Smalls Sliders is only about 4 years old. The brainchild of Brandon Landry, founder of Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, Smalls was spun off that Baton Rouge, La.-based sports-bar concept and is laser-focused on high-quality sliders served in drive-thru and carryout-only locations.
Still, in those four short years, Smalls has already grown to eight locations across Louisiana and has inked franchise deals for dozens more units. The investment firm behind Walk-On’s, 10 Point Capital, has thrown its support behind Smalls, as has legendary NFL quarterback Drew Brees, who is on the board for both brands. Smalls recently moved its headquarters to Atlanta to prepare for massive expansion across the U.S.
The secret to this impressive success? Smalls Sliders locations are modular shipping container units that are manufactured elsewhere and then shipped to their permanent location. Once a plot is prepared, Smalls can open a restaurant on top of it in 8-10 weeks. It only takes 27 minutes to get the restaurant from the truck to being fully built.
Another secret to success? Maria Rivera.
The former president of Krispy Kreme, Rivera was hired as Smalls’ CEO last year and is tasked with fulfilling the chain’s incredible potential. She’s spent the past several months building the leadership team, transitioning to the Atlanta headquarters, and preparing for franchising, ensuring that the concept is prepared to throttle full speed ahead.
With all of the pieces finally in place, Rivera joined the latest episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches to discuss Smalls Sliders’ bright future, why she’s so committed to one-product brands, and how the chain can properly maintain its explosive growth pace.
In this conversation, you’ll find out why:
- There is power in one-product brands
- A great founder plus great financial partner plus great product equals great opportunity
- Modular store construction is the efficient expansion strategy of the future
- Efficiency is simplification and simplification is hard
- If you’re planning fast expansion, make sure your vendors are willing to come on the journey with you
- A sister brand to a successful concept can ride its coattails — to a point
- A vulnerable, accessible CEO has a sense of how quickly a brand can grow
- Emerging brand leadership teams must stay humble to build a healthy company
Contact Sam Oches at [email protected]
