"GoTo's "restaurant brands," like Moe's Southwestern Grill and McAlister's Deli, already have the bones of destination businesses - stand-alone locations, deep local ties, and sizable catering operations. Those businesses, he argued, are less dependent on transit foot traffic and more able to build intentional visits."
"For decades, brands like Jamba, Cinnabon, and Auntie Anne's thrived on the built-in foot traffic of American malls - temples of teenage loitering and weekend errand runs that reliably delivered customers without much need for marketing muscle. But that ecosystem has been shrinking for years."
"Department store anchors have shuttered, mall vacancies have climbed, and consumer traffic has steadily migrated online or to open-air lifestyle centers and stand-alone drive-thru concepts. The pandemic accelerated the shift, hollowing out already struggling properties and reinforcing new habits around convenience and digital ordering."
GoTo Foods faces a critical challenge as traditional shopping malls decline, threatening brands like Jamba, Cinnabon, and Auntie Anne's that historically relied on mall foot traffic. CEO Omer Gajial's strategy distinguishes between the company's restaurant brands—Moe's Southwestern Grill and McAlister's Deli—which already operate as destination businesses with stand-alone locations and catering operations, and snack brands dependent on mall traffic. The pandemic accelerated the shift away from malls toward online shopping and open-air lifestyle centers. Gajial's approach leverages location strategy, enhanced customer experience, and new technology to convert impulse purchases into intentional visits, transforming brands from convenient grab-and-go options into purposeful destinations.
#retail-transformation #mall-decline #restaurant-strategy #brand-repositioning #consumer-behavior-shift
Read at Business Insider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]