Maggie McFly’s will also leverage relationships with local companies to push word-of-mouth promotions. “I said, ‘Well, if you guys go to Florida, then I'm opening up a restaurant in Florida,’” Harper remembers.Īs for brand awareness, Harper relies on the skills of corporate marketing manager Carrie Koscal, who’s worked with influencers in previous openings. Not wanting to lose his best executives, Harper viewed it as his next opportunity. The couple ran those restaurants for years before coming to Harper expressing a desire to move to Florida to be closer to family. Both rose through the ranks and played a significant role in opening stores in Springfield and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Even more importantly, he’s following the lead of two trusted executive managers, Don and Maria Cordeiro.ĭon started with Maggie McFly’s working as a busser in Middlebury, Connecticut, while Maria joined as a host in the same location. The state has plenty of sunshine, so if there isn’t enough room in the dining room, there’s year-round patio space to work with. He used to own a home there and it’s where he wants to retire. Although the distance is large, the decision to expand to the Sunshine State was measured. Growth is returning in 2023 with an opening in Boca Raton, Florida, which is more than 900 miles from Maggie McFly’s next-closet restaurant. Two units opened in 2019 and another two were supposed to debut in 2020, but the pandemic changed those plans. Harper-unburdened by investors, cofounders, or private equity partners-has been able to grow at his own pace since 1993. The brand has eight stores across Connecticut, New York, and Virginia. It's all about creating relationships with our local partners and they promote us, and we promote them.” But once you get them established and once you get those relationships going it’s so great and it's so beneficial. “But us little guys, we can, and the hard work is doing it in the beginning and sourcing these smaller companies out. “That's something a big corporation, a big chain can't do,” he says. There are advertisements throughout menu pages highlighting these local vendors. Maggie McFly’s distances itself from The Cheesecake Factory by sourcing local ingredients, and doing so without “jacking up prices,” Harper says. COVID was difficult, but if the brand needed to remove something because it couldn’t get the right specs, it didn’t deter customers from coming because there are so many other choices. The same goes for companies that grind burgers for Maggie McFly’s. Many ingredients are cross-utilized getting a company to supply a non-antibiotic, non-hormone chicken product ensures superior quality for half the menu right off the bat. Harper acknowledges having nearly 200 menu items is difficult, but it’s not as onerous if you’re efficient. As Harper explains, “It gets bigger only because it's hard to take something off because everything sells. He and his culinary team slowly built the menu into what it is today. Executive Chef Rogerio Prates-who came from Brazil and started as a dishwasher-has been with the company since its inception. Plus, Harper didn’t want to change something that was decades in the making. The Maggie McFly’s owner responded by claiming he didn’t want to be like everyone else and that having a large menu was a major factor in separating from the herd. Harper recalls a meeting with Yard House founder Steele Platt, who advised him that the industry was heading for smaller menus. It’s remained that way despite advice to do otherwise. ![]() Similar to The Cheesecake Factory, Maggie McFly’s boasts a 180-item menu. “A restaurant like that, that cooks from scratch with a big menu that's so broad, I think to me years ago revolutionized what casual dining needed to be in the future.” “I think one of the best brands out there who has been doing this for longer than I've been around is The Cheesecake Factory,” he says. However, there is one particular brand Harper doesn’t mind being associated with. He’s not going to veer from scratch-made standards either. No, he’s not interested in simplifying his menu. While Harper has much respect for the Applebee’s, TGI Fridays, and Ruby Tuesdays of the world, the industry veteran doesn’t aspire to be them. The brand-which fits many of the characteristics under a NextGen Casual (chef-inspired dishes, unique store designs, and affordable price points)-is admittedly too complicated. Ray Harper, who founded Maggie McFly’s 30 years ago, will never franchise his concept.
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