J. Christopher’s poised for growth beyond breakfast

After studying the J. Christopher’s restaurant chain last year, Dick Holbrook and Sam Haddock came away with a simple assessment.

Holbrook and Haddock had spent more than 30 years each in the restaurant business, working with brands such as Arby’s, Popeyes, Wendy’s and Moe’s.

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J. Christopher’s waitress Rosa Ortega of Marietta serves breakfast to (from left) Collin Clark, Renee Jeffries and Joanna Clark at the Smyrna restaurant. The Clarks were visiting from Charlotte, N.C. Jeffries is from Dunwoody.

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Eric Herman (left), general manager of the Smyrna J. Christopher’s, expedites breakfast orders. At far right is Bill Sparks, vice president of operations.

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J. CHRISTOPHER'S
• Founded: 1996
• Headquarters: Atlanta
• Restaurants: 20
• Expected openings in 2009: Woodstock, Macon, Johns Creek, Brookhaven and East Lake.
• Description: Specializes in breakfast, brunch and lunch.

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“The great news is that J. Christopher’s is a great place to have breakfast,” Haddock said they concluded. “The bad news is that J. Christopher’s is a great place to have breakfast.”

A year later, Holbrook and Haddock say they have J. Christopher’s poised to grow as a breakfast, brunch and lunch spot. The two restaurant veterans formed in August 2007 a partnership with Jay McCann and Chris Brogdon, the founders of the concept, to create J. Christopher’s Restaurants LLC.

The new company was established to help J. Christopher’s expand, primarily through franchised restaurants. The Atlanta-based chain had 16 locations at the time the deal was signed. It has since added locations in Vinings, Nashville, Kennesaw’s Town Center and north Roswell.

J. Christopher’s has stores planned in 2009 for Woodstock, Brookhaven, East Lake, Johns Creek and Macon. A second site in Nashville also is possible.

The company isn’t concerned about hitting specific targets for the number of new stores opened, Holbrook said.

“The most important thing for us as we go forward is that we select the right franchisees, that we help them select their first and second restaurant locations and that we support them and have them open and be very successful,” Holbrook said.

J. Christopher’s is entering a growing but competitive segment of chains that focus on breakfast and brunch, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, a Chicago-based restaurant research and consulting firm. Florida-based First Watch and the Flying Biscuit Cafe, another metro Atlanta chain, also are expanding in this segment.

These restaurants fill the gap between the high-end hotel or fine-dining brunches and lower-priced breakfast places, such as Denny’s or IHOP, Tristano said. They usually have bright interiors and menus that offer variety and quality, he said.

The new breakfast places face a challenge attracting customers Monday through Friday, Tristano said. Convenience is on the top of customers’ minds during the week, he said.

“In order to win Monday through Friday, you have to convince people that breakfast is worth coming in for,” Tristano said.

But the new breakfast places do well on the weekends with customers lining up for a seat, he said. “When it comes to Saturday and Sunday, it’s not convenience anymore,” Tristano said. “They want to enjoy their time.”

When they started J. Christopher’s in 1996, McCann said he and Brogdon saw opportunity in that middle segment. They wanted to do for breakfast what places like Chili’s had done for lunch and dinner.

The goal was to provide breakfast standards, such as pancakes, French toast and eggs, but also add a twist, McCann said. He calls it “familiar with a flair.”

The restaurant has become known for its blueberry crunchcakes, granola-fortified pancakes, and Eggs Christopher, a take on Eggs Benedict but with turkey.

“It was exciting to see that people were trying the unique items and reordering them,” McCann said.

In forming a new company, Holbrook and Haddock said they didn’t want to make drastic changes.

Holbrook and Haddock have crossed paths several times in their careers. They first worked together in 1973 at an Arby’s in Winston-Salem, N.C. Holbrook was the manager. Haddock was a management trainee.

From 1992 to 2004, Holbrook was with AFC Enterprises, where he was a founding partner and rose to president. Haddock was chief operating officer for AFC’s Popeyes brand for part of that time.

“I think we understand that we’re not brand creators; we’re not concept creators,” Holbrook said. “We wanted to partner with a really good concept and use our expertise to help grow the concept.”

Holbrook is president and Haddock is chief operating officer of J. Christopher’s Restaurants, which owns the brand, concept and intellectual property. McCann and Brogdon are partners in the new company and licensed by the new company to operate their original restaurants.

Most of the expansion is expected to come through franchised restaurants, although J. Christopher’s will add more company owned and licensed restaurants, the partners said.

Since forming the new company, J. Christopher’s breakfast menu has remained largely the same. The company has worked to standardize the recipes and processes, so they can be replicated at new restaurants.

It has also made some tweaks. For example, J. Christopher’s had featured special holiday items for years, but these were usually included on a paper insert.

Now, they’re shown on a small slick menu placed on top of the main menu, a subtle change that has meant more orders. “They brought that professionalism to the table and it’s working with guests,” McCann said.

The biggest changes have been at lunch. It has added new items, such as a classic club sandwich, club house burger, bistro salad, Waldorf salad and shrimp and grits skillet.

In addition, the restaurants are promoting lunch more than before. J. Christopher’s used to have one menu, a breakfast menu with lunch page in the back.

Now, it has a breakfast menu and a lunch menu. The lunch menu still has breakfast items, but the emphasis is on lunch.

The changes appear to be working. Breakfast accounts for about 65 percent of sales at older stores. At the store in Vinings that opened last year, the mix is closer to 50-50 for breakfast and lunch.

“Our premise is that if we open with an equal emphasis on lunch that we can do a significant lunch business,” Haddock said.

The economic downturn has slowed the growth in same-store sales but they’re still up from last year, McCann said. “We’re happy, in this market,” he said.

With ticket prices of about $10, J. Christopher’s is banking on customers seeing value in what their restaurants offer, McCann said. “We consider J. Christopher’s one of life’s little luxuries,” he said.