While The Melting Pot is no stranger to the challenges faced by the full-service dining industry in a soft consumer environment, the Tampa, Fla.-based, 92-unit fondue chain is facing the future with a two-pronged strategy: store modernization and restaurant conversions.
In 2023, after 40 years of touting dimly lit restaurants with romantic fireplaces and a hushed, cozy aesthetic, The Melting Pot announced a brand revamp with store updates at the forefront. Now, most of the way through 2024, 75% of Melting Pot restaurants in markets like Denver have received a facelift with more open dining rooms, as well as updated lighting and seating.
Moving forward, all new Melting Pot restaurants will be fitted with the updated look, including restaurant conversions. Conversions are one of the fondue chain’s major strategies for achieving its expansion goals. In 2024, The Melting Pot hoped to grant nine franchises, and the company is about halfway there—with the goal of using restaurant conversions to achieve the rest.
The plan would be to convince operators of polished-casual or casual-dining restaurants that are not doing well, or are about to close, to convert their space into a Melting Pot instead. This opportunity would be open to operators who both own their real estate or are leasing their space. They would then become Melting Pot franchisees.
“We are doing this because we know that there is some really good real estate out there that is starting to become available because the restaurant there had run its course,” Johnston said. “Because of the economic environment, many people are not interested in making the investment and don’t want to jump from one polished-casual restaurant to another and hope it works. We believe they would be interested in making the investment in a time-tested brand.”
Johnston said the brand would sweeten the deal by reminding operators that they could stand to save money through conversion because The Melting Pot does not use a traditional kitchen, since it’s mostly prepped in the back of house but cooked tableside by guests.
“What we're saying is, if you've got a good piece of real estate that’s not performing the way you’d like, we can help you convert it,” Johnston said. “You’ll probably end up selling your kitchen equipment.”
Johnston added that although the conversion program just started, the company is already getting a lot of interest in it from potential partners, particularly in the areas where the Melting Pot wants to concentrate its expansion plans, in dense, upper income suburbs. The reason for that, he added, is that patrons might want to combine a three-course fondue meal (or the new and popular fondue happy hour) with other entertainment in the area.
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