In a stab at rejuvenation, 39-year-old On the Border is counting heavily on resurrecting elements of its past.
The casual Tex-Mex chain is pursuing what has become the classic revitalization strategy for a brand of appreciable age: Shine up the features that made it popular in the first place, then convert patrons who never knew it back then, most likely because they were too young. Or not yet born.
“We needed to make the brand sexy again,” CEO Tim Ward says of the mission he assumed upon becoming CEO in June of 2020.
The outcomes of that effort have come in a rush. In a stretch of a few weeks, On the Border has completed a nostalgia-focused restoration of a unit in Alpharetta, Ga.; signed its first new franchise deal in a decade, and packed spicier items into a menu designed to recall the brand's 1980s heyday.
The concept itself is also being tweaked to accentuate traditional points of differentiation. The first sections of units to be filled upon request are outdoor patios and bars, the brand’s signature design features. Those sections will be played up going forward, Ward told Restaurant Business.
The bar is already getting a brighter spotlight at the revamped Georgia unit, which On the Border describes as a test prototype. The section features new furniture and artwork, though the building has stuck with the concept’s traditional white adobe-style walls.
“By updating our prototype to look more like our first locations, we hope to remind people of how great the food, atmosphere and experience was and continues to be today,” said Mike Wood, On the Border’s chief real estate officer.
“We did not want to lose what we came from. We have loyal guests who remember us from decades ago,” said Ward.
The proof, he said, is the reception that the nostalgia-laced Alpharetta unit is getting. “It’s still very early, [bit] we’re crushing our 2019 numbers,” says Ward, citing what he acknowledges is a honeymoon sales boost of 10 to 15 percentage points.
Because of the effort to preserve cues to On the Border’s past, the re-do was economical, though cost savings weren’t the goal, says Ward.
“I can take what we did in Alpharetta and do that in 10 buildings,” he says.
The box economics are drawing attention from franchisees, Ward continues. A lodging operator called Perspective Hospitality intends to open a new On the Border this summer in San Padre Island, Texas, twinned with a Hilton Garden Inn.
“We are now working with three other franchisees,” says Ward. In addition, “corporate stores will be opening in the Northeast. We want to get big again.”
The chain currently extends to 125 locations in 31 states—large enough to lay claim to being the biggest Tex-Mex chain in the industry, Ward asserts.
Not everything is a nod to nostalgia. The brand’s new menu, for instance, has been slimmed down, and the selections pack more flavor than the preparations they replace, according to Ward.
But, the chain says, “the revamped menu features a design that takes guests back to its glory days in the 80’s.”
Patrons are also reminded of On the Border’s heritage in an updated way through the Queso Club, a subscription program for members of the chain’s loyalty program. For a $1 fee, customers are entitled to a free serving of queso, a signature of the concept.
On the Border is currently owned by Argonne Capital Group, which acquired the brand from Golden Gate Capital in 2014, when the chain had 157 locations.
Earlier, it had been owned by Brinker International, the parent of Chli’s and Maggiano’s Little Italy. Brinker bought the brand in the mid-1990s, after On The Border’s CEO was killed in a small plane crash.