In the five or six years prior to the pandemic, big-box fast casuals sprung up around the U.S. offering a high-quality experience meant to be enjoyed on-site. These kinds of restaurants were hit particularly hard by COVID-19, as they didn’t have the off-premises mechanisms that helped more traditional fast casuals turn things around last year.

Hopdoddy is one of these so-called fast casual 2.0 brands with big footprints and comfortable seating, a laid-back experience that is best enjoyed in the restaurants; the brand was only doing about 12 percent of sales off-premises prior to the pandemic. CEO Jeff Chandler joins the podcast to talk about how Hopdoddy was able to quickly prop up an off-premises operation designed primarily around curbside service, how its digital transformation has had a ripple effect throughout the Hopdoddy system, and why the brand still plans to keep that same great on-site experience going forward.

This episode is brought to you by Blount Fine Foods.

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