Raving Brands Sells Planet Smoothie and Shane's Rib Shack
President Daryl Dollinger says the move lets the multiconcept restaurant company focus on expanding the emerging brands in its portfolio.
By Maya Norris, Managing Editor -- Chain Leader, 1/15/2009 3:24:00 PM
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| Raving Brands sold Shane's Rib Shack and Planet Smoothie to focus more attention on expanding the other emerging concepts in its portfolio. |
Raving Brands President Daryl Dollinger talked to Chain Leader about how the sale allows the company to focus on the other emerging brands in its portfolio: The Flying Biscuit Café, a full-service, eight-unit chain that serves breakfast all day; Boneheads Grilled Fish and Piri Piri Chicken, a fast-casual fish and chicken concept with seven units; Monkey Joe's Parties and Play, a 32-unit indoor children's entertainment center; and Doc Green's Gourmet Salads and Grill, a fast-casual salad concept with 12 units.
I was somewhat surprised when I heard you sold these concepts. Raving Brands considers Shane's Rib Shack a primary growth vehicle, and Planet Smoothie is a flagship concept since founder and Chairman Martin Sprock created it back in 1995. Why did you decide to sell both concepts?
We're focusing on growing some of these emerging brands. Planet Smoothie has been around a long time. We're really
| READ MORE: R&I interviews Chris Morocco, who becomes CEO of newly formed Petrus Brands, which will operate Shane's and Planet Smoothie. |
Shane's, same thing. We got it when it was just early on when Shane's started with one or two restaurants here in Atlanta and grew it into a regional concept, all over the country actually. And even now in the Middle East, there's stores of both these concepts.
We just wanted to change our tune a little bit and focus on the three other concepts that are growth vehicles right now [Monkey Joe's, Flying Biscuit and Boneheads]. They're a little bit earlier stage. Still a lot of work to do, but we feel the most excited about those three. Not that there was anything wrong with Planet or Shane's. We just felt it was time to move on and focus more on the three that we have existing and maybe even create another one in 2009.
What does this sale mean for the remaining concepts in Raving Brands portfolio?
Of the concepts, most of them are in high growth mode. Most of them, if not all of them, are in the early stages. Monkey Joe's and Flying Biscuit have had tremendous growth, and in 2009 we're forecasted for those two concepts to have tremendous growth again.
Boneheads and Doc Green's--not exactly the same story, but those are still a work in progress. But certainly just focusing on Monkey Joe's and Flying Biscuit. There's a lot of excitement around those. We're selling an awful lot of franchises of both of those. And those are really the two that are getting the most attention from the prospective franchisees.
For Boneheads and Doc Green's, what is Raving Brands doing to prepare those struggling concepts for expansion?
Every day we're working on those concepts to try to make them a better cost for our franchisees, working with purveyors and manufacturers on lowering costs for food, helping the existing franchisees find new real estate so they can expand and do more locations, and just always and forever looking at better ways to operate and train and refine some of the operations and the technologies that we use in all of our concepts, but specifically those two to help our franchisees become more profitable and make their operations more efficient.
What can you tell me about the new concept Raving Brands is launching this year?
It will be developed in house. ...It's definitely food. That's all I can say. It will definitely be fast casual.
When will it be launched?
Maybe third quarter of '09.
At one point, Raving Brands had nine brands in its portfolio. Did having that many concepts prove to be unwieldy for the company to handle?
Anytime you have nine of anything, it's hard to focus on one, two or three. Certainly we've enjoyed working with all the brands. We've done as best as we could. Some have done better than others. But certainly our thing is, let's slow down a little bit. The economy's pretty rough out there. Now's not the time to have nine brands, because out of the nine, all nine aren't going to be successful. Some are going to be more successful than others. Let's just kind of slow down and focus on the ones that we feel we can grow the best and work with the best. And that's really our plan.
There's been a lot of change at Raving Brands over the past year and a half. In 2007 you sold Moe's Southwest Grill. Last year you sold PJ's Coffee of New Orleans and Mama Fu's Asian House. And now you've sold Shane's and Planet Smoothie. In addition, you're still dealing with the lawsuits filed against you from the franchisees of Moe's, Mama Fu's and Doc Green's. Plus several of your top-level executives left the company in the summer. It seems like you're cleaning house and trying to start over. Is that the case?
I wouldn't say that we're starting over. I would certainly say we have some new beginnings. Certainly a lot of the people who have been here are still here like myself and others who have been here for an awfully long time. There have been some changes clearly. Some people have left. We've sold some concepts. But I wouldn't say we're cleaning house and starting over. I would just say we're refining what we have. We're cutting back a little bit of what we have in order for us to focus on our concepts, on our franchisees, inevitably try to help those franchisees be more profitable. And just be a stronger company.
Shane's and Planet didn't have any legal problems. Everyone says we're getting rid of them because they have legal problems. Shane's and Planet had no legal problems. ...Certainly the concepts that we're working with right now--Monkey Joe's, Flying Biscuit, Doc Green's and Boneheads--with the exception of Doc Green's, which does have one legal issue, the other three do not. The legal problems are in the past, and we still have to face them today, but we are looking for some new beginnings. We think we can take these brands and get over some of the hurdles that we have in kind of the older stuff and focus on what we have and just keep going strong every day.
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