by Australian private-equity firm Pacific Equity Partners in a transaction that came amid a U.S. rebranding effort to move Sizzler away from its longstanding image as an all-you-can-eat concept. Since then, about 98 percent of the chain has been upgraded to a newer prototype design that eliminated most self-service food stations, focusing instead on the grill menu and optional salad bar. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Pacific Equity’s acquisition of Sizzler included the Sizzler International division as well as an affiliated group of franchised KFC units in Australia and the San Diego-based Pat & Oscar’s fast-casual chain. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Since that deal, other changes have helped update the Sizzler brand. Earlier this month, company officials disclosed plans to switch to a trans-fat-free frying oil, which will eventually become mandatory chainwide. All franchisor-owned Sizzlers in California and some franchised units outside the state already have made the switch to an unhydrogenated cottonseed oil blend. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Seven new Sizzler restaurants opened in fiscal 2006, and 15 more are scheduled to open this year. However, Cole said several units have closed over the past year because franchisees were at the end of leases and were unwilling to remodel to the new prototype. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
“We took a pretty hard stance on franchised restaurants that did not step up to the plate,” he said. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Sizzler’s full-service format will be tested in Las Vegas by franchisee Junaid Sheikh, owner of Witman Foods, who expects to open the new restaurant, his fifth, in late summer. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
The restaurant will be about 5,000 square feet, compared with the more typical Sizzler footprint of 5,800 square feet. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
“We were able to shrink the building while keeping close to the same amount of seats,” Cole said. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
The new unit also will be the first domestic Sizzler with a full bar. Cole said the design would be similar to that of California Pizza Kitchen, which has bar seats overlooking an open kitchen. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Alcoholic beverages currently account for about 3 percent to 5 percent of sales. The combination of added liquor items and a table-service format could increase Sizzler’s alcohol sales to as much as 10 percent, Cole said. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
The new Sizzler Express concept, which will measure 1,200 square feet, would feature a switch from self-service salads to a format in which customers choose options at a counter and select their choice of grilled protein. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Stephen Pettise, a principal with Los Angeles-based consulting firm Golden Spike Resources Group, said a “mini-Sizzler” offers inherent branding opportunities. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
“People would see a Sizzler Express at an airport, and that creates interest right off the bat,” he said. “You’d think, ‘I wonder what that’s all about.’ It’s smart to be testing the concept as another way to improve distribution of the brand.” —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
Moving to full service would add labor costs, but the potential sales increase from a full bar could offset that expense, he said. In the end, testing both ideas at the same time is wise, he added. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
“I believe, in turnaround situations, that you should go down parallel tracks,” Pettise said. —While preparing to shed trans fats and debut in Mexico, Sizzler is planning this year to test two new operational platforms—a full-service format with a full bar and a limited-menu express variant—to offer more options to franchisees.
