Food & Beverage

Arkansas-based Minute Man relaunching with focus on diner, employee health

Image: Provided

August 26, 2020

A 72-year-old Arkansas fast food brand called Minute Man is on the cusp of what brand leaders hope will be a successful comeback.

The new embodiment of the chain — which has the single original location in El Dorado, Arkansas — is scheduled to open a second store next month in Jacksonville, Arkansas. The brand's new owner — Minute Man Arkansas LLC — expects to be just as innovative as the original company, which the Encyclopedia of Arkansas credits with inventing the first kids specialty meal — Magic Meal. Burger King bought the rights to it in the early 1980s, however.

The store will operate using a new concept, dubbed Smart Space, designed to protect diners' health while enhancing the customer experience. The company said in a news release that it will also be the nation's first restaurant to offer all employees a no-cost form of trauma insurance should any worker contract COVID-19. Counseling and wage protection through a partnership with the Society for Trauma Education and Empowered Recovery are also available.

Smart Space concentrates on six areas to accomplish its goals, including sensing, seating, sales, screens, surfaces and scoring, which is explained in further detail in the graphic accompanying this story. Essentially,j it protects diners and workers through built-in safeguards, barriers, social distancing practices and other contributory processes, the release said. Additionally, the brand has invested in so-called CASPR devices for its air conditioning and heating system that sterilizes air and is commonly used in hospitals.

"While every other restaurant out there had to 'react' to the pandemic, we had the opportunity to 'bake-in' a targeted solution, and have created a SmartSpace to provide environmental and process controls that actively create a healthy and safe environment," COO Matthew Fritz said, in the release. "What other restaurant is pumping in hospital-quality air with proven technology specifically designed to create a pro-active, anti-pathogen environment for their customers and employees?"