EMERGING BRANDS
HOW ANGIE'S FOOD CONCEPTS AIMS TO BECOME THE WALMART OF RESTAURANTS FAST FOOD HAS AN AFFORDABILITY PROBLEM AND TONY CHRISTOFELLIS, WHO CO-FOUNDED THE SALAD AND GO CHAIN, BELIEVES HE KNOWS HOW TO FIX IT. BY LISA JENNINGS
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANGIE'S FOOD CONCEPTS
T ony Christofellis believes he has solved the biggest problem facing the fast-food industry today: Affordability. Fast-food menu prices have risen steadily over the past four years, while quality has gone down and consum- ers are getting fed up, he said. They’re choosing to cook at home, or in some cases even trading up to fast-casual or casual-dining deals where the quality of food is better and prices are only a dollar or two more than McDon- ald’s or Wendy’s. Christofellis, however, says he is building a new model for restaurant operation that will be a true disruptor in the industry. He knows a bit about disruption. Christofellis was the co-founder of Salad and Go, a drive-thru salad concept built around a highly efficient model of small, mostly seating-free restaurants served by central kitchen production facilities where everything was made in house. Christofellis sold his stake in Salad and Go to a private-equity firm in 2021. (Now former Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison is leading Salad and Go and that chain has about 140 units and counting.) Christofellis, meanwhile, has moved onto something new. He and some other investors that were behind Salad and Go have put about $26 million into the now-growing Ang- ie’s Food Concepts, a multi-brand restaurant company named for Christofellis’ mother and based in Arizona. At Angie’s, Christofellis is applying some of the learnings from Salad and Go. But he thinks the model can apply to a lot more than just salad. Like, say, lobster. That’s not typically an ingredient associated with Arizona. But Christofellis wanted to start with a food that had “wow factor.”
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS OCTOBER 2024
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