Emerging Brands Podcast

Learn about Gauthier’s background, the differences between lunch and dinner customers, and switching Mulberry & Vine to cashless service!

Learn about the chain’s sustainability efforts, commitment to reviewing and adjusting to customer feedback, and how Firebirds gives back to its community.

Learn more about the Modern Market ethos, the restaurant’s investment in innovation and local supply chains, and what lies ahead for the brand.

The market is oversaturated, and differentiating your restaurant from similar concepts can be complicated and time-consuming. Cowboy Chicken seems to have unearthed the right recipe. The chain specializes in all-natural, wood-fired rotisserie chicken—unlike most chains, which offer fried chicken—paired with a wide variety of homestyle sides. Check out this episode to hear more about how Cowboy Chicken is confronting the current challenges in the industry head-on, and what lies ahead for the fast casual chain.

Upon moving to Chicago, Dewjee and his wife quickly discovered that the food experience they grew up with was not readily available in the city. With Bombay Wraps, they hoped to “break the misconception that Indian food or ethnic food has to be a hole in the wall.” He and his wife wanted to craft a place that offered authentic ingredients and flavor combinations in an environment that was modern, clean, and accessible to people of any background.

Charles Bililies, the CEO and founder of Souvla, shares his vision for the fast-fine dining restaurant on this episode of Emerging Brands. Based in San Francisco with four current locations, Souvla—a reference to the Greek word meaning “spit” or “skewer”—offers a modern version of traditional Greek gyro and souvlaki sandwiches with rotisserie roasted and naturally-raised meats, and features the only all-Greek beverage menu available in any United States restaurant. Frozen Greek yogurt is served for dessert. Listen now to learn more from Bililies on the Souvla experience and what lies ahead for the company, and check out the Emerging Brands podcast to learn about other rising brands and innovators in the restaurant industry.

On this episode of Emerging Brands, Joe DeLoss—the founder of fast casual restaurant chain Hot Chicken Takeover—discusses bringing Nashville-style fried chicken to Columbus, Ohio. Inspired by Nashville restaurant favorites Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack and Monell’s, Joe DeLoss decided to create his own hot chicken restaurant chain.

Monell’s had family-style southern meals every day of the week,” says DeLoss. “You would join a table with ten other people, and I fell in love with the communal experience. Most guests walking into a fast casual restaurant don’t remember being called out or greeted—our question was, how do we build the infrastructure of our restaurant around recreating that communal experience for our guests and employees?”

Over the last decade, Joe DeLoss has worked in a number of industries in an effort to create employment opportunities for people experiencing or who have experienced incarceration, homelessness, and other hardships. Founded in 2014, Hot Chicken Takeover has become a breakout brand in the Midwest. The chain boasts an excellent employee retention rate and an ever-growing customer base.

In this podcast, DeLoss details his retention and employee development goals as well as the core values of the fast casual chain.

The Hot Chicken Takeover team endeavors to operate from a place of “bold humility” in everything they do. “We listen to everything we hear and take it very seriously. Our goal is to acknowledge and address trends that our customers are experiencing before they become large problems,” explains DeLoss. “We know that we can always improve, and we’re unwilling to get in the way of progress. We measure an employee’s performance against that.”

An emerging restaurant brand has to be so much more than just an innovative food concept. Nowadays, the market is highly saturated, especially in the QSR and fast casual segments.

But emerging brand concepts are outperforming the rest. They are not only doing this by resonating with customers but are also redefining the restaurant business.

The California-based Starbird Chicken hasn't been just wingin' it.

"Starbird Chicken is really different from other chicken concepts in that we have modernized the entire food experience. We set out to really reinvent everything from food quality, ingredients, design, and convenience in the fast-food space. We reinvented the experience for the modern consumer," says Aaron Noveshen, founder & president of The Culinary Edge, the parent company of Starbird.

Noveshen hatched the Starbird concept back in 2014 with the goal to offer a “super premium fast food" experience for guests. But just because the food is served fast, doesn't mean Starbird skimps on food quality.

"In terms of Starbird staying on top of food quality control, it's a relentless commitment to greatness every single day. But ultimately, we are constantly thinking about new ways to improve our product. We taste it, I'm in the restaurants a lot and we're trying the food all the time and are being highly self-critical," says Noveshen.

Learn what else Starbird Chicken is doing to continue to outshine the competition in today's market in the Emerging Brand podcast above.

According to Foodable Labs data, chicken increased in mentions by 12.9 percent by millennials and was featured on 82.5% of chefs menus. So, how are you showcasing chicken on your menu?

Food sourcing plays a pivotal role when it comes to quality and consistency. Finding the right supplier is the first step. Tyson Foods, for example, works with partners to find exactly what they’re looking for. Learn more at Tyson Foods now.

Samantha Stephens, chef and founder of OatMeals shares with Foodable the origins of her single-ingredient fast casual concept and how she built it from the ground up.

Tom Holt, Founder and CEO of Urbane Cafe, shares insightful information about focusing on the consumer and their demands to sustain growth.