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Why BJ’s Restaurants put a margin improvement team into place
Greg Levin was named CEO of BJ’s Restaurants in the summer of 2021 during perhaps the most disruptive time for the casual dining segment in its history.
Those uncertainties have only grown since, given inflationary and supply chain challenges, as well as a predicted recession on the horizon. Still, BJ’s system sales and comp sales exceeded pre-pandemic levels in Q3. Though margins remain pressured (BJ’s is not anomalous here), Levin and his team have put several initiatives into place to maintain the 214-unit chain’s momentum – uncertainties be damned. Take, for example, the company’s recently-created margin improvement team featuring representation across several functions to actively identify and implement cost savings opportunities, some of which are low-hanging fruit and others that have long-term implications. The team focuses on four areas specifically – cost of sales, labor, operating occupancy and G&A. The ultimate goal is to bring margins back into the mid-to-upper teens, while maintaining quality and portion sizes.
“Most companies came out of Covid thinking inflation would be more transitory but the fact is labor inflation has come in and there are higher input costs than three years ago,” Levin said during a recent interview. “As we looked at margins, we felt it was important to look for areas to improve.”
As an example, when BJ’s chicken wing supplier experienced a labor shortage that significantly increased costs, the chain began testing chicken thighs.
“We have slow-roast ovens, which are unique to BJ’s, so we were able to take those items and put them into these ovens – almost like a crockpot,” Levin said.
The thighs are no longer on the menu, but the experience allowed BJ’s to consider new supply opportunities; in this case, raw jumbo wings that can be cooked in those ovens and then fried when ordered.
“We were able to bring in a commodity wing and cook it better than the rest of the industry. And because of that commodity wing, we are able to save a certain amount of dollars per pound,” Levin said. “The thighs didn’t work out but they made us realize we could introduce more of a commodity product and put our unique spin on it. We had a failure that led to a success down the road.”
Levin estimates this change saves the company about $3 million annually based on current prices. The margin improvement team also looked at ways to trim its fresh salmon differently to yield more product, versus sourcing a cheaper frozen salmon.
“So, again, we’re going to a commodity-type of product and that is giving us savings. These are the types of things we’re doing at the cost of sales – looking at what the commodity products are out there that maintain quality either by slow roasting or adding our sauces or something along those lines,” Levin said. “This initiative is directly reducing pricing required to offset inflation.”
BJ’s is also testing smaller menus and will examine those results in the next few months to understand the cost savings versus customer satisfaction balance. Levin said if the test was successful, a smaller menu could be introduced around June 2023.
“We are mostly looking at things that may not be necessary. We have eight salads, for example. I’m not sure we need eight salads. But we will see where the guest is and what is selling and what is not,” Levin said. “We don’t want to take away the top selling items that our guests want, even if it is complex.”
In addition to the menu, BJ’s is also looking at labor efficiencies for cost savings. Labor is a critical piece for the company’s momentum, as higher staffed restaurants generate stronger topline sales and save on overall costs. Currently, the system is staffed above 90%.
“When we looked at our numbers this year, we were spending a lot of money on overtime and training. We’ve been able to reduce those as we’ve staffed up more, so that has been a big priority,” Levin said. “Also, now that we’ve got this base of people maturing and getting their sea legs under them in the restaurants, we can go back to the traditional labor metrics we’ve had in the past. That’s the switch where we’re getting some efficiencies from because we’re able to understand how to better allocate people in certain timeframes.”
Labor allocation, he notes, has changed with the elevated off-premises business. Pre-pandemic, for instance, about $10,000 of weekly sales came outside of the dining room. That mix has since doubled. To maintain the momentum on labor, BJ’s recently hired its first chief people officer to emphasize culture, which has helped reduce turnover.
Of course, technology is also playing a part in finding efficiencies. To achieve this goal, BJ’s
17 Twin Cities area bars and restaurants with retail spaces perfect for holiday shopping
We’re counting down the days of the season and hoping to cram in as much joy, laughter and togetherness as possible. That means multitasking — it’s the only way to accomplish everything we need to accomplish before the holidays.
That’s why the growing trend of restaurants with added retail space is so incredibly helpful this time of year, when many who are gathering at restaurants are also looking for gifts to share. Along with rustic reclaimed-wood tables, there are shelves lined with possibilities from makers near and far, all curated to reflect the restaurant’s aesthetic.
At Vivir, the breakfast cafe from Jami Olson that’s adjacent to her Minneapolis taco spot Centro, the pivot came in part due to the pandemic. “We wanted to create a market feel,” she said, remembering the early pandemic days when she and chef Jose Alarcon shifted the Mexican fine dining restaurant Popol Vuh over to Vivir. “We wanted to add things that added energy to space.”
The goods stocked at the store are intentionally selected from Mexican makers or local artists from its neighbors in the historic Northeast arts district.
At Wrecktangle’s relatively new stand-alone pizza restaurant on W. Lake Street, the addition of shop space was a way to honor familial roots. Brothers Jeff and Alex Rogers opened Silver’s Market & Deli, named after the grocery store their grandparents operated in Hibbing, Minn.
Co-owner Breanna Evans said most of the items stocked inside Silver’s are small businesses just getting off the ground, many from their artistic friends and workers.
“Plus, with the pandemic, we thought why not give people a place to sell the things they made with their idle hands?”
Here are some of our favorite places to go for a bite and to linger for a little retail therapy.
Alma Provisions
This little beauty is a new concept for Alma that pulls together some of the greatest hits from its cafe, like divine breakfast sandwiches, and shelves stocked with gorgeous goods. While waiting for a coffee order, use the seasonal scents in the forms of candles, incense, sprays and oils. Pick up some handcrafted cooking tools, or a couple of Alma’s pantry staples that just happened to be the size of stocking stuffers.
812 W. 46th St., Mpls., 612-895-1251, almaprovisions. com
Bellecour Bakery
Cooks of Crocus Hill has long been a destination for those in search of the finest cookware and kitchen implements, but the addition of Bellecour Bakery has made it a must-visit for food fans. The North Loop location has indoor tables to order up a cup of Dorothy’s dark roast coffee and laminated treats (or a sandwich/salad combo). Nab a giant sprinkle-crusted macaron for later and then peruse all the Le Creuset, All-Clad, cookbooks and gadgets on the wish lists of your favorite foodie. (The St. Paul Cooks of Crocus Hill also has Bellecour goodies, but no space to stay and enjoy.)
210 N. 1st St., Mpls., 612-223-8167, bellecourbakery.com
Churchill Street
This destination eatery in Shoreview is top-to-bottom beautiful — and so are the market goods they stock. Walking inside the restaurant, it’s easy to get swept away by the tall, airy ceilings, but don’t miss the shelves at the center front of the room and next to the door that demand attention. There are beautiful, sturdy burlap bags, small jars of delicious food stuffs, and candles with alluring scents.
4606 Churchill St., Shoreview, 612-466-2596, churchillst.com
Clancey’s Meats & Fish
The newly expanded butcher shop includes plenty of shelf space for artisan grocery goods. Stop by in the morning for an oven-fresh cinnamon roll, order up holiday roasts and then spend time lingering among all the pretty small jars and other goods to help complete a meal. There are plenty of host gifts that would add a killer cheese board.
3804 Grand Av. S., Mpls., 612-926-0222, clanceysmeats.com
Earl Giles
This massive warehouse space and distillery from Jesse Held, Jeff Erkkila and Nick Kosevich is also a greenery-filled winter wonderland during markets held on the second Saturday of the month through April. Stop by for local goods from artisan makers and stay for fantastic pizza and a cadre of cocktails.
1325 NE. Quincy St., Mpls., 612-345-5305, earlgiles.com
EaTo
Have your pasta and eat it, too, at this downtown Minneapolis Italian restaurant with market stations set up throughout the sprawling space. You’ll find a small grocery store with imported ingredients that would make a lovely gift basket for an Italophile, plus local artisanal goods and grab-and-go prepared foods. In the dining room, find kitchen and home goods, cookbooks, beauty supplies, plants and pots, and Baggu totes. The Bottle Shop, curated by beverage director Scarlett Carrasco Polanco, features a large selection of Italian hard-to-find wines.
305 Washington Av. S., Mpls., 612-208-1638, eatompls.com
El Burrito Mercado
Through the generations, this Mexican grocer, deli,
Ground beef taco recipe has a surprise ingredients: oatmeal : NPR
This recipe started in Arizona. Now, sisters Kirsten Ayles (left), in San Clemente, Calif., and Alexis Wold, in New York City, make it on opposite coasts. Right: A family photo of their grandparents’ restaurant, Odd’s Sombrero in Wickenburg, Ariz.
Alexis Wold/Collage by NPR
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Alexis Wold/Collage by NPR
This recipe started in Arizona. Now, sisters Kirsten Ayles (left), in San Clemente, Calif., and Alexis Wold, in New York City, make it on opposite coasts. Right: A family photo of their grandparents’ restaurant, Odd’s Sombrero in Wickenburg, Ariz.
Alexis Wold/Collage by NPR
All Things We’re Cooking is a series featuring family recipes from you, our readers and listeners, and the special stories behind them. We’ll continue to share more of your kitchen gems throughout the holidays.
For as long as she can remember, from growing up in New Mexico to living in New York City today, Alexis Wold has made taco meat the same way — using the recipe from Odd’s Sombrero, the restaurant her grandparents owned in Wickenburg, Ariz.
The restaurant was named after Wold’s paternal grandfather, Odd, who moved out to Arizona with his wife in the 1940s from Chicago. The pair decided to open a restaurant that served diner food. It wasn’t until Wold’s grandmother hired a woman named Carmen Macias that the menu changed.
“She was a young lady and she suggested that they add Mexican food to the menu,” Wold said. “And my grandmother being … fairly new to the Southwest around that time, she said, ‘I don’t know anything about Mexican food. I can’t make that.’ And [Macias] said, ‘Well, I can.'”
Macias went on to share his family’s recipes with the Wolds, who then served the recipes in the restaurant, Wold said. One of those is the taco meat recipe, which has just a handful of spices added to it but is delicious all the same.
“It’s not too spicy, in my opinion. It’s really easy to make … so sometimes I’ll make it for myself too, since from start to finish it takes maybe 20 minutes,” Wold said.
There is one surprise ingredient, though.
“One unusual thing it has in it is oatmeal. I don’t think you would normally see that in a taco meat recipe,” Wold said. “I think that was probably sort of a carryover thing since it was kind of the postwar era. There were shortages of things during the war, so a lot of people did unusual things with food to sort of extend it.”
The oatmeal gives the taco meat a nicer texture and it doesn’t fall apart as much, Wold says.
As the taco meat cooks, Wold spends that time chopping tomatoes and some spinach to add to the tacos, along with cheddar cheese and salsa. She prefers flour tortillas but will serve hard shells (and lettuce) when she makes tacos for others.
Odd’s Sombrero was sold in 1965 and Wold’s grandparents moved to Seattle. Wold said that her family isn’t sure if Macias’ family is still in Wickenburg, but it would be cool if they saw this and knew how beloved their taco meat recipe is today.
Odd’s Sombrero Taco Meat
Recipe submitted by Alexis Wold
New York, NY
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground oregano
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1/2 cup dry quick oatmeal
- 2 cups of water
Directions
Brown the ground beef, then add the garlic and spices and stir well.
Stir in the oatmeal and water, then transfer to a greased casserole dish. Cover and bake at 300 degrees for about an hour.
Optional: For faster preparation, cooking can be completed on the stove-top, simmering until the water is absorbed and the mixture is thickened.
Serves 6 to 8.