Johnny Carino's Country Italian: Casual concept eyes national growth through constant evolution to meet its customers' needs

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan 28, 2002 by Ron Ruggless

The growth of Johnny Carino's Country Italian is nearly Vesuvian.

The 42-unit casual, full-service Italian concept, based near Austin, Texas, already has added four units this year, appealing to value-conscious customers with an $11 per-person check average and a varied menu that features "Grandioso" platters and "Wine Harvest" dinners aimed at families and dining parties of all sizes.

With recent expansion via franchising outside of its roots in Texas and Colorado, Johnny Carino's has a goal of becoming not just a regional powerhouse but a national one as well. The company expects eight to 10 company-owned and 20 to 22 franchised Carino's to open in this calendar year. Systemwide sales are expected to be near $100 million this year, with average unit volumes of $2.5 million a year.

The executives who started the parent company, Fired Up Inc., have a lengthy restaurant pedigree.

Creed L. Ford III and Norman J. Abdallah founded it in 1997 in order to acquire Kona Restaurant Group, which owned and operated the five-unit Johnny Carino's Italian Kitchen chain and one Kona Ranch Steakhouse.

Ford, co-chief executive and chairman of Fired Up, was previously the chief operating officer for Brinker International, where his 21-year career with the casual-dining Chili's chain included the responsibility for Brinker restaurants worldwide. Abdallah, co-chief executive and president of Fired Up, was previously president and chief executive of Red Hot Concepts, a Chili's licensee for the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Before that post Abdallah was employed with Brinker International for nine years, serving in various management positions, including vice president for franchise operations and development.

Since the 1997 acquisition Fired Up has modified and redesigned the Johnny Carino's restaurants to differentiate them from its predecessor, the Spageddies concept, which had been developed by Brinker International. Over the past four years, Fired Up has opened new Johnny Carino's restaurants in Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Montana, Idaho and Arkansas and franchised restaurants in Texas, California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kuwait, Egypt and Bahrain.

Modifications include replacing "Kitchen" with "Country" in the chain's name, signage, menu, recipes, design and layout, interior decor and color scheme.

"Since we bought the concept," Abdallah says, "we have changed about 80 percent of the concept in the five years. For example, the lasagna was frozen. Now it's made from scratch, as are our meatballs and tiramisu. The quality of food has come to an unbelievable level."

Change is important for any concept, be it regional or national, Abdallah says.

"To be a successful concept out there, I don't think you can ever be settled," he says by telephone from Boseman, Mont., where a new restaurant was opening. "You have to continue to evolve your concept to meet the needs of your consumer. As the consumer needs change, you have to change with them."

The newest changes in Johnny Carino's will come in March, when a new prototype opens in Waxahachie, Texas, just south of Dallas.

"This prototype takes a couple hundred square feet out of the building, mostly in the kitchen," he says. Currently, the units cover about 6,000 square feet. "We also have a curb-side delivery part of the unit as well. The customer can call in an order, we'll take their credit card number, and they just pull up outside and we run the order out to them. They don't even have to get out of their car, and they can drive away and go home." Four designated parking spaces were added with cameras and pagers that go off when the car tires roll over the indicator.

Those changes are being made to better meet customer demands, Abdallah says.

"If you look at the industry, more people are eating out but taking things home. Italian travels very well," he says. "We did it in an older store in Rogers, Ark., and it was wildly accepted. You also see the success that Chili's and Outback have had with it."

Larry Lavine, a director of Fired Up and founder of Chili's, says, "Johnny Carino's has honed in on and filled that niche for family-friendly Italian food." He says Carino's is positioned amid such competition as Darden Restaurants Inc.'s Olive Garden.

"They've [Johnny Carino's] worked to make it made-to-order food, rather than the steam-table operations that a lot of Italian restaurants had," Lavine says. "It's also a warm, friendly atmosphere with great service. It's what everybody in the casual segment tries to do. They've done a great job of putting the team together to do that.

"The spirit of the company, which the customer doesn't directly see, is like the early days of Chili's, where the employees come to work and enjoy what they are doing," Lavine continues. "That eventually flows to the customer, because they, too, are having a good time. They've done a great job differentiating themselves with the company culture.

The segment, Lavine adds, is a good one.