How McAlister’s Deli plans to expand nationally and build a new customer baseHow McAlister’s Deli plans to expand nationally and build a new customer base

McAlister’s Deli may have been the first GoTo Foods brand to reach $1 billion in revenue, but the Atlanta-based deli concept is still on the road to becoming a truly national brand. Danielle Porto Parra — who was appointed McAlister’s Deli’s new chief brand officer in January — has a plan to make McAlister’s more of a household name in the deli category through catering, loyalty, and aggressive marketing to a new and expansive customer base.

“My job is to help our brand grow, help our franchisees succeed, and ensure we’re delighting our customers every day,” Porto Parra said. “Then from a business perspective, we have three rallying cries: One of those is to expand nationally in new markets and to new consumer types … continue to deepen customer relationships … and then expand dayparts and occasions into breakfast, snack, and catering occasions.”

As McAlister’s Deli looks to expand into new markets and territories like Green Bay,.Wis., and Buffalo, N.Y., it isn’t enough to attract new franchisees to the business (and convince current franchisees to grow their store base), but it’s also important to open the brand to the next generation of customers.

A lot of this is done through the innovation behind Club McAlister’s, which went through testing and launched in 2023. As previously reported, McAlister’s Deli was also the GoTo Foods guinea pig for what the portfolio company’s CEO Jim Holthouser calls the “four-wall strategy,” where the experience at a McAlister’s changes once the digital systems identify you as a loyalty customer, with opportunities for surprise and delight anytime you walk in and make a purchase. This is what Porto Parra calls the “intersection of humans and technology” that can help foster those customer relationships.

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Beyond loyalty, she said that aggressive modern marketing techniques, including social media and influencer partnerships, are crucial to getting the word out about the McAlister’s brand.

“We’re calling these new customers our future advocates,” Porto Parra said. “If someone’s a brand advocate, you’ve built a relationship with them. This is our next generation of consumers, age-wise, but we’re also bringing them into all of the tremendous value props of McAlister’s Deli. We’re reaching them on social, through PR activations and through new media channels as well.”

While the deli category does have fierce competition on a national scale, McAlister’s Deli is looking to gain a competitive edge by expanding dayparts into breakfast and snacks, especially through catering. The deli brand now offers avocado toast bars, French toast bars, breakfast sandwiches, and grazing boxes (like charcuterie boards) that can go beyond corporate catering to feed book clubs, birthday parties, and more, Porto Parra said.

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“We’re able to use existing SKUs that are already in the restaurant, which makes it easier operationally,” she said. “But you’re also getting incremental sales and deepening customer relationships because now they can have us in their home for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks. Whatever time of day, we’re there to create that human connection.”

Contact Joanna at [email protected]