BBQ Holdings’ purchase of Granite City Food & Brewery in March 2020 marked the start of a new era for the Famous Dave’s parent—one marked primarily by more acquisitions.
Around the time of the Granite City deal, it also bought a one-unit Chicago quick-serve concept Real Urban Barbecue. In July, it added the family-dining chains Village Inn and Bakers Square.
And last week, it won an auction for the Tahoe Joe’s steakhouse chain along with the intellectual property for five defunct buffet brands, including Old Country Buffet.
That brings its holdings to seven brands, not counting the buffets—or five more than it had before the pandemic began. Those brands account for nearly 300 physical locations. And it’s probably not done.
“There has to be a strategic reason for it, and a fit in the portfolio,” CEO Jeff Crivello said of any future moves the company makes, a principle that also applies to the deals it’s done so far.
Here’s a look at BBQ’s plans for some of those new assets.
Tahoe Joe’s
BBQ got a whole haul of brands in Tuesday’s bankruptcy auction, but Joe’s is the one it really wanted. The five-unit chain’s wood pellet-smoked steaks pair well with Famous Dave’s own fare, and BBQ plans to list one chain’s items on the menu of the other.
"Some of them we may add some Famous Dave’s items to. A lot of Famous Dave's, we will probably add the Tahoe Joe’s items to," Crivello said in an interview with Restaurant Business.
That aligns with the company’s broader strategy to co-brand Dave’s with complementary concepts. It has also aired plans to offer Bakers Square pies at Famous Dave’s, for instance.
As for the buffet brands, BBQ has “no immediate plans” to revive them, Crivello said.
Village Inn
BBQ is innovating on the 135-unit family-dining chain with a new prototype that focuses on breakfast. The “a.m. eatery” stores will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., eliminating dinner in favor of lower labor costs.
“The a.m. eateries are very attractive from a labor perspective,” Crivello said. “You can get the kids off the bus, you can be at the dinner table every night, and you can really make a career out of it.”
The first one will open in Omaha, Neb., in Q1, and the company will likely convert many of its existing Village Inns to the new model.
“That’s the benefit of having 135 units and being flexible,” Crivello said. “If it’s working, wonderful, if it’s not, then we have to evolve.”
Real Urban Barbecue
BBQ had long coveted the single-unit Chicago concept for its fast-casual take on barbecue, a direction the company wanted to pursue with its flagship brand.
“We knew that was the next evolution for Famous Dave’s, but we needed to learn how to do it,” Crivello said.
Last week, it opened a second Real Urban location in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook that features the company’s new “Quick ‘Que” line-service format, which Crivello likened to Chipotle.
Quick ‘Que is being implemented in the Famous Dave’s system as well. The model calls for a smaller footprint—about 3,000 square feet compared to the typical 6,500 for its full-service restaurants. Some Quick ‘Ques will also have a drive-thru.
Crivello expects to get the same volume out of the Quick ‘Ques as it would a regular Dave’s, thanks to a robust to-go business.
“Fifty percent of our current full-serve Famous Dave’s business is off-premise,” he said. “We can shrink the restaurant by 50% from what it used to be and still do the same business.”
Granite City and ghost kitchens
The company has been working to make the most of Granite City’s large restaurants by doubling them up as ghost kitchens for Famous Dave’s. It’s the first step in what could become a full-fledged co-branding of the barbecue concept and the 18-unit Midwestern brewpub.
The company will look at adding Dave’s to the dine-in menu and signage in locations where the brand is generating $10,000 a week in to-go orders, Crivello said. It would even consider opening a stand-alone Dave’s in the same market.
“If there’s a lot of demand, that’s good purpose to open a new restaurant or elevate it to a dual concept,” Crivello said.
Markets where Dave’s works well as a to-go-only concept tend to have two things in common: There is or has been a Famous Dave’s there, and the demographic skews younger, to about 25 and up.