Jose Dueñas, chief brand office for Oklahoma City-based Sonic Corp., said the company’s marketing was intent on personalizing the customer relationship. Sonic, which has more than 3,500 locations nationwide, is evolving its television advertising to more 15-second ads, from the traditional 30-second ads, to improve penetration. The long-running “Two Guys” campaign will be updated. “In the next three to six months, you will see new approaches to our campaign,” Dueñas said. “The Two Guys will continue to play a role, but you should not be surprised to see different people in the car.”

Michael O’Donnell, chairman and CEO of the 155-unit Winter Park, Fla.-based Ruth’s Hospitality Group Inc., said: “I think the business is up. … We are in a mature business. The result is we consistently have to be that much better. It’s certainly not inexpensive to eat in a steakhouse. We continually have to find ways to create value.”

Steve Hislop, president and CEO of Austin, Texas-based Chuy’s Holdings Inc., said the casual-dining Mexican chain has found ways to deal with various tipped-wage levels in the markets where it operates. “What we do to combat that is we have menu tiers,” he said. “It’s a little higher in higher markets to offset that.” The company has four tiers of menu pricing, with the range being as much as a 14-percent difference. Chuy’s has 88 restaurants in 19 states.

Denny Marie Post, president and CEO of Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc., said the casual-dining chain would reconsider future growth in a “next generation” format, which the company is now researching. “We also know we have a future ahead of us that requires us to give guests what they want, when they want it, where they want it and how they want it,” Post said. Red Robin has 560 restaurants.

Anthony Laday, chief financial officer of Dallas-based Fogo de Chao Inc., said the churrascaria chain is seeing confidence among consumers. “People are going out not just to any restaurant, but to restaurants that provide the kind of service that we do,” he said. Fogo de Chao operates 38 restaurants in the United States, nine locations in Brazil, two joint venture restaurants in Mexico, and one joint venture restaurant in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Darden Restaurants Inc. earlier this week said preliminary analysis of the recent tax reform indicates the company would realize a $70 million net tax benefit, and it was investing $20 million of that in its workforce. Darden CEO Gene Lee told ICR Conference attendees: “We thought this was the appropriate time to pass through some of these savings to our team members and workforce.” While not offering details, Lee said the investments will be “retentive in nature” to maintain what he said were Darden’s lower-than-average employee turnover rates. Orlando, Fla.-based Darden owns and operates more than 1,600 casual-dining restaurants, including Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze and Eddie V’s.

Jeff Lawrence, chief financial officer for Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino’s Pizza Inc., said delivery has been part of his company’s DNA since it was founded in 1960. “We’ve been, I guess it’s first-party delivery for 57 years,” Lawrence said. “We know a little bit about food delivery. What I can tell you about food delivery is it’s extraordinarily difficult. It’s not an easy business to do well at scale, especially everywhere at scale.” Domino’s has more than 14,400 stores in more than 85 international markets.

Tara Comonte, Shake Shack Inc. chief financial officer, said the company is still determining the effects of the recently signed tax reform bill. “Suffice to say, it’s early days,” Comonte told ICR Conference attendees. “We are working through the bill, as every other company is. We will give you tax notice next month on our call. Of course, the lower federal tax rate will decrease our effective tax rate.” New York City-based Shake Shack has 160 units, with 100 in the United States.

Russell Bendel, CEO and president of The Habit Restaurants Inc., said the company is looking into delivery. “We met with all third-party delivery companies,” he told ICR Conference attendees. “People want convenience, but we’re not willing to give 30-plus percent of the proceeds to a third-party delivery company. We’d like to get into a test sometime in the first quarter of this year in a specific area. … Some of that cost of delivery has to be borne by the consumer, not totally by the restaurant company.” Irvine, Calif.-based Habit has 209 units.

Nigel Travis, CEO and chairman of Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc., said the ongoing simplification of the Dunkin’ Donuts menu emphasizes beverages and offers opportunities. “Simplification is really the basis,” he told ICR Conference attendees. “Some have called it the biggest simplification exercise in the industry. … It’s very data-driven, based on research.” The simplification helps franchisee margins, he said, and helps recruitment and retention of staff as well. “We’ve created space to put in innovation,” Travis said, much of which will be led by beverages. Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin has 20,000 units worldwide under the Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins brands.