Restaurant Business’ Future 50 ranking of up-and-coming chains unsurprisingly includes a hefty number of limited-service brands that have flourished during the pandemic. This is, after all, a ranking of chains that are expected to be the next big things in the industry. And recent years have been quite kind to concepts that do not employ wait staff.
So then, what to make of Buddy’s Pizza? Not only is it full service, but it’s a full-service pizza brand, something that seemed to go out of style as more consumers ate their pies at home.
Yet here it is, firmly entrenched in the ranking after generating $30.6 million in system sales last year, up more than a quarter from the year before.
“The beautiful thing about the restaurant industry and the full-service restaurant industry is we provide opportunities for people to come together,” Katy Dean, Buddy’s chief operating officer, said in an interview. “And we have that need to come together with friends.”
While the Future 50 is indeed dominated by counter-service restaurants, nine of the chains featured have wait staff, proving that strong concepts with table-service models can still resonate during the era of the drive-thru.
Even some of the supposed fast-casuals, such as Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, hold onto excess service. Great Greek brings food out to customers, staging the meal and clearing the table when they’re done. “We feel like it’s the closest thing to a full-service environment in a fast-casual setting,” Company President Bob Anderson told RB Associate Editor Reyna Estrada.
RB has been publishing its Future 50 ranking, in conjunction with our sister company Technomic, for more than a decade, though this year’s list returns after a pandemic-related hiatus in 2021 when the list was pared to a much smaller group.
The ranking lists the 50 chains we believe represent the future of the industry. Past honorees have included companies like Shake Shack, Dutch Bros. and Freddy’s Frozen Custard, among others.
One notable change this time, however: Companies are ranked by their size, rather than their growth. While growth is important in the ranking, we felt it best to not simply reward fast growth for fast growth’s sake. These are companies that have shown consistent performance.
Restaurants on the ranking have averaged 25.5% system sales growth over the past three years, and 21% unit growth. But they’ve come out of the pandemic just fine, with average sales growth of nearly 44%.
And this year’s ranking does feature mostly limited-service concepts. Customers have shifted much of their spending toward counter-service restaurants and those with drive-thrus. Entrepreneurs have responded by developing concepts that serve the convenience-focused customer, and investors have pumped money into those chains.
The Future 50 highlights plenty of international cuisines, with seven Mexican concepts, five Asian chains and a trio of Mediterranean or Greek concepts. But there are a few tried-and-true chains, including four chicken brands, a pair of burger chains and five sandwich concepts.
But consumers clearly like breakfast. Six companies on the ranking are full-service breakfast-and-lunch concepts, including Eggs Up Grill, Flying Biscuit Cafe, Huckleberry’s, Breakfast Republic, Brick & Spoon and Scramblers.
The Spartanburg, S.C.-based Eggs Up finished last year with 53 locations. The franchise has 57 restaurants now and expects to have just under 70 by the end of the year. It also just signed a deal with a franchisee who will operate 30 locations in Dallas-Fort Worth.
“The better breakfast category, there’s a lot of appeal to that,” said CEO Ricky Richardson, noting that the company has more than doubled its unit count since 2018, when it operated 24 restaurants. “It’s an attractive category and occasion and is probably attractive for a lot of folks.”
The company’s average unit volumes are now 25% higher than they were pre-pandemic, he said. Eggs Up focused on more takeout and delivery and introduced adult beverages like mimosas. “We had a great reputation going into the pandemic,” Richardson said. “And then people in our markets started loosening up. They wanted to go places and trade with places that made them feel good.”
But while Eggs Up is riding a trend of better breakfast concepts, Buddy’s is almost going counter-trend.
Pizza for years was served in full-service restaurants, and chains like Pizza Hut led the way. But that has rapidly shifted over the past two decades as more consumers simply get their pizzas to take home. Even Pizza Hut has almost entirely shifted its brand to focus on takeout and delivery, mostly abandoning its full-service “red roof” restaurants.
Ironically, Pizza Hut helped Buddy’s with its Detroit-style pizza promotion last year that helped generate considerable interest in that kind of pie. “It’s been a 76-year, pretty well-kept secret,” Dean said.
But she also noted that there is plenty of interest in full-service pizza right now. “I think there’s a certain degree of nostalgia for the pizza parlor,” Dean said. “We grew up going to full-service pizzerias. And there’s not a more sharable food than pizza and beer.”
Regardless, she said, the performance proves that concepts can work as long as they stay true to themselves and give customers what they want.
“There’s something about your restaurant that adds value,” Dean said. “The best decisions are made from leaning into that brand truth.”
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