tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Roy Rogers
Owner -- Plamondon Enterprises
Primary Operating Region -- Eight Mid-Atlantic area states, and one stray location in Ohio
Number of Locations -- 52 (2007)

Roy Rogers didn't start this.  It wasn't his idea, it wasn't his recipes.

The Marriott Corporation wanted to grow its restaurant division.  Pete Plamondon Sr, an executive in charge of restaurant divisions, developed the concept for Marriott.  They chose to license the Roy Rogers name at the suggestion of a friend of Marriott CEO J.W. "Bill" Marriott because of his honest, wholesome image.  Rogers agreed and signed on.  The chain took on all three of the major fast food concepts under one roof...Burgers, roast beef, and fried chicken.  Marriott himself is said to have created the fried chicken recipe.

The first location opened in 1968 in Falls Church, VA.  Under Marriott, Roy Rogers flourished into a chain of nearly 650 stores nationwide by 1990, some through expansion, some through conversion of chains Marriott had picked up.

Marriott sold the chain to Imasco, the parent company of Hardee's, in 1990.  Imasco converted several company stores to the Hardee's brand.  This proved to be a bad idea.  A customer revolt that cut sales in half resulted in the conversion of locations BACK to Roy Rogers, but the damage was already done.  Imasco eventually worked on selling off locations to other chains, who then converted the stores to their brands.  Imasco sold off Hardee's in 1997, but kept Roy Rogers.  Franchisees who remained loyal to the Roy Rogers brand were allowed to remain in business with minimal or no support.  They didn't need much anyway.  Existing customers were fiercely loyal to the brand.

One of those franchisees was Plamondon himself, who opened stores in the 1980's. Sons Jim and Peter Jr, who had purchased Plamondon Enterprises from their parents in 1998, purchased Roy Rogers from Imasco in 2003.  The company owned 14 of the 63 operating locations as well as several Marriott motel brand franchises.  They have initiated a revitalization of the brand dubbed "Roy Rogers Rides Again!".  They want to double the size of the chain, mostly in their existing terrirtory.  So far, there's been two store openings and about a dozen closures.  But most of the existing franchisees have renewed too.

The core menu is roast beef sandwiches, burgers, and chicken. Sometimes there's a fish sandwich, a Hot Ham n' Cheese, and maybe something else.  The burgers include the "Double-R-Bar Burger", which is a quarter-pound cheeseburger topped with a slice of ham.  There's fried chicken, chicken tenders, and some chicken sandwiches.  You can choose from several sides including fries, baked or mashed potatoes, cole slaw, baked beans, and baked apples.  There's a full line of salads as well, a recent addition to make Roy Rogers more upscale than typical fast food.  There's apparently a breakfast menu, though the store I visited didn't seem to have it.

The sandwiches are cooked to order and served plain…meat and bun…then you top them yourself at the "Fixins Bar." This is the exact same Fixins Bar that briefly showed up in Hardee's locations in the early 1990's. Toppings at the location I visited included onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, barbeque sauce, horseradish, and tartar sauce. No mustard or mayo, at least here. Your love for your burger will be based on available toppings and your ability to properly top it.  The toppings all looked fresh...nothing had been sitting too long.

The idea going forward is that Roy Rogers offers a more adult taste with premium ingredients.  But there are far cheaper and more attractive restaurant concepts out there to get into.  The existing franchise base seems to be behind the chain, but attracting new franchisees to the concept could prove difficult.  Traditional chain formats aren't really growing much.  

Roy Rogers needs to come up with something special that hits well in marketing.  Maybe move up from 1/4-pound burgers to 1/3-pounders.  Maybe go to Angus beef.  Maybe expand the topping options on the Fixins bar.  Maybe come up with a store model that fits into a strip mall with lower startup costs.

Maybe something totally new and creative nobody has thought of.

Maybe.

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