News

Roy Rogers puts the spurs to 5-year growth strategy

Logo: Provided

January 31, 2020

The 48-store Roy Rogers brand has rolled out a new strategic plan focused on growth through franchising, with expectations of signing between three and five multi-unit development agreements over each of the next five years. Likewise, this year, the longtime QSR said it will debut a new owned and operated store, though it did not announce where or when in its news release. 

Roy Rogers Executive Vice President Jeremy Biser said the brand is initially seeking franchisees to open stores in and around its Frederick, Maryland headquarters across Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania. However, Biser also said that later this year, the brand hopes to move further south with its franchising efforts. 

To sweeten the pot for the top franchisees, the company said it will offer development incentives to what it called "highly qualified candidates capable of multi-unit restaurant development and operation." 

"We're very excited to be kicking off a renewed growth initiative with a revitalized concept," Biser said in the release. "Over the past 24 months, we've put every aspect of our consumer and franchise offerings under the microscope to strengthen our system and have now plotted a strategic course to extend our brand's reach around current markets and in new ones."

Since its fiftieth anniversary in 2018, Roy Rogers has invested substantially in rebuilding its business model, as recent QSRweb podcast guest and Roy Rogers CEO Jim Plamandon discussed during a show in August. Some of those  enhancements include the addition of new leadership in marketing, IT and elsewhere, as well as:

• New store design.
• Menu strategy rebirth focused on differentiated LTOs and enhanced signature items.
• Delivery launch with DoorDash.
• Online merchandise store.
• Overhauled tech and mobile app.
• New agency of record, MDB Communications. 
• New integrated marketing campaigns, creative and media planning.
• Renewed site selection and market-mapping with SiteZeus. 
• Naming Performance Foodservice as distributor. 
• Naming Singer EVI to boost service, cut costs and optimize equipment packages. 
• New Coca-Cola contract. 

"Our brand has a strong foundation based on more than half a century of serving up quality comfort food in a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere that is a cut above a typical QSR," said Biser. "We have a fiercely loyal fan base of 'Royalists' who have dined with us since they were kids and now bring their children and grandchildren in with them. Our 'Royalists' literally beg us to open new restaurants near them or return to markets where we once existed. Our goal is to bring Roy Rogers back to these areas and more in the next few years."

The chain is currently exactly half franchised and half owned and operated. It has stores in six states.