Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q: Adapting its menu to the territory's particular taste is this restaurant chain's recipe for expansion

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan 28, 2002 by Nora Caley

Barbecue is not a single concept any more. Now Memphis-style, Kansas City-style, Texas-style and other regional variations of smoky, slow-cooked meats are available. And as consumers become more picky about their barbecue, restaurant chains adapt.

Jeff Yarmuth, president and chief operating officer of Maitland, Fla.-based Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q, says the chain pays attention to those regional differences as Sonny's expands into new markets.

"In North Carolina, when you say barbecue, they think of chopped meat with a vinegar-based sauce," he explains. "In South Carolina it's a lot of mustard-based derivative sauces. For barbecue in the Northeast, they think you put charcoal briquettes on the grill and throw a steak on it. And barbecue in Texas is beef barbecue, not pork."

Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q, Yarmuth says, is a Florida-based concept. That means a tomato-based sauce. But the chain will adapt as it expands. "We're not going to force product in an area that's not going to work," he vows.

The chain opened 20 new units in 2001, for a total of 143 in nine states. The full-service, value-priced, family restaurant chain plans to open 20 restaurants a year, with a goal of reaching a 200-branch total by 2005.

In addition to such menu items as baby back rib platter, smoked turkey and charbroiled chicken, Sonny's boasts speedy service. But the chain is rethinking its fast-service strategy.

"If you wait more than 10 minutes for food, you've gotten bad service," says Bob Yarmuth, chief executive of Sonny's and cousin of Jeff Yarmuth. "We've got a system that allows us to execute foodservice quickly. That has its pluses and minuses. In terms of speed of service, we are virtually unequaled, but you might have guests who want a more social experience."

Yarmuth won't discuss the operational procedures that allow servers and kitchen to deliver food quickly. Those methods, which he acknowledges are low-tech, haven't changed much over the years. He doesn't claim to speed things up through a high-technology system or other trendy processes. He does claim that the chain's methods make things easier for servers.

"The system does not tend to overburden them with the mundane," Bob Yarmuth adds. "The servers serve and have side work, but the system allows them to focus on their main job: to make the customer feel special."

The lack of tedious side work may have employee relations pluses, Jeff Yarmuth points out. He says the chain has some employees -- and not just management -- who have stayed for 30 years. "Every restaurant pays and gives benefits. It's how you make them feel about their job," he says. "There's no magic to it. Just treat them like they're part of it and give them credit for success."

Bob Yarmuth adds that Sonny's, which brands itself as having a cozy, family-style format, may lose some personality as the chain expands. "Our average store serves 260,000 customers a year," he explains. "Fifteen years ago if we had 180,000 customers, it was a lot. Now we're doing so many; the execution part is done, but I'm not sure we're not giving up a little bit of that warmth. As a 34-year-old chain, you sort of become an adult. While the concept has not changed, the world changes."

The recession has slowed growth -- he'd wanted to open 25 or 30 stores a year -- but it hasn't stopped it. Though some stores are showing flat sales, overall sales are growing. Same-store sales are up a total of 70 percent after 10 years of Yarmuth corporate ownership. "We bought the company when the average Sonny's was doing just over $1 million," Bob Yarmouth says. "Now we're closing in on $1.8 million." He wants to build sales volumes to a per-store average of $2 million over the next four years.

While he's worried about losing Sonny's coziness, he's not worried about the economic slowdown. He hopes consumers will switch to Sonny's, where the ticket average is $6.75, instead of not dining out. "The common wisdom is more people will fall into our market than will fall out of our market," he says. "We'll just see if that's the case. The last several months were a mixed bag. We tended to see in smaller markets some really significant increases. In our metro markets we haven't, so I don't exactly know what that means."

Floyd "Sonny" Tillman and his wife, Lucille, founded Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q in Gainesville, Fla., in 1968. In 1977 he began franchising the brand. When he retired in 1991, he sold the company to Bob and Jeff Yarmuth, who had been Orlando, Fla., area franchisees.

Corporate sales for 2001 totaled $250 million, up from $203 million in 2000.

Part of Sonny's growth is due to the burgeoning barbecue segment in general. Carolyn Wells, executive vice president of the Kansas City, Mo.-based National Barbecue Association, says growth of the segment has been significant. While association membership remains level, the number of restaurants in each member chain has grown, she points out. Independents are growing, as are such chains as Famous Dave's and the Darden Restaurants-owned Smokey Bones.