As COO of Smokey Bones, Hal Lawlor has been instrumental in defining the brand as we know it today. After he and former CEO James O’Reilly joined in 2019, they worked to return the concept to its barbecue roots, concocting the tagline “Meat is what we do” and cutting menu items that didn’t fit the bill, like fish and chips.
Four years later, Lawlor, Smokey Bones’ newly minted president (and still COO), will take the reins from O’Reilly, who left this month to become the CEO of Ascent Hospitality Management. And coincidentally, one of Lawlor’s first projects will be trimming the menu (again).
Smokey Bones' COO Hal Lawlor has added president to his title. | Photo courtesy of Smokey Bones
The chain’s bill of fare runs to 12 pages and features Smokey’s signature ribs, chicken wings and burgers as well as sandwiches, soups, salads, bowls and seafood. Lawlor wants to drop some unpopular or less profitable items “to really focus in on pushing guests towards those menu items that have high consumer satisfaction,” like its award-winning ribs and wings. The desired result is better quality and execution.
It’s part of a larger effort to improve the guest experience at 62-unit Smokey Bones as traffic slows. The chain’s total sales rose just 1.1% in 2022, according to Technomic data, and Lawlor acknowledged the brand has not been immune to falling guest counts that have plagued the industry.
Smokey Bones’ solution: become customers’ casual-dining destination of choice. “People have so many options, and you want that personal connection with the guest,” Lawlor said. “You want to become their personal favorite.”
A smaller, more manageable menu will be part of that effort. By limiting the options, execution should improve because the kitchen is making more of the same thing. And in the front of house, servers will simply have less to remember.
“There’s nothing worse for the server than to be asked a question about the menu that they can’t answer,” Lawlor said.
Though the menu is shrinking, signatures like ribs will remain. | Photo courtesy of Smokey Bones
Florida-based Smokey Bones is also stepping up its focus on hospitality and service—a onetime competitive advantage that has been eroded by the chaos of the past three years.
During the pandemic, “if you could just get to the table with a smile and get food out in under 20 minutes, you were winning,” Lawlor said. Now that restrictions have disappeared and prices have risen, “that elevated expectation is back.”
To meet those expectations, Smokey Bones is drilling employees on hospitality 101: menu knowledge, salesmanship and simple etiquette—like escorting a customer to the restroom rather than pointing them toward it. Over time, the chain plans to develop more sophisticated e-learning and gamified training programs, Lawlor said.
Smokey Bones is also working on ways to drive transactions outside of its restaurants, particularly with catering.
“Catering is probably the No. 1 growth platform that we will have in the near future,” Lawlor said. The service will get its first big media push next month.
Catering goes hand-in-hand with another piece of Smokey Bones’ off-premise strategy: virtual brands. Smokey Bones plans to start marketing its four delivery-only brands—The Wing Experience, The Burger Experience, Bowl Market and Tender Box—as options for catering clients.
“We think we’re gonna gain more traction out of [virtual brands] from a catering option,” he said.
The brands also live under one roof at Bite Hall, an online food hall where customers can order from all five concepts for delivery or pickup, with food prepared in Smokey Bones kitchens. Lawlor said the chain will continue with this approach, but needs to put more marketing behind it.
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