At the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Phoenix, five C-level executives shared the ins and outs of growing their brands.

Consistency, quality, reassessment, respect for roots, customer experience and building strong teams—these are some of the keys to successful growth, according to five C-level chain executives who shared speedy versions of their stories on stage Monday at the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Phoenix.

Justin Rosenberg, founder and CEO of fast-casual concept Honeygrow, led off the session “C-Suite in the Hot Seat: Inside the Nest,” in a six-minute conversation with Sam Oches, editor-in-chief of Nation’s Restaurant News. Honeygrow launched in 2012 sparked by a void Rosenberg saw in the market for quick, healthy food cooked from scratch.

But in 2018, the brand hit some bumps in the road.

“We had about 30 locations, and there were restaurants that were doing incredible, and a bunch that were not,” said Rosenberg. “We were pressured to grow too fast, so we decided to take a step back and stop growth.” He had to close some locations and slow down expansion, but the experience made him stronger, he said. Now Honeygrow has close to 80 locations and Rosenberg is focusing on disciplined, consistent growth.

The menu is a differentiator, he said, with its selection of salads and stir-fried noodle dishes, transitioning well from lunch to dinner. And Honeygrow works hard to serve a quality product while keeping prices in check, which keeps people coming back. But when asked what keeps him up at night, Rosenberg was quick to answer “Uncertainty.” “You never know what’s going to happen [with the economy],” he said, “but whatever we can control we control.”

Beth McCormick, chief technology officer of Cava, was next in the hot seat, chatting with Mark Hatch, managing director of Informa Connect’s Nest Group, to which several hundred C-level chain execs belong. Fast casual Cava now has about 439 locations in 29 states and is in fast growth mode, said McCormick.

“At Cava we always focus on our foundation and enhancing the team member and guest experience,” she said. “And over the last two years, we’ve spent time really building a unified and modern data platform. We call it ‘power core,’ and that’s really been impactful not only in driving important sites and actions, but also in how it’s powering our guests and team members.”

McCormick sees technology as an asset—not a threat—to building guest relationships. “Deepening guest relationships is one of our strategic pillars … we leverage technology against the human experience, not replace it. And so the more we know, the more we can offer relevant and meaningful interactions with our guests. And we can give our team members operational efficiencies so they can spend more time with our guests. All of that creates that connection.”

Cava’s Beth McCormick in the hot seat on the RLC stage with Mark Hatch.

As far as AI goes, McCormick noted that it’s not going away, so it’s best to embrace it, learn it, figure out how to work well with it. “We’ll be very thoughtful and disciplined about it,” she said.

While Cava and Honeygrow are young brands, Marcos’ Pizza has been around since 1978, COO John Meyers told Oches during his hot seat chat. Founder Pat Gianmarco grew the chain to 120 stores, and in the last 20 years, franchise growth has powered the chain to 1,300 locations internationally.

“We were founded on quality and customer experience and we do things a little differently than others in the pizza category,” said Meyers. “We make our own dough fresh every day at every store, we season our sauce with Pat’s original recipe and we use aged cheese. Quality is what got us to where we are and what’s going to continue to help us grow.”

But customer experience also helps differentiate Marco’s in the crowded pizza segment—even though the business is largely off premise. “Whether it’s delivery, carryout or dine-in, customers are still interacting with you and that starts from the ordering platform and goes all the way until they throw that pizza box in the recycle bin,” said Meyers. “We’ve put a lot of investment back into our online ordering platform.”

Marco;s has built its business on four strategic pillars: Speed, taste, order accuracy and hospitality, he added. Speed and taste have been the focus for a very long time, but “we put a big focus on order accuracy last year, and we were able to raise our top box score by 8 points,” Meyers said.

Marco’s is on an aggressive growth trajectory, with the goal of adding 80 stores a year, but the biggest challenge that comes with that growth is consistency. “We really just want everybody to have a perfect experience everywhere they go,” said Meyers

Schlotzsky’s is a brand that has gone through a lot of changes since it launched 55 years ago, said Chief Brand Officer Donna Josephson Varner. “We’re on a journey now to get back to our roots and turn it into a growth brand,” she told Hatch during her turn in the not seat.

It started with a rebranding, adding “deli” back to the concept’s name to once gain make it Schlotzsky’s Deli. “We made that change based on the consumer,” said Varner. “Two thirds were calling us Schlotzsky’s Deli anyway and the others weren’t sure what we were. Some through Schlotzsky’s was a dry cleaner.”

Now the name reflects the menu’s strengths of overstuffed sandwiches on signature sourdough bread.

Varner is also rebuilding the fast casual’s customer base. “When I joined two years ago, I was told to find some new guests, because our guests are really old, but we found that wasn’t really true. Our core customer is a millennial,” she said.

To address that customer’s needs, the brand is launching a new prototype that eliminates friction points for both the guest and franchisee. That store model has clear directional areas, pointing to kiosks, in-person ordering, delivery pickups, etc. “It speeds the ordering process and increases operational efficiencies in the back-of-house,” she said, “but it also lowers the cost of entry for franchisees.” Being grounded in the consumer and refreshing the brand is setting Schlotzsky’s Deli back on the path of growth.

Roland Gonzalez moved up from COO of Church’s Texas chicken to become CEO about a year ago, and in that year, he has focused on balancing a legacy brand with modernizing it, he told Oches. Digital sales were his first challenge.

“A couple of years ago our digital sales were only about 6% or 7%. Now they’re more than 18% and we’ll be exiting the year north of 20%,” said Gonzalez. When kiosks and catering ramp up, those numbers will go even higher.

As far as growth goes, Church’s is “a tale of two different businesses,” he added. “Internationally, we have 600 locations and 1,500 more in the pipeline, with 600 slated to open in China,” he said. U.S. expansion is a little slower, but the brand is looking at new markets, including three units opening in Philadelphia.

As far as the menu goes, value is a top priority. Church’s is staying true to its roots by serving the best quality chicken for the price, he added. “Our guests have clearly told us that if the price is too high, it’s not going to work. We’re located in a lot of underserved areas, and having a menu architecture that’s priced fairly both for individuals and families is what makes us successful.”

Right now, Church’s offers three pieces of chicken or three tenders and a biscuit for $4.49—some soft drinks are more than that, Gonzalez noted. “People are seeing that as a good deal and adding on a side and drink, so the average ticket is more like $10 to $11,” he added.

That formula has added up to a 6% boost in traffic two years in a row—a boost that makes Gonzalez very excited about the future.

The Restaurant Leadership Conference is hosted by Informa, parent company of Restaurant Business and Nation’s Restaurant News. It concludes on Wednesday.

Source https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/whats-challenging-restaurant-chain-execs-2026