Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is on a rocket ship, outpacing much of its made-to-order burger peers with ambitious expectations to continue doing so. Freddy’s year-over-year sales growth of 14.5% in 2023, and year-over-year unit count growth of 12.9%, surpassed the category average by 4.8% for both metrics, for instance. Since 2019, sales are up over 70%, according to Technomic data. The 22-year-old Wichita, Kan.-based brand finished 2023 with 515 locations and is targeting 800-plus units by the end of 2026 and 3,000 in the long-term. For context, Jack in the Box has about 2,200 locations, while Sonic just over 3,500.
“We’re right on track. Last year we opened 62. We’ve been a little light in 2024 and some of that is timing. I think 2025 is going to be a robust year – a record year,” chief executive officer Chris Dull said during a recent interview. “I’m very bullish on our growth.”
Much of that bullishness comes from the work Freddy’s has done to emerge as a winner in space, from constantly tweaking its operations to adding new equipment that makes employees' jobs easier to making sure the back-of-house isn't cluttered.
"It all comes down to fundamentals – serving quality products made fresh-to-order and doing it in a clean environment with great hospitality. If we jeopardize one of those, guests will pull away. Fundamentals are what got us here and they are what will get us to the next level,” he said.
As the company eyes exponential growth, Freddy’s will continue to focus on those fundamentals and will have an easier time doing so thanks to its newly opened Training & Innovation Center – a 23,000-square-foot space in Wichita that enables the company to test new menu items, equipment, technology, and processes. It includes a simulated back-of-house space that hosts virtual training sessions, on-site product testing, and consumer focus groups. Out of the gate, the chain is currently testing an automated beverage solution at the drive-thru in the center, including facilitating those specific orders through the POS system. Once the “kinks are worked out there,” Freddy’s anticipates a systemwide rollout.
“For our past evolutions of the line, you can’t vet those changes when a restaurant is full of people. You have limited time and you have to start and stop. Having this lab, we can go in and work it until the job is complete,” Dull said.
Though the center just opened, Freddy’s anticipates 70 potential franchisee visits annually, 130 multiunit managers to attend one of four annual conferences in the building, and 120 managers to attend multiweek, in-person training annually. The center also already houses 100-plus area employees who regularly work out of the building.
Of course, such centers aren’t unique to bigger brands and that is exactly what Freddy’s is aiming to replicate here.
“This center was a clear opportunity for us. To really be able to train people well, you have to put them in an environment where failure is an option and that failure is possible and you also have to create challenging environments where you’re not putting the guest in harm’s way,” Dull said.
Those “challenging environments” may include a fryer breaking, for instance, or a credit card terminal going offline. These situations happen in restaurants all the time, Dull said, and now operators and employees will be better trained to work through them.
“When I started with the brand, I went through the restaurant training program and we would get busy and every time I was about to screw something up, the trainers would come in and fix it,” Dull said. “I didn’t get the chance to make the mistake because people were stopping me short of that. But sometimes failure is the best teacher.”
Dull adds that the center is an attractive feature for existing and potential franchisees, which should further support growth.
“Every time the franchisee community sees us pouring in investments that make their lives easier and their restaurants more profitable, it gives them a sense of trust and reliability on their franchisor,” Dull said. “We put a lot of dollars to work, and we do it with a focus of making more dollars going into franchisees’ pockets and, overall, I think we’re on the right track. The sky is very blue at Freddy’s.”
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
