Mina Haque is not the likeliest particular person to show round a once-popular food franchise. She’s a lawyer by commerce and, till a number of years in the past, did not have any restaurant experience. However that did not cease her from accepting the problem and taking up as interim CEO of Tony Roma’s in 2023.
“I am a really glad legal professional,” she says, “I nonetheless apply regulation, however I could not flip them down — their traders needed to guard their funding, they usually favored how I believe and my method and management abilities, they usually needed somebody examined. So, right here I’m.”
Now, Haque is embarking on a comeback plan to return the once-thriving franchise to prominence — after which to even higher heights.
Based in 1972 in Miami, Florida, Tony Roma’s, identified for its child again ribs and family-friendly environment, was as soon as a preferred vacation spot for informal eating throughout the nation. At its peak within the early Nineteen Nineties, the franchise had 260 areas throughout the U.S., concentrated in Florida and California.
However, as client tastes shifted and competitors within the informal eating area intensified, Tony Roma’s struggled to take care of its foothold. Over the previous few many years, most U.S. areas closed, leaving the model with a a lot stronger presence internationally than at dwelling. However regardless of its global presence stretching from Guam to Germany to Guatemala, the model just lately teetered on the sting of extinction within the U.S. — dwelling to solely six of its 60 remaining areas. Then Haque obtained concerned with the corporate in 2021.
Associated: How the IFA Plans to Strengthen the $800 Billion Franchise Industry in 2025
No restaurant expertise? No drawback.
Tony Roma’s initially employed Haque to work on legal points. She assumed it will be a typical case: Are available in, do the work after which transfer on to the following one. Quickly, the uneasy traders, seeing the model’s relevance vanishing, noticed one thing in her as properly. They shortly provided her the job of out of doors common counsel, main their legal department. Haque took to the position enthusiastically.
“Instantly, I used to be reviewing their contracts, recovering cash owed and advising the board members and shareholders, to the purpose the place I developed relationships primarily based on belief,” she says. Then, they made a transfer she says she by no means noticed coming: “They provided me the position of CEO in the summertime of 2023.”
Tony Roma’s 2.0
Regardless of the model’s home decline, Haque stepped in with an optimistic and distinctive view of the corporate. “I take the model’s previous as a lesson that may inform my choices,” she says. “That is the place my authorized expertise is available in, as a result of analytical abilities are what attorneys do finest — we do not ignore precedent, we be taught from it.”
After taking up as CEO, Haque instantly started engaged on a plan to revitalize Tony Roma’s, referred to as Tony Roma’s 2.0, which has an anticipated full launch in late 2026. On the coronary heart of this initiative is a brand new, streamlined retailer idea — considerably smaller than the standard full-sized restaurants — aimed toward optimizing effectivity and profitability, together with a compact 3,000-square-foot eating format.
“We wish a smaller location,” Haque says. “Our older eating places have larger sq. footage — 6,000 to 10,000 sq. ft — and that is now not an optimized dimension, since you add to the franchisee’s overhead prices.” Location choice and different choices can even be influenced by AI, enabling the corporate to make smarter long-term selections.
Along with updating its bodily areas, Tony Roma’s 2.0 emphasizes technological innovation, together with integrating AI in ordering and retailer administration. Moreover, Haque says the model will use robotics in areas like stock administration and meal preparation. She sees these developments not as replacements for the human contact, however as instruments to increase efficiency, keep constant high quality and unencumber workers.
The present U.S. franchisees are already feeling the results. “There have been noticeable adjustments when it comes to franchise assist on the shop degree since Mina grew to become CEO,” says Suraj Shah, who owns a Tony Roma’s in North Carolina. “Earlier than, it might need been, ‘Hey, this is a brand new menu merchandise, use it or do not.’ Now, there’s much more coaching and assist.”
The technique to revive Tony Roma’s U.S. presence already seems to be gaining traction. The model is about to open its seventh home location in Tennessee later this yr.
Associated: 6 Intriguing Statistics About Women in the Franchising Industry
Wanting forward
As Tony Roma’s 2.0 ramps up, Haque says we’ll see extra U.S. areas, each standalone and in sure venues. “Tony Roma’s has accomplished exceptionally properly inside casinos,” she says. “Now we have a profitable unit in Las Vegas the place folks nonetheless line up for 2 hours. So, I wish to see extra Tony Roma’s inside casinos.”
Franchisees are already shopping for into this strategic imaginative and prescient, seeing Haque’s management as the important thing to mixing the model’s storied previous with a sustainable future. “I believe she and her crew do an incredible job of bringing ahead that 2.0 imaginative and prescient whereas conserving the core identity of Tony Roma’s,” Shah says. “They’re nonetheless sustaining that legendary ribs expertise Tony Roma’s has been identified for for over 50 years — the explanation I initially needed to change into a franchisee.”
Associated: Want to Become a Franchisee? Run Through This Checklist First.
