Change Management
Taste test
How Nick Vojnovic drives change at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s withouthurting its brand
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Tampa Bay | October 2008
Page 1 of 3
In his first nine years with Family Sports
Concepts Inc., Nick Vojnovic watched the
company’s Beef ‘O’ Brady’s restaurant
chain grow at a tremendous rate.
What started out in 1998 as 30 locations,
primarily in the Tampa Bay area, and $16
million of revenue, had increased to 250
sites nationwide with revenue of approximately $200 million by 2007.
But then the company hit a snag.
Beef’s, as Vojnovic refers to it, started
experiencing tremendous commodity
increases because of rising ethanol and
fuel prices. Aside from the business having
to spend more money to pay for supplies,
those rising fuel prices are also driving people to enjoy some home cooking instead of
eating out — and Vojnovic, who became
president of the organization in 2005, was
hearing all about it from his franchisees.
“We are seeing pressure at the store level
where they go, ‘Nick, I’m working just as
hard, and I’m not making as much money,’”
he says. “We, as a franchisor, have to lead
that way and make sure they are making
money and make adjustments.”
Because a lot of the company’s success is
dependent on the franchisees making
money and being happy, Vojnovic and the
management team knew it was time to
make some changes.
They decided to re-evaluate parts of their
company’s brand and concepts to continue
the kind of growth they’ve experienced and
that meant trying new things.
One of those changes involved serving
some liquor at the restaurants. There was
some worry that expanding from beer and
wine to include serving mixed drinks
would turn the family-friendly Beef ‘O’
Brady’s into a scene out of “National
Lampoon’s Animal House.”
“Our core customer is mom and dad with
the 8-year-old or 10-year-old coming in after
a soccer game,” he says. “We certainly do
not want a bunch of 24-year-olds at the bar
trying to pick up chicks, getting hammered
and cussing.”
Though Vojnovic did not want to alienate
the customers that made the company a
success, he was willing to try to change
while still keeping core customers satisfied.
“You’ve got to keep changing,” he says.
“You cannot keep doing what you have
always done. At the same time, you cannot
lose that core, or you cannot ever alienate
your core customer, or you could possibly
go out of business.”
