He also clocked time at Mimi’s Café and was the first joint venture partner for the Habit Burger when it expanded to Arizona.Īs Cunningham explains, Black Bear is investing in its people-first infrastructure before it takes off. Before Black Bear Diner, Standlea oversaw operations for 10-unit Corky’s and one Septembers Taproom & Eatery. When Cunningham was hired, Steve Standlea also joined as director of operations services. This will allow the growing team to monitor its culture very closely. He takes our job as franchisor extremely serious.”īlack Bear Diner’s goal is to get its corporate/franchise growth to a 50/50 split. “Bruce really cares deeply for the success of not just the corporate diners, but he’s just as concerned and cares about the franchisees. The owners sticking around 104 units later, however, is not.īlack Bear Diner’s owners will never be able to look at a jukebox the same.Ĭunningham says Dean is passionate about the entire business. This kind of dishrags-to-riches story is pretty common in the restaurant industry. For the ensuing 38 days, the duo worked open to close, for 16 hours a day, without ever cutting a paycheck.įamously, they would raid the restaurant’s jukebox on Mondays and pay themselves in quarters. The first morning of business, Dean sweated away in the kitchen while Manley charmed guests. And when he was 12, Manley had a run-in with a bear that left him with a bear-claw necklace he still wears today. He was the ultimate Mount Shasta local-a coach’s kid who brought home milkshakes from the corner store. Dean, an industry veteran, then had the inkling to open a restaurant. Dean and Manley met in the late 1980s when they decided to build a subdivision together. Some of the tales of Black Bear Diner’s early days explain it best. “We want to see where these values will take us,” Cunningham says.īlack Bear Diner’s homestyle feel extends to its service as well as its food. Twenty-six consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth doesn’t hurt the projection, either.īut throughout this path, Cunningham says, through the ups, downs, and steady flows, Black Bear Diner will lean on its “secret weapon.” After that, Cunningham says the chain will look at 12–15 or so, which represents 20–25 percent growth, year-over-year. Black Bear Diner has a target of 6–8 new stores in 2018. Cunningham is confident it will do just that. Those efforts will litmus test the brand’s ability to ramp up growth. In 2018, Black Bear Diner plans to enter two new regions-Midwest City, Oklahoma City, and Katy, Texas. Those locations, of which 37 are company owned and 67 franchised, stretch across eight states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington). Having the chance to really take their vision and grow it nationwide, it’s something I’m looking forward to.”īlack Bear Diner was founded in 1995 in Mount Shasta, California. “Very few times in your career do you actually get that opportunity. “Working day-to-day with the founder in a founder-based company is something that’s exciting to me,” Cunningham says of Dean, the brand’s CEO. One was simply chatting with founders Bruce Dean and Bob Manley. There were many factors at play when Cunningham decided to join the 104-unit brand. He held roles at Mimi’s Café, Smoke Modern BBQ, and Smashburger, working his way up from server to executive. Craig Cunningham’s experience led him to an early conclusion: Black Bear Diner was a different kind of animal in the restaurant industry.
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