Fondue chain one-third of the way through $30 million renovation

After 15 years since the last renovation, the Melting Pot and its franchisees are reinvesting in the brand — starting with a $30 million renovation project. 

The main focus is to revamp the bar area of the locations and make it easier for customers to connect with the main menu item: fondue, in a variety of ways.  

"What we’re doing is making a more well rounded way for guests to enjoy fondue," said Collin Benyo, Melting Pot's franchise growth strategist. 

Before, the bar didn't have food capabilities. Now, with the installation of peninsula tables off the bar, guests who want to visit the Melting Pot for fondue and drinks, but don't want to sit in the main dining room, can now do just that. 

The peninsula tables grant enough room for both drinks and food while allowing guests to have a less immersive experience, company officials say. 

The majority of the renovations will be the same across the brand’s nearly 100 locations, CEO Bob Johnston, said. Though only a third of the restaurants have been renovated thus far, downtown Sarasota’s location included, leadership is already noticing a difference. 

“Those restaurants that have already (been) renovated are seeing noteworthy increases above the stores that have not yet renovated,” Johnston said. 

To wit, Johnson said sales in 2022 were up 40.5% over 2019. The comparison to 2021 was smaller, at 13.4%, though it still outperformed the company’s expectation by 5%. (Company officials decline to disclose specific revenue figures.) Additionally, guest traffic was up in 2022 over 2019 by almost 10%.

Courtesy photo

Updated experiences at the Melting Pot Sarasota, on the Courthouse Centre building’s second floor, include a larger, dedicated space for the bar, the peninsula tables, a new service area and dedicated cocktail area. The wine room was removed to make room for these changes.  

"The way one of the operators put it, people want to be seen but they don’t necessarily want to be heard," Johnston said of the "why" behind the renovations. 

Renovations also include new fabrics, carpet, paint, artwork, lighting and exterior signage. The fondue concept has been in Sarasota since 1995. The menu's center of attention is the breads, vegetables and fruit served to be dipped into the different types of fondue cheeses. 

Johnston expects the remaining third of restaurants to be renovated through the end of the this year and into next year. 

“It was past due and the customers deserved it,” he said. “We have not had any major environment updates since the early 2000s. You want to keep your customers, you’ve got to show them you’re investing in their experience so they want to come back. 

“I think it’s fair to say, we were a little bit behind schedule. But we are catching up quickly.”

The company has conducted consumer research on diners before and after experiencing the renovations. “The best news is the customers like it," he said. “Their feedback has been very affirming."

The Melting Pot is also expanding in geography, not just renovating existing locations. Currently there are interested potential franchisees in Washington, Illinois, North Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Texas, Tennessee and Connecticut. 

But the brand aims be careful about where it places a new franchise.

“When we place a Melting Pot, the reach of that store is extremely large,” Benyo said. “We can get guests to visit us from hours away. So when we’re looking at cities, we’re making sure that we’re not going into areas that we have brand awareness and locations in existence because we don’t want to disrupt what those franchisees are doing.”

Johnston hopes to have eight to 12 new restaurants in the development pipeline by the end of this year. In Florida specifically, he’s looking to expand in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, St. Petersburg and Lakeland. The St. Petersburg Melting Pot will be on Central Avenue, and is likely to open next year.  

“We’ve just reentered a period of new store growth,” he said. 

The past few years, because of COVID-19, the focus has been on helping the existing restaurants make it through. But with that now out of the way, Johnston expects to get close to 130 locations over the next five years. “The reattribution of saying ‘let’s now focus on that,’ has been paying off because we can showcase a brand that’s doing extremely well,” Benyo said.

The brand has also been trying a new kind of fondue concept called the Melting Pot Social. The first in Tampa opened in May. 

“It’s a younger, hipper cousin to Melting Pot,” Johnston said. 

While all of the traditional fondue favorites are still featured, the menu extends to non-fondue items as well, like ribs and potstickers. 

Trying to reach a younger crowd, the Melting Pot Social is less of a time and money commitment. On average, food and drink costs around $30 for each person, Johnston said, and people are there for little over an hour. Comparatively, the average time spent at a Melting Pot is an hour and a half or longer, he said.

This article originally appeared on sister site BusinessObserverFL.com.