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Lawry's Carvery: A Groundbreaking New Concept in QSR
Profile
With a 75 year history, worldwide locations, and a tremendously loyal clientele Lawry's Restaurants is one of America's most successful fine-dining restaurant companies. Synonymous with prime rib, Lawry's has built its reputation on a successful singular menu item served in an elegant atmosphere with classic tableside service.
Challenge
Lawry's was exploring opportunities to enter the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) arena by creating a scalable and uniquely high quality concept that built upon their brand and area of expertise: offering high quality roasted meats at value prices. While tremendously successful in the fine dining sector with their refined yet simple concept, the company recognized that a foray into the QSR marketplace posed numerous challenges. Hurdles included providing a wide range of menu categories with significant variety, training and managing a staff for quick service, and creating an operation with a smaller footprint.
Success hinged on taking the best aspects of what Lawry's Restaurants provides to its consumer and developing a new platform within the tighter operational constraints of the QSR style. The Culinary Edge's goal was to translate the Lawry's brand into a simpler concept that people could enjoy everyday.
Solution
By bringing expertise in both the quick service and fine dining segments, The Culinary Edge was able to create, develop and implement a concept that ensured a successful and well-regarded introduction for Lawry's into the world of the QSR.
The project began with a market assessment with the goal of finding a niche for the new concept. Through investigation of the competitive set and the creation of financial models based on different revenue and staffing levels, the team was able to begin to better understand the economics and positioning that would make sense for the long-term growth of the concept.
With these operational guidelines established, and the conceptual anchor of the Lawry's existing brand dictating the overall theme, The Culinary Edge team was able to develop the menu, design the space, and begin creating recipes to go into the new operation.
The next steps were to create, test and document processes for everything from the flow of product to the taste of the vinaigrette on the new "Carvery Prime Rib Salad". But a key to the success of the concept would be based on how scalable it was. In order to create an easily executable platform that could be opened in any market across the globe, The Culinary Edge next created easy to understand and execute recipes and operating materials for everything from prepping lettuce to opening and closing procedures in order to ensure a smooth operation.
The implementation phase of the project included put all the pieces together. Through hands on train-the-trainer courses, onsite training, operational support during the opening, and comprehensive follow up visits TCE was able deliver the necessary tools to the team that would bring the concept to life.
Results
By any measure Lawry's Carvery is a huge success. Sales have greatly exceeded expectations and reviews have been strong. Nation's Restaurant News quotes sales of $40,000 - $50,000 per week in a story crediting Lawry's for "carving a new niche [for] fast casual sandwich concepts." The Orange County Register's restaurant reviewer awards Lawry's Carvery high points for "very quick service" and being "great for families" -- validation that the company has arrived in the new quick-service category.
Lawry's has plans to open several more Lawry's Carverys in the near future.