Entrepreneurship Videos

Are Focused Restaurant Menus Over? Why This Poke Chain Shook Things Up to Win New Guests

In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Seth Cohen, cofounder of Sweetfin, a Los Angeles based fast casual that launched a decade ago as one of the first players in the poke category. Sweetfin has grown to 15 locations in Southern California, but in order to unlock more growth, the leadership team decided that the core menu needed a facelift. Chef Daniel Patterson was recruited to develop new menu items for Sweetfin, and the result was a line of warm bowls featuring cooked proteins, as well as new salads and vegetable sides. The new menu, which leans into Sweetfin’s identity as a California-Asian inspired concept, debuted at one location earlier this year, and Seth joined the podcast to talk about why the brand felt it needed to expand beyond poke, and which metrics he’s watching to see if it’s a success. In this conversation, you’ll find out why: Your menu needs to evolve every once in a while — sometimes in a big way The era of extremely focused menus may be over Your menu must have a point of view All brand evolution must be filtered through your core values To be successful, you have to make bold decisions Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at [email protected]. ------------------------ 00:00 – Why Sweetfin Evolved 02:10 – Sweetfin’s Origin Story 05:16 – The State of the Poké Category 09:20 – Why the Menu Needed to Change 12:24 – Fast Casual’s Competitive Future 18:12 – California + Asian Identity 25:23 – Partnering With a Michelin Chef 30:18 – Rollout Strategy + KPIs 33:23 – Bold Moves in Tough Markets 39:16 – Takeaway #1: Evolve Your Menu 40:22 – Takeaway #2: Focused Menus May Be Over 42:28 – Takeaway #3: Have a Point of View 44:13 – Takeaway #4: Filter Through Core Values 45:13 – Takeaway #5: Be Bold ------------------------ Connect with us: ------------------------ Our website: http://NRN.com Our Facebook: http://facebook.com/RestaurantNews Our Twitter: http://twitter.com/NRNonline Our LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/NRNonline Our Instagram: http://instagram.com/NRNonline