Mina Haque is not the likeliest individual to show round a once-popular food franchise. She’s a lawyer by commerce and, till a number of years in the past, did not have any restaurant experience. However that did not cease her from accepting the problem and taking on as interim CEO of Tony Roma’s in 2023.
“I am a really completely happy lawyer,” she says, “I nonetheless apply legislation, however I could not flip them down — their traders needed to guard their funding, they usually favored how I believe and my strategy and management expertise, they usually needed somebody examined. So, right here I’m.”
Now, Haque is embarking on a comeback plan to return the once-thriving franchise to prominence — after which to even better heights.
Based in 1972 in Miami, Florida, Tony Roma’s, identified for its child again ribs and family-friendly environment, was as soon as a well-liked vacation spot for informal eating throughout the nation. At its peak within the early Nineties, the franchise had 260 places throughout the U.S., concentrated in Florida and California.
However, as shopper tastes shifted and competitors within the informal eating house intensified, Tony Roma’s struggled to keep up its foothold. Over the previous few a long time, most U.S. places closed, leaving the model with a a lot stronger presence internationally than at house. However regardless of its global presence stretching from Guam to Germany to Guatemala, the model lately teetered on the sting of extinction within the U.S. — house to solely six of its 60 remaining places. Then Haque bought concerned with the corporate in 2021.
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No restaurant expertise? No downside.
Tony Roma’s initially employed Haque to work on legal points. She assumed it could be a typical case: Are available in, do the work after which transfer on to the subsequent one. Quickly, the uneasy traders, seeing the model’s relevance vanishing, noticed one thing in her as nicely. They shortly provided her the job of out of doors common counsel, main their legal department. Haque took to the position enthusiastically.
“Immediately, I used to be reviewing their contracts, recovering cash owed and advising the board members and shareholders, to the purpose the place I developed relationships primarily based on belief,” she says. Then, they made a transfer she says she by no means noticed coming: “They provided me the position of CEO in the summertime of 2023.”
Tony Roma’s 2.0
Regardless of the model’s home decline, Haque stepped in with an optimistic and distinctive view of the corporate. “I take the model’s previous as a lesson that may inform my selections,” she says. “That is the place my authorized expertise is available in, as a result of analytical expertise are what attorneys do greatest — we do not ignore precedent, we study from it.”
After taking on as CEO, Haque instantly started engaged on a plan to revitalize Tony Roma’s, known as Tony Roma’s 2.0, which has an anticipated full launch in late 2026. On the coronary heart of this initiative is a brand new, streamlined retailer idea — considerably smaller than the normal full-sized restaurants — geared toward optimizing effectivity and profitability, together with a compact 3,000-square-foot eating format.
“We would like a smaller location,” Haque says. “Our older eating places have larger sq. footage — 6,000 to 10,000 sq. toes — and that is now not an optimized measurement, since you add to the franchisee’s overhead prices.” Location choice and different selections will even be influenced by AI, enabling the corporate to make smarter long-term selections.
Along with updating its bodily areas, Tony Roma’s 2.0 emphasizes technological innovation, together with integrating AI in ordering and retailer administration. Moreover, Haque says the model will use robotics in areas like stock administration and meal preparation. She sees these developments not as replacements for the human contact, however as instruments to increase efficiency, keep constant high quality and liberate employees.
The present U.S. franchisees are already feeling the consequences. “There have been noticeable modifications by way of franchise assist on the shop degree since Mina grew to become CEO,” says Suraj Shah, who owns a Tony Roma’s in North Carolina. “Earlier than, it might need been, ‘Hey, this is a brand new menu merchandise, use it or do not.’ Now, there’s much more coaching and assist.”
The technique to revive Tony Roma’s U.S. presence already seems to be gaining traction. The model is ready to open its seventh home location in Tennessee later this 12 months.
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Wanting forward
As Tony Roma’s 2.0 ramps up, Haque says we’ll see extra U.S. places, each standalone and in sure venues. “Tony Roma’s has achieved exceptionally nicely inside casinos,” she says. “We have now a profitable unit in Las Vegas the place individuals nonetheless line up for 2 hours. So, I wish to see extra Tony Roma’s inside casinos.”
Franchisees are already shopping for into this strategic imaginative and prescient, seeing Haque’s management as the important thing to mixing the model’s storied previous with a sustainable future. “I believe she and her staff do a tremendous job of bringing ahead that 2.0 imaginative and prescient whereas protecting the core identity of Tony Roma’s,” Shah says. “They’re nonetheless sustaining that legendary ribs expertise Tony Roma’s has been identified for for over 50 years — the rationale I initially needed to turn into a franchisee.”
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