With dining rooms closed across the country, the fan-favorite teriyaki franchise is still reaching customers and recording enviable sales numbers.
When the coronavirus crisis forced businesses across the country to shut down in March, Teriyaki Madness found itself uniquely positioned to continue providing giant, hot and healthy teriyaki bowls to loyal customers through catering, takeout, delivery and other off-site dining options. Two months later, those off-site operations, along with some other savvy pivots, are continuing to pay off for Teriyaki Madness customers, franchise owners, employees and even frontline workers.
For the past four weeks, Teriyaki Madness sales have been on an upward trajectory, on some days even beating same-store sales numbers from last year, long before the coronavirus crisis was keeping customers out of restaurants across the country.
Much of that success can be attributed to the brand’s marketing strategy, which has assured customers that all of their favorite items are still available even as the restaurant landscape has changed.
“We’ve invested in a fantastic marketing strategy that has allowed us to keep Teriyaki Madness top-of-mind both for our most loyal customers and new customers who are looking for some comfort food now that so many other restaurants are closed,” said Teriyaki Madness CEO Michael Haith.
Not satisfied to thrive while communities are struggling, in April, Teriyaki Madness quickly moved to pay its good fortune forward by partnering with fans to provide free meals for healthcare workers.
With their Pay-it-Forward campaign, Teriyaki Madness is teaming up with fans to split the cost of meals for healthcare workers. All customers need to do is visit catering.teriyakimadness.com and select the “Healthcare Teriyaki Bar” to have a fully loaded teriyaki spread delivered to the healthcare location of their choice.*
In less than a month, the campaign has proven an enormous success, delivering more than 4,000 meals to healthcare professionals across the country. And it’s not just frontline workers who are benefiting. Customers and employees, too, are cheering the campaign’s success.
“The campaign has been a major boon for our communities,” said Haith. “That includes the healthcare workers who are receiving hot and delicious meals for free, our fans, who have a new way to directly support their local heroes, and each of our restaurants, which have stayed open and busy and allowed team members to stay gainfully employed. It’s been an absolute win-win-win.”
The Pay-it-Forward campaign exemplifies the community spirit that franchisees say has long distinguished the franchise from other fast-casual brands.
“Teriyaki Madness is an amazing community of people who actually care about not only each other’s success but the health and well-being of the community,” said Lombard, Illinois franchisee Nik Patel. “I am more than proud to be a franchisee of this brand!”
Teriyaki Madness’s success during a time of unprecedented difficulty for most restaurants has not gone unnoticed. Customers are demanding TMAD! As a result, the brand has seen an influx of interest from prospective franchisees and has already signed four new franchise owners in the 60 days since the onset of the crisis. Five shops will have Grand Openings in coming weeks when in-restaurant dining is limited due to the stay at home order.
As the crisis continues, Teriyaki Madness will continue to partner with fans to provide meals for healthcare workers, and the brand is committed to finding new ways to support local communities and provide fans with comforting, customizable meals that restore a much needed sense of reliability and satisfaction in a difficult chapter.
Teriyaki Madness, a fast-casual teriyaki shop concept, is committed to unconditionally satisfying guests by offering delicious, made-to-order Teriyaki dishes prepared with fresh, all-natural ingredients served quickly and at a reasonable price in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. The simple menu lets guests choose their protein, type of rice or noodles and desired vegetables for a fully customizable bowl made as healthy as the customer wants. The brand is dedicated to “Spreading the Madness” so everyone can experience the best teriyaki on earth. Teriyaki Madness was recently recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as a Franchise 500 company and by Franchise Business Review for their Top 50 Franchise Satisfaction award two years in a row. The brand also ranked on the top half of the Inc. 5000 list in 2017 with three-year sales growth of 171 percent. Teriyaki Madness was founded in 2003 and currently has franchise agreements for nearly 150 shops in the United States. Teriyaki Madness offers franchising opportunities nationwide for their concept to qualified single and multi-unit candidates. For more information, visit www.franchise.teriyakimadness.com or email franchise@teriyakimadness.com.
* Delivery location must be within 5-6 miles of a Teriyaki Madness location. This fully loaded Teriyaki Bar is $150. Customers pay $75 and Teriyaki Madness matches and covers the rest – and free delivery to the healthcare location!
