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The network was founded in 1958.
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At its peak there were 700 seats.
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The brand is famous for its unlimited salad bar, which offers much more than salads.
In college, my roommate and I looked for value when talking about off-campus dining options. Chains like Oliver Garden, which offer unlimited soups and breadsticks, were on our radar, as well as various local bars with unlimited wings.
Every now and then we went to Ponderosa for breakfast, a chain that offers all-you-can-eat weekend breakfast and brunch at a reasonable price. The food wasn’t that good, but there was bacon, sausage, and waffle bars, which was enough for us in the early 1990s.
But for dinner, one brand was a kind of holy grail of value and decadence. If we went to Sizzler, we could get a delicious steak and access to its all-you-can-eat salad bar, where the biggest attraction was an incredibly thick New England clam chowder.
Sizzler was founded back in 1958. with a simple slogan.
Why does a nice juicy steak have to break the bank?
That remains a valid question, but the chain has struggled for decades and is now down from more than 700 locations to fewer than 80. But the brand, or at least its management, believes a comeback is possible.
QSR Magazine’s Danny Klein interviewed Sizzler’s Chief Growth Officer Robert Clark about the chain’s latest revival efforts. Clark has been with Sizzler since 1984 in various roles before joining the C-Suite.
In his 41 years with the company, Clark has seen many attempts to replace or revive the chain. Most of them, he noted, were thoughtless and focused on rebranding.
“Our current management is much more focused on, ‘Hey, let’s take the best of Sizzler and make it even better,'” he told QSR.
Sizzler survived despite the fact that in 1996 and 2000 bankruptcy proceedings were filed.
Chief executive Chris Perkins, who has held the job since 2019, admitted the chain’s struggles cannot be solely blamed on Covid.
“Many company-owned restaurant locations have struggled against the pandemic,” Perkins said, Restaurant Business reported.
He blamed a number of factors, including higher labor costs and local taxes, for making it difficult to maintain profitability.
The chain focused on store remodeling. It worked, according to QSR Magazine:
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The brand’s sales in the renovated restaurants increased by approximately 47%.
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The location, whose renovation was completed a few months ago, has seen a 100 percent increase in sales.
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Sizzler has completed nine renovations in the past two years and has a plan for franchisees to follow suit.