If you invited someone to breakfast at 7 a.m. at a Granite City brewery, they might look at you funny.
But that incongruous scenario could be possible in the near future under BBQ Holdings' plans for the 18-unit brewpub chain it acquired in March 2020.
In a quarterly update Wednesday, the parent of Famous Dave's and six other concepts unveiled intentions to marry its Granite City restaurants with the recently acquired Village Inn family-dining brand in order to squeeze more revenues out of the brewery's large boxes.
Under the proposed dual concept arrangement, Village Inn's menu would be served in a Granite City from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., at which point the bill of fare would flip to Granite City's.
BBQ believes Granite City's restaurants can generate more revenue than they are. Its kitchens were designed to do $6 million in sales every year, but before the pandemic, its AUVs were just $3.9 million. BBQ estimated that adding Village Inn would generate an additional $1 million annually.
The company's mix-and-match strategy is not limited to the breweries. It also plans to put Famous Dave's inside Tahoe Joe's, the five-unit steakhouse chain it acquired last month, for an additional $800,000 in annual revenue per store. Eight Granite City restaurants are already being used as ghost kitchens for the barbecue brand, the most successful of which will become full-fledged dual-concept locations. Meanwhile, BBQ wants to sell Bakers Square pies at Granite City, Famous Dave's and the two-unit Real Urban BBQ. The company acquired Bakers Square and Village Inn in July.
Like Granite City, Famous Dave's has room for more volume: It's 6,500-square-foot stores were designed to generate more than the $2.8 million AUVs it is currently doing, the company said. BBQ is looking to acquire a "known pizza brand" with simple operations to pair with Dave's as either a dual concept or virtual brand. And it launched a virtual burger brand called $5 Burger that is also designed as an incremental revenue driver.
In the third quarter ended Oct. 3, BBQ's brands generated total revenue of $55.4 million and net income of $4.8 million. Same-store sales compared to 2019 were a mixed bag:
- Famous Dave's company-owned: +12.4%
- Famous Dave's franchise-operated: +6.9%
- Granite City: -0.5%
- Village Inn company-owned: -8.1%
- Bakers Square: -20.2%
The Village Inn and Bakers Square figures include sales under prior ownership.
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