Salsa’s reveals 2013 roadmap: 50 stores, healthy menus and more value
General Manager Brett Carman reveals the Fresh Mex brand’s strategies for the year.
Salsa’s plans to expand its store count to 50 from the current 37 in the hopes that its fast casual dining concept of serving tasty burritos and tacos continues to resonate with value-hunting customers amid a tougher economic climate for Australian retail brands.
“We have set ourselves a store target of 50 stores by the end of the 2013,” said Carman to QSR Media. “It’s a common theme that the retail market is ever-challenging, and we will be focused on maintaining our double digit same-store growth; the real measure of success for a maturing business.”
Finding great sites
While 13 additional stores might not be so impressive at first glance, the number was arrived at through a careful look of consumer and franchisee data, which Carman said is what will make Salsa’s expansion plan more likely to succeed.
“More than hitting a specific number of stores, it’s critical that our focus is on finding great sites and matching them to great franchisees. In a growing and competitive market it’s tempting to be lured into a race for sites; we won’t compromise quality businesses for the sake of store numbers.”
Salsa’s is looking to spread the new stores quite evenly throughout the states and territories.
“Our brand started in Victoria, where we have 17, with a couple more on the drawing board,” said Carman.
“Western Australia presents some great opportunities for us, and we are growing rapidly in terms of new stores and same stores sales. Southern Australia is also seeing good growth, and we will also be looking to increase our presence in New South Wales. We will also open our first store in Casuarina, Northern Territory in the coming weeks,” added Carman in assessing each location’s viability.
“So the answer is pretty much everywhere.”
Carman said its casual dining format has performed strongly in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, and that the brand is “always looking to develop this format” for the new stores.
New menu items
On top of launching new stores in 2013, Salsa’s is also keen on rolling out new menu items that should bring buzz to the brand, and give fans new reasons to keep coming back.
“We have great new menu items launching this year that will help us build on our existing loyal customer base, and generate trial for people new to our brand, and Mexican cuisine generally,” said Carman.
Health and freshness will remain key brand propositions, and will figure prominently in upcoming Salsa’s offerings.
“Salsa’s interpretation – fresh mex – places emphasis on fresh grilled meats, vegetables, and salsas. Done well, it’s incredibly healthy and our focus with menu development has been to emphasise the fresh components of our ingredients,” said Carman.
“Next week we launch a range Street Tacos, which are quite low in kilojoules, and each features our special salsas. We recently rolled out our new menu nationally, which includes black beans, a healthy and more authentic option to refried beans, and two new salsas – chipotle and habanero (hot chili pepper) which were developed by our menu development team,” he added.
Carman noted that the new menu will provide customers with more flexibility to swap their salsas and customise their meals, including choosing their preferred level of heat.
More brand activation
Salsa’s successfully ran a pop-up store trend this January during the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments for professional tennis, and notably, one of the biggest sporting events in the country.
Carman said the pop-up store was a hit, and has convinced the brand that more brand activations could be in the cards soon.
“An opportunity presented itself to have a presence at the Australian Open, and we jumped at it,” said Carman. “We saw it as a golden opportunity to expose Salsa’s to a national and international audience. Almost 700,000 people visited the Open, and our Operations Manager insists he served every one of them.”
“It was a huge success for us in terms of brand exposure, operations and customer service. It was also incredibly challenging to execute, so we need to be selective about the events we ‘pop up’ at. In principle, we hope to do more of this type of brand activation.”
Challenging economic times
With regard to competition, Carman said that Salsa’s plans to stay ahead by maintaining its market share to keep revenues robust while also striving for leaner operations to lower costs. These, of course, will be done without compromising Salsa’s reputation for value and excellent service.
“Overall, I think these are exciting times for the QSR sector. There are some great brands in the category, and we are all pushing and challenging each other to raise the bar. That’s great news for customers, but bad news for QSRs who can’t or aren’t prepared to keep up or step up,” said Carman.
“Challenging economic times mean that customers become more discerning and more price conscious, so QSRs need to maintain efficiencies and control costs. There is no doubt people now have an appetite for saving their money, and we will need to work harder to retain and attract customers by providing value and great experiences.”
