Real Estate: Family Plan
Johnny Rockets looks for locations full of families having fun together.
By Mary Boltz Chapman, Editor-in-Chief -- Chain Leader, 6/1/2007
|
|
Johnny Rockets attracts families with upbeat music played from nickel jukeboxes, dancing servers and an “all-American diner” atmosphere. So the company’s real-estate strategy targets families where they play, including cruise ships, amusement parks and sports arenas.
The Lake Forest, Calif.-based concept’s first agreement with Royal Caribbean International was for five ships, the first of which debuted in 2000. Both companies were happy with the arrangement, according to Mimi Somerman, senior vice president of marketing for Johnny Rockets Group Inc., so a new development agreement added at least six and up to 12 more locations. The eighth restaurant opened in February on a refurbished cruise ship, the Majesty of the Seas, and another is under construction.
The restaurants, operated under a licensing agreement, are the same size as an average Johnny Rockets, seating about 85 guests. The menu is simplified, in part to speed up operations and to help people get in and out quickly, Somerman says, but also to limit the number of SKUs required on board. On some ships, customers pay a $3 or $4 fee above their all-inclusive costs to eat Johnny Rockets’ hamburgers, fries and shakes.
Extending Vacations
“For Johnny Rockets, it’s less about the volume and it’s more about the exposure and a marketing partnership that we have with them,” Somerman says. “We get regular comments from people saying what a wonderful time they had on the cruise ship, and they can’t wait to go to Johnny Rockets on land.”
Somerman says the family fun of a cruise ship fits well with the 205-unit hamburger chain’s experience, and taps the relationship in marketing. Last year, Johnny Rockets created an online game in which customers could win cruises, restaurant gift cards or branded gear. This summer’s promotion has not been finalized, but will again cross-promote the brands.
Working at Play
New parent RedZone Capital Fund II, which acquired Johnny Rockets in March, brings another family event to the table: amusement parks. It owns a portion of Six Flags Inc. and plans to open 26 Johnny Rockets in the parks over the next three years, including five or six this year. The concept is operating in a few amusement parks now, including Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.
Expansion plans call for the chain to have 850 to 1,000 units operating in five years, Somerman says. Some of those units will also appear in sports arenas, another place families gather, she adds.
Johnny Rockets has also been working on a prototype for an express unit, with a footprint averaging under 1,000 square feet and requiring about half the capital investment, $300,000. A variety of floor plans will help the chain’s aggressive expansion, enabling it to fit into many spaces.
View All Blogs
