When Melt Shop launched in 2011, founder Spencer Rubin’s goal was to serve “best-in-class grilled cheese sandwiches.” But as the concept grew from one to 15 locations and went through a pandemic year, Rubin had to innovate and adapt through incremental change. Here are five lessons learned as Melt Shop evolved.
Broaden menu categories. When a customer craves a grilled cheese sandwich, nothing else will satisfy. But Rubin discovered that those cravings didn’t happen as frequently as those for burgers or pizza. “If I wanted to make a strong go of this, I had to broaden the menu to create categories people crave with more frequency,” he said. So Melt Shop’s menu expanded to include chicken tenders, a crispy chicken sandwich, burgers and mac and cheese. “We have something that’s great for everyone and food that competes with the best players in those spaces,” he said
Cut ticket times. WhenMelt Shop opened its first New York City location, the ticket time was 13 minutes to create a grilled cheese sandwich or melt from scratch. Customers could opt for several varieties of bread and fillings, requiring different cook times and temperatures. “That was too long for people to wait when they only had 30 minutes for lunch,” said Rubin. To solve the problem, he brought in equipment samples from a number of manufacturers to find an alternative to the grill. “Conveyor technology solved the problem,” he said. “We were able to make a consistent product with consistent quality.”
Stay true to your mission. When new menu items are added, Rubin’s primary goal is to “make something great. Cross-utilization of ingredients comes second,” he said. And every item has to pass the differentiation test. “How do we Melt Shop-ify it?” is his mantra, creating food with big, bold, craveable flavors. An example he’s particularly proud of is the Korean crispy chicken sandwich added to the core menu. “It quickly jumped ahead on the the menu and really fit how we position products,” he said. Rubin was also ahead of the curve—Shake Shack introduced its Korean Fried Chicken Sandwich several months later.
Don’t stand still. In the beginning, Melt Shop’s business was 75% in-store and 25% delivery, but in the last year, it made a 180-degree turn. “We used to build food like people were getting it in real time, but now everything has to be built with a delivery focus first,” said Rubin. In his aim to deliver “an exceptional experience,” he reformulated the crispy chicken tenders and crispy chicken sandwiches to optimize them for delivery.
“One of the benefits of starting as a grilled cheese restaurant was that we really kicked the tires on packaging,” he said. “Grilled cheese is one of the most challenging products to maintain quality during carryout or delivery.” As more business moved off-premise, he had a competitive packaging program in place to fit Melt Shop’s products.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Last year, Rubin realized the pandemic wasn’t going to be over quickly and he launched a virtual concept—Wing Shop—in April 2020 to drive incremental revenue. “The wing category was complimentary to our existing menu and equipment package, plus wings traveled well and were frequently consumed for the dinner daypart, where we saw the business going,” he said.
It was a good first test so Rubin and his team built out a second virtual brand, a melted cheesesteak concept. “The results just weren’t there,” he said. “We didn’t see an increase in business and we weren’t moving food. We realized it wasn’t the right category for us to be playing in.”
Melt Shop launched and closed the cheesesteak concept within six weeks. “I’m as proud of that failure as I am of my successes,” he said. “We moved on from it and directed our resources to refocus on the core menu, build out new digital app and try other virtual brands.” Mac Shop and Crispy Chicken Shop came next—both of which are doing well. “We’re now rolling these out from three test stores to all our locations."
To hear more about Melt Shop, listen in on the Menu Feed podcast with Spencer Rubin.
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