Mina Haque is not the likeliest individual to show round a once-popular meals franchise. She’s a lawyer by commerce and, till a number of years in the past, did not have any restaurant expertise. However that did not cease her from accepting the problem and taking up as interim CEO of Tony Roma’s in 2023.
“I am a really glad lawyer,” she says, “I nonetheless apply legislation, however I could not flip them down — their buyers wished to guard their funding, and so they preferred how I believe and my strategy and management abilities, and so they wished somebody examined. So, right here I’m.”
Now, Haque is embarking on a comeback plan to return the once-thriving franchise to prominence — after which to even better heights.
Based in 1972 in Miami, Florida, Tony Roma’s, recognized for its child again ribs and family-friendly ambiance, was as soon as a well-liked vacation spot for informal eating throughout the nation. At its peak within the early Nineties, the franchise had 260 areas throughout the U.S., concentrated in Florida and California.
However, as shopper tastes shifted and competitors within the informal eating area intensified, Tony Roma’s struggled to take care of its foothold. Over the previous few a long time, most U.S. areas closed, leaving the model with a a lot stronger presence internationally than at house. However regardless of its world presence stretching from Guam to Germany to Guatemala, the model just lately teetered on the sting of extinction within the U.S. — house to solely six of its 60 remaining areas. Then Haque received concerned with the corporate in 2021.
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No restaurant expertise? No downside.
Tony Roma’s initially employed Haque to work on authorized points. She assumed it could be a typical case: Are available in, do the work after which transfer on to the following one. Quickly, the uneasy buyers, seeing the model’s relevance vanishing, noticed one thing in her as effectively. They shortly provided her the job of outdoor normal counsel, main their authorized division. Haque took to the function enthusiastically.
“Immediately, I used to be reviewing their contracts, recovering cash owed and advising the board members and shareholders, to the purpose the place I developed relationships based mostly on belief,” she says. Then, they made a transfer she says she by no means noticed coming: “They provided me the function of CEO in the summertime of 2023.”
Tony Roma’s 2.0
Regardless of the model’s home decline, Haque stepped in with an optimistic and distinctive view of the corporate. “I take the model’s previous as a lesson that may inform my selections,” she says. “That is the place my authorized expertise is available in, as a result of analytical abilities are what attorneys do greatest — we do not ignore precedent, we study from it.”
After taking up as CEO, Haque instantly started engaged on a plan to revitalize Tony Roma’s, known as Tony Roma’s 2.0, which has an anticipated full launch in late 2026. On the coronary heart of this initiative is a brand new, streamlined retailer idea — considerably smaller than the standard full-sized eating places — aimed toward optimizing effectivity and profitability, together with a compact 3,000-square-foot eating format.
“We wish a smaller location,” Haque says. “Our older eating places have greater sq. footage — 6,000 to 10,000 sq. ft — and that is now not an optimized dimension, since you add to the franchisee’s overhead prices.” Location choice and different selections may even be influenced by AI, enabling the corporate to make smarter long-term decisions.
Along with updating its bodily areas, Tony Roma’s 2.0 emphasizes technological innovation, together with integrating AI in ordering and retailer administration. Moreover, Haque says the model will use robotics in areas like stock administration and meal preparation. She sees these developments not as replacements for the human contact, however as instruments to improve effectivity, preserve constant high quality and unlock workers.
The present U.S. franchisees are already feeling the consequences. “There have been noticeable modifications when it comes to franchise assist on the shop degree since Mina grew to become CEO,” says Suraj Shah, who owns a Tony Roma’s in North Carolina. “Earlier than, it might need been, ‘Hey, this is a brand new menu merchandise, use it or do not.’ Now, there’s much more coaching and assist.”
The technique to revive Tony Roma’s U.S. presence already seems to be gaining traction. The model is ready to open its seventh home location in Tennessee later this yr.
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Wanting forward
As Tony Roma’s 2.0 ramps up, Haque says we’ll see extra U.S. areas, each standalone and in sure venues. “Tony Roma’s has completed exceptionally effectively inside casinos,” she says. “We now have a profitable unit in Las Vegas the place individuals nonetheless line up for 2 hours. So, I want to see extra Tony Roma’s inside casinos.”
Franchisees are already shopping for into this strategic imaginative and prescient, seeing Haque’s management as the important thing to mixing the model’s storied previous with a sustainable future. “I believe she and her crew do an incredible job of bringing ahead that 2.0 imaginative and prescient whereas holding the core identification of Tony Roma’s,” Shah says. “They’re nonetheless sustaining that legendary ribs expertise Tony Roma’s has been recognized for for over 50 years — the rationale I initially wished to grow to be a franchisee.”
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