Famous Dave’s, a Minnesota-based barbecue restaurant chain that originally started in Wisconsin, recently opened its second Milwaukee-area location, debuting a new counter-service prototype.
Located in Brookfield at 15455 W. Bluemound Road, the restaurant has been in soft-opening mode for the past week and will celebrate its grand opening on March 27.
Famous Dave’s has one other area location in Greenfield at 5077 S. 27th St. and five more across Wisconsin. Its previous Waukesha location closed in 2016. All told, Famous Dave’s and its franchisees operate roughly 120 locations, mostly in the U.S., with some in Canada and the UAE.
Its new counter-service format has been under development and piloted in Arizona for the past few years prior to opening in Brookfield. It moves away from the traditional full-service format currently used across Famous Dave’s footprint. Similar to other fast-casual and quick-service concepts, customers order at the counter and either pick up their food or have it brought out to them.
The model is inspired by Famous Dave’s original locations and was necessitated by changes in diner behavior over the past few years, according to Al Frank, COO of Famous Dave’s.
“The foundation of why we went down this path into a smaller box was just based on the way guests were interacting with the brand,” said Frank.
Off-premise business, which includes to-go orders and catering, have long been a major driver of revenue for Famous Dave’s. Many of its original locations were built with dedicated entrance areas for people picking up take-out orders, he said. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, off-premise business made up about 40% of revenue. Today, it’s close to 60%.
“The consumer continues to tell us how they wanna interact with the brand and what that’s obviously changed is our our needs in the dining room, where we don’t need 7,000-square-foot restaurants that have 220, 240 seats because obviously a vast amount of our guests are choosing the off premise route,” said Frank.
This gives the brand more flexibility in both the size and type of real estate it needs for new units and creates opportunities to consider new markets it may not have considered entering before. The company estimates the new model will reduce investment costs by $1 million.
Famous Dave’s was originally founded in Hayward, Wisconsin, in 1994 by Dave Anderson. Wisconsin, and more specifically, the Milwaukee area remain target growth areas for the brand, said Frank, noting the brand has looked at a couple of additional sites in the area.
“I think we still have more opportunity in Milwaukee and in the surrounding suburbs,” he said.
