Smalls Sliders has positioned itself for meteoric growth in the next several quarters, with more than 300 units currently in some phase of development. Such a pace can put a tremendous amount of pressure on operations, but that’s why the company added Julie Hauser-Blanner about five months ago as the chief operations officer.
The role at a fledgling quick-service brand looks quite different from her previous work – as chief franchise officer at European Wax Center and, prior, leading operations at Front Burner Restaurants, Bonefish Grill, and Outback Steakhouse. She was happy at EWC, but many of her former colleagues in the restaurant industry encouraged her to investigate Smalls Sliders a bit more and “take the call.”
“They were enamored by this, and they told me to check it out. When I got the call, I thought it was pretty interesting,” she said during a recent interview at Prosper Forum in Amelia Island, Fla.
It helped that she “clicked” with Smalls’ chief executive officer Maria Rivera and immediately bought into her vision for the brand.
“The simplicity of the brand – it’s so exciting, it’s so disruptive, and it’s exactly what the consumer is looking for,” Hauser-Blanner said. “And it’s going to sound cliché, but I felt seen – culturally it was the most perfect fit and culture is super important.”
Now, Hauser-Blanner is tasked with replicating that culture at hundreds of restaurants – which the company calls “cans” due to their modular prototype – and relatively quickly. To do so, she is focused on testing and learning things like how to be consistent, how to achieve speed and throughput, and how to create efficiencies.
“It’s all about efficiencies because you don’t have a lot of space in that kitchen,” she said.
Indeed, Smalls Sliders’ cans are about 800 square feet, so “efficiency” isn’t just important but necessary. This is where culture once again plays a role.
“It’s about new equipment, new time and motion, but it’s also about the culture within that small can. It’s amazing how quickly you can be disjointed, so [culture] is so important. But, because we only have a few items, we can continue to innovate not only on the product, on the speed and pace, and also on the culture,” she said.
Small’s menu includes cheeseburger sliders, fries (that can be covered in queso or the brand’s proprietary “Smauce”), shakes, and drinks. That’s it. Though such a streamlined menu might sound like an operator’s dream, Hauser-Blanner said it generates higher expectations for consistency and speed.
“Quite honestly, I love the fast pace,” she said.
To maintain that pace, however, she is focused on ramping up the company’s training processes. Smalls is in the process of opening a new training center near its headquarters in Atlanta, for instance, to provide a better opportunity to test and learn new products, new equipment, and new training mechanisms. The operations team has also elevated standard operating procedures and refined a learning management system.
“We’re now getting in front of cans to educate team members before we land the can. We have a process now that we’re going to revisit everything every quarter … not only to onboard [employees] but also franchisees – all of the things that will continue to evolve us as we grow into a bigger brand,” Hauser-Blanner said.
The near-term goal, she added, is to get the “training so buttoned up” by the first quarter of 2025 that Smalls is able to open cans quickly, efficiently, and “smartly at volumes that are scalable.”
“Importantly, we’re going to keep learning. We have to be nimble and fail fast because we are going so fast,” she said.
In addition to adding a training center, Smalls also recently launched its Franchise Advisory Council. This has been a critical milestone, Hauser-Blanner said, that will accelerate the pace of openings even more.
“The council will inform us, and we’re going to grow because we’re going to do it together with our franchisees,” she said. “The excitement around this brand is what is charging up purchases of the cans. The development is wild and crazy, but we’ve been systematic about it, and we will continue learning.”
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
