Offerdahl's Cafe Grill: former linebacker scores a touchdown with growing team of Florida restaurants

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan 31, 2005 by James Gordon

John Offerdahl is no longer a football player, but he still thinks like one. More accurately, the owner of the Sunrise, Fla.-based fast-casual concept Offerdahl's Cafe Grill, thinks like a coach.

The retired five-time Pro Bowl linebacker for the Miami Dolphins sees his employees as his team and his customers as his fans. He also makes it clear that his chain of nine restaurants in the tri-county area of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach is quick-casual rather than fast-casual, using as an example his reputation as a quick, not fast, linebacker.

"McDonald's and Burger King are fast food," Offerdahl explains. "We can't do it that fast," he says of his menu of freshly prepared steak and chicken served over rice, salad, or pasta, as well as soups and sandwiches, "but we get the job done."

In addition, like a coach preparing for a big showdown, Offerdahl keeps his game plan close to the vest, preferring not to disclose certain financial information, such as annual or per-unit sales, or labor and food costs. He does allow, however, that the business is operating in the black.

Offerdahl and his wife of 15 years, Lynn, are on their second startup food business in as many years. In 1990, realizing that John's football career wasn't going to last forever and with no previous restaurant experience, they opened Offerdahl's Bagel Gourmet.

Benefiting from the public-relations advantage afforded a popular local sports star, the bagel shops were such a success that they attracted the attention of a bigger fish, which made Offerdahl an offer he couldn't refuse. In 1995 he retired from both football and bagels when Boston Market took controlling interest in his 10-unit business and converted his franchise into Einstein Bros. Bagels outlets.

He soon discovered, however, that the restaurant business, like football, was in his blood, and he missed it.

"The food business is kind of like the stadium," Offerdahl says. "You really influence a lot of people, from your customers, your fans, to your employees, your players. I really loved the ability to do that when I was still playing football, and I wanted to continue."

After sitting on the bench to comply with a five-year noncompete contract, Offerdahl yearned to get back into the game and opened the first Offerdahl's Cafe Grill in 2002. Five additional locations are owned and operated by the Offerdahls, while three are franchised. To date there are two restaurants in Fort Lauderdale, and one each in Hollywood, Lighthouse Point, Weston, Miami, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay and Boca Raton.

All of the restaurants are near office buildings or other high-volume spots--areas that attract the typical fast-casual target demographic of 25-to 55-year-old professionals, Offerdahl says.

Plans for expansion also reflect Offerdahl's football history. Paraphrasing the old sports cliche of taking one game at a time, Offerdahl says, "Instead of saying I'm going to be a thousand-store chain in the next five years, I'm just going to keep it at one restaurant at a time."

Offerdahl says his immediate goal is to remain in South Florida, and, since the current stores are spread out over a large geographic area, he wants to fill in where there is distance between them. "We plan to kind of work our way through a market," he says.

As any sports fan knows, coaching is a very hands-on profession. While Offerdahl spends time on the sideline, running things from corporate headquarters, he also spends plenty of time on the field, in the restaurants, making sure that his 250 employees are sticking to the game plan and the fans are happy.

General manager Cathy Dematteis, who has been with the company for six months after spending seven years with Einstein Bros., says customers enjoy seeing their former sports hero up close and in person. "People know John, especially in the Weston Store," Dematteis says of the neighborhood where Offerdahl once lived. "I think people find him bigger than life. I don't see that. I'm a New Yorker, so I'm not really a Dolphins fan. To me he's just John, but to see him interact with the customers is fun."

Offerdahl's marketing manager, Jeff Gorton, agrees that fondness for a local sports icon, not a fancy advertising campaign, is what brings many people to the restaurants.

"He has so much history in this market. The customers recognize his name. We spend some money on advertising," Gorton says, "but I don't think that's what's really driving people to the stores."

In another marketing strategy, Offerdahl this year has joined forces with his former team in a promotion called "Shutout and Comeback," which awards free menu items to fans who attend Miami Dolphins home games. Ticket holders to a game in which the team has shut out its opponent or embarked on a come-from-behind victory get the free food. Unfortunately, only one game has fallen into those categories this season.

"If Dan Marino were playing, we'd probably have about five of these redemptions," laments Offerdahl about his former team's dismal season.

Gorton notes, however, that customers come into the restaurants for more than a chance of glimpsing Offerdahl or getting autographs. "Once they come in to the store and try the food, we have an incredible customer return rate," he says.