A pair of legacy family-dining brands are out to prove that age is only a number.
Perkins, the 68-year-old chain best known for its bakery case, recently began serving boba and frozen margaritas, while its younger sibling Huddle House, 61, is rolling out smash burgers.
The of-the-moment menu updates are part of sweeping rebrands at the two chains under owner Ascent Hospitality Management. The Atlanta-based company is hoping that more modern food and restaurants will help its brands break through with younger consumers.
Perkins and Huddle House are classics of the family-dining genre. They specialize in breakfast staples, homestyle favorites and homey atmospheres—Perkins largely in the Midwest and East Coast and Huddle House in the South.
But they have receded over the years. Both are much smaller than they were a decade ago. And, like the rest of family dining, they have been losing customers. Systemwide sales fell 5.3% at Perkins last year and 6.4% at Huddle House, according to Technomic data.
Huddle House introduced smash burgers in April.
The problem, in part, has been a generational divide. “When we spoke to younger customers, we found that Perkins is just not as relevant,” said Ascent CEO James O’Reilly, who joined the company in 2023.
But Ascent has also learned that longtime fans still have a deep affection for Perkins and Huddle House. The restaurants tend to be community hubs, “a part of life” in the cities and towns where they operate, O’Reilly said.
Ascent approached the rebrands with those two lessons in mind.
“We wanted to really speak in a variety of ways to those younger customers … while also reassuring current customers that it’s the same great brand you’ve always known and loved,” O’Reilly said.
Perkins perks up
Perkins’ rebrand actually started with a new name. Last June, the 260-unit chain dropped “Restaurant and Bakery” in favor of the more streamlined Perkins American Food Co. The chain also revived a cursive logo from the 1970s, with some minor tweaks.
With the new identity set, Ascent then turned to the chain’s menu. It brought in an outside consultant, and it focused on dinner, where Perkins sees an opportunity to do more business.
It ultimately changed about 50% of the dinner menu, adding new appetizers and handhelds as well as more complex flavors and modern ingredients.
It’s not a wholesale overhaul. Familiar favorites like the turkey dinner remain, but they’re upgraded: The turkey served at Perkins’ new flagship in Orlando is now roasted, for instance, a process that will soon be rolled out chainwide.
Perkins' new flagship restaurant in Orlando.
At breakfast, Ascent found that most of Perkins’ items were still working for customers—think classics like pancakes, Eggs Benedict and omelettes. But it did add some new options that are more “progressive,” O’Reilly said, like the Maple Bacon Pancake—a pancake stack topped with bacon and eggs and drizzled with maple syrup.
But perhaps the brand’s most radical transformation was on the beverage side, where it has added modern sips like boba as well as craft cocktails, including frozen margaritas and mojitos.
Beverages are booming across the industry, with drink-focused chains like Dutch Bros, 7 Brew and Swig growing quickly and large QSRs like McDonald’s and Taco Bell launching new beverage options. Ascent believes there’s room for family dining to get in on the action.
“We do see beverages and on-the-go beverages as a big growth opportunity for both of the brands,” O’Reilly said.
Perkins is testing a robotic beverage machine from Botrista to mix some of its new drinks at several locations in Florida.
Alongside the new menu, the chain has developed a new restaurant design that will serve as a blueprint for future openings.
The first one opened in March in Orlando. The layout is bright and contemporary, with tiled floors, pendant lighting and a patio. At 3,500 square feet, it’s about half the size of a typical Perkins. It still features the chain’s signature bakery case, where customers can buy pies, cookies and other treats. It also sports the chain’s new name and logo.
A rendering of Perkins' Griddle & Go fast-casual concept.
Simultaneously, the company also created a fast-casual version of Perkins called Griddle & Go, another nod to younger, on-the-go customers.
The spinoff is just 1,500 square feet and will focus on takeout, though it also seats 65. It will serve breakfast sandwiches and burgers as well as more classic items like omelettes and benedicts--but even these can be ordered as bowls for better portability.
Beverages will also be a big part of Griddle & Go. And there will be more technology, including self-service ordering kiosks.
The first Griddle & Go opened in Ontario, Canada, in November. It will give franchisees a more flexible development option and opens the door to nontraditional locations like airports and college campuses.
Huddle House brings it in
Like Perkins, the rebrand at 270-unit Huddle House involves a new look, menu and restaurant design, with a bigger focus on off-premise.
For its new logo, the chain looked to its waffles, which are stamped with the initials HH. It also upgraded the quality of its popular biscuits, as well as its burgers, chicken and buns.
Ascent is keen on growing Huddle House beyond small towns and into urban and suburban locations. Many of the changes it is making are intended to help it adapt to these new markets.
For instance, it is adding more portable menu items, such as waffle tacos, breakfast burritos and the smash burgers, as well as a new beverage platform, all with to-go customers in mind.
A rendering shows the inside of a redesigned Huddle House.
New restaurant designs will have a similar goal. They are smaller and more like quick-service units, with walkup windows and even drive-thrus.
“The nature of the trade areas that we see growing Huddle House into, and the type of technology we’ll be using in new assets, points us to the need for more off-premise options,” O’Reilly said.
O’Reilly added that he wants Ascent to become the technology leader in family dining. The company recently hired Brian Wallunas, former CTO at Smokey Bones, as its first chief technology officer.
“I expect us to be able to announce many bold and exciting things over the next six to 12 months with respect to technology and building toward the vision of being the family-dining technology leader,” O’Reilly said.
A new day for family dining?
Family-dining had a tough year last year. Total sales among Top 500 family-dining chains were flat, according to Technomic, lower than the overall industry.
O’Reilly said family dining is particularly sensitive to economic downturns because customers tend to have lower average incomes.
And yet he also believes family dining has some unique advantages. He cited Black Box Intelligence data showing that consumers rate family dining more highly for food, experience and value than casual dining, and that the average price per person is lower.
“The opportunity for family dining is absolutely present and in front of us,” he said. “The challenge for it and the opportunity for us is to continue to execute against it.”
It’s still early, but so far, the results of the twin rebrands have been positive. At Perkins, customers are responding well to new menu items, and dinner sales are improving. The brand has rebuilt its presence on Instagram and TikTok and is seeing stronger engagement from younger customers. And franchisees have signed deals to open 46 Griddle & Go units in New Jersey.
At Huddle House, development is also picking up, with 50 franchise agreements in the pipeline, including the largest deal in the brand’s history that will bring 20 locations to the Houston area.
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