Smokey Bones’ take on the “restaurant of the future” is scheduled to arrive in Michigan and Indiana sometime soon.
The 62-unit brand on Monday unveiled a new prototype that features a smaller dining room, large bar in the middle of the restaurant, new decor, fixtures, original art, and a dedicated off-premises vestibule with a separate entrance. The takeout section for Smokey Bones’ regular menu and its virtual brands, The Wing Experience and and The Burger Experience. The kitchen is designed in a way that will allow for future expansion of additional virtual restaurants.
The upcoming stores will also pioneer the chain’s Masters of Meat brand positioning, including the Masters of Meat logo inside and outside the building, and artwork that reflects the company’s “passion for smoking and fire-grilling the most delicious, juiciest meats available, and its dedication to its meat-loving guests.” The new branding is meant to emphasize that Smokey Bones is about steaks, burgers, wings, sausage, and seafood, and not just barbecue.
One store will be in Avon, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. The building will be converted from an IHOP, but prior to that, it served as a Smokey Bones restaurant in 2007. The other prototype unit will come in Utica, Michigan—the restaurant’s first entry into the Detroit market.
Smokey Bones didn’t give a specific timeline of when the units will open.
“We’re excited to bring Smokey Bones locations to Avon, and Utica.” said Chief Development Officer Joey Stewart in a statement. “I’m especially excited to be leading the redesign of the Smokey Bones asset and the addition of significant technology-enabled off-premise functionality in a dedicated off-premise space for our guests.”
The company is one of several chains opting for prototypes with smaller footprints and an emphasis on to-go sales. For example, Perkins Restaurant & Bakery partnered with design firm Louis + Partners to shrink its prototype to 4,100 square feet and constructed it in a way that leverages the growing takeout and delivery business. Renderings of the design showcase pickup lockers and a mobile order window. Additionally, IHOP is not only about to start testing a smaller version of its traditional store, but it’s also preparing to debut spin-off fast-casual Flip’d by IHOP, which will take into account all of the lessons learned during COVID.
Smokey Bones was ahead of the curve in terms of the industry’s rapid acceleration toward off-premises. The chain launched its virtual concepts in 2019 and opened a ghost kitchen only a few weeks after the first round of COVID shutdowns began in spring 2020. The brand now has ghost kitchens in Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago, which helped grow reach and awareness despite the restaurant scaling back marketing and paid media, according to CEO James O’Reilly.
“The approval of these two new restaurants, two new ghost kitchens and the success of our virtual brands underpin the growing momentum of this great company,” O’Reilly said in a statement. “We have added a highly experienced management team, transformed our culture, introduced a compelling new brand positioning, focused and improved our menu, rebuilt our technology platforms, improved our operations, and we’re just getting started.”
