Operations
GoTo Foods’ co-branding renaissance pairs signature brands
GoTo Foods is co-branding several of its signature brands with success shown in increased AUVs.
May 13, 2024 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group
Co-branding brings together the best of two brands. At GoTo Foods, formerly Focus Brands, co-branding gives the company's QSR brands more exposure and offers franchisees growth and investment opportunities.
"It's been a part of the industry for many, many years," Kristen Harman, president, specialty brands for GoTo Foods, said in a video interview, "but I feel over the course of the last 10 years or so, it's sort of taken on its second life where people are really thinking more about how you do co-branding in the most effective way possible."
GoTo Foods started co-branding about 12 years ago beginning with the Schlotsky's brand partnering with Cinnabon Express, resulting in some 300 co-branded units. The company also co-branded two mall-based companies, Auntie Anne's, a pretzel company, and Cinnabon.
"Those two brands — we have a lot of synergy across our franchisees," Hartman said. "They were mall-based brands. Auntie Anne's was in virtually every mall in America that we would want to be in, and Cinnabon was growing its small footprint, and malls have always been really, really good for our brands."
Many of GoTo Foods' franchisees owned units of both brands, so co-branding gave them more growth and investment opportunities.
With a full portfolio of specialty brands, GoTo Foods opted to co-brand more units, including Jamba Juice and Carvel. The next logical step seemed to be co-branding units streetside, which ramped up post-COVID. As a result, the streetside units gave customers more exposure for the brands, especially Auntie Anne's and Cinnabon, which had previously been found only in malls.
Through co-branding, Jamba was able to grow both inside and outside its core territory, Harman said, by pairing it with Auntie Anne's. Carvel, a legacy ice-cream brand in the Northeast, was also able to grow outside its core territory by partnering it with other specialty brands.
GoTo Foods is most focused on growing Jamba and Auntie Anne's as a unit, Auntie Anne's and Cinnabon as another and Auntie Anne's, Carvel and Cinnabon as a tri-unit.
The company's latest co-pair is Cinnabon Swirl featuring the ooey goodness of Cinnabon cinnamon rolls with Carvel's sweet and creamy soft-serve ice cream.
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Cinnabon Swirl features Cinnabon treats with Carvel soft-serve ice cream. Photo: GoTo Foods |
Operations
Hartman said GoTo Foods has done a lot of research to understand the right combinations of brands that consumers want to see together and has done the work to figure out the best way to present co-branded units to the public successfully.
"We've looked at all the economics so we make sure it's a good investment opportunity for our franchisees," Hartman said. "The challenge is you're operating two or sometimes three brands in one space, and what that's meant for us is having a co-brand team that is dedicated to this part of the business who does nothing but think about how we operate these stores."
Getting the design right to make sure each iconic brand gets equal exposure is important.
The menu, of course, is paramount for co-branding. Keeping top sellers is the key, and Hartman said they sometimes eliminate lower-selling items, which sometimes saves on equipment, lowering costs for franchisees.
"We look at it in that we've got these four amazing specialty brands that are complementary to each other, but the benefit of what we're doing is that we can bring those locations to new markets," Hartman said. "We can bring the streetside which offers consumers the convenience of having the brands" outside of malls.
Hartman said co-branding increases AUV in that it brings together two brands that are complementary and creates the ability for consumers to choose from two brands in one space. For example, Auntie Anne's and Cinnabon units do about 45% higher AUV than their standalone locations.
"And that's just because you're giving consumers access to a second brand and more menu choices and that benefits you in a lot of different ways," Hartman added.
First, there's the drive for more frequency, as it gives consumers more choice through a bigger menu. Second, it helps groups not have to decide on one brand to patronize.
The ability to give customers more menu choices is one of the top reasons to co-brand. Through research, GoTo Foods found that with Cinnabon Swirl locations pairing Cinnabon and Carvel, consumers wanted the classics from each brand. But bringing the brands together allowed GoTo Foods to create menu innovations not found in either individual store. For example, as the cornerstone of the co-branded pairing are Cinnabon Swirl Ice Cream Sandwiches featuring Cinnabon cookies with Carvel ice cream on the inside. The center of Cinnabon's cinnamon rolls is iconic, and the co-branded unit has a dish that features cut-up pieces of the insides of cinnamon rolls topped with Carvel soft-serve ice cream.
"Those are just a couple of the examples of where you can really take the core of both brands and you can put them together in an interesting collaboration that makes for a really exciting menu innovation," Hartman explained.
GoTo Foods tries to maintain menus that are consistent with the standalone units as possible so consumers know no matter which unit they're visiting, they're going to be able to get all of their favorites.
Hartman said she would recommend brands that are considering co-branding make sure they're utilizing brands that are well-known and loved by consumers and then "making sure than the brands are complementary so the consumers say 'that's great that I can find those two brands in one location because they have complementary product lines versus competing product lines.' It gives people more choice and variety around the occasion."
About Mandy Wolf Detwiler
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.
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