For our Top CEOs in Franchising feature in the November/December issue, we identified notable leaders who are guiding their brands through periods of growth, change and, of course, challenges.
CEO Ricky Richardson’s no-nonsense leadership approach at Eggs Up Grill is key to the brand’s store growth as it crossed the 80-unit mark this year. The company did $81 million in sales in 2023.
In his deliberate delivery style and with each word carefully chosen, Ricky Richardson shared his vision and plans for Eggs Up Grill.
“I want to see us continue to grow not only in terms of locations but to continue to grow in terms of our restaurant performances,” he said. “It all comes down to execution of bottom-line profits so when a new partner is thinking of coming into our system, we can point to our successes.”
A no-nonsense yet personable and approachable franchise leader, Richardson is laser-focused on keeping Eggs Up Grill at the top of the breakfast category. Since being named CEO in 2018 when private equity owner WJ Partners acquired the brand, the former president and chief operating officer for TGI Fridays has helped more than double the brand’s unit count to 83 locations in nine states.
Eggs Up Grill, based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, moved up to No. 358 on the Franchise Times Top 400 with $81 million in sales in 2023. Year-over-year sales increased 25 percent last year and its unit count grew by 22 percent.
Related: Eggs Up Grill Marketing Exec Sets Sights on Menu Innovation, Tech Stack
Richardson said the brand anticipates opening 10 more restaurants this year for a total of 20 new locations. For 2025, another 20 to 25 are on tap.
Eggs Up Grill made its entrance in Mississippi in January and signed franchise agreements with new and existing franchisees for three units in Knoxville, Tennessee, and seven restaurants in Charlotte, North Carolina. Core markets of Texas, Florida and Georgia likewise drew franchise commitments.
“We have some terrific growth behind us right now, but the challenge remains on how we continue to evolve as a company and improve our restaurant experiences for our guests,” Richardson said.
As he’s done throughout his 20-plus years in franchising, Richardson put in motion an aggressive development plan at Eggs Up Grill. He’s doubled the marketing team and reinforced management support for franchisee to help them assess their trade areas and understand opportunities to expand their businesses. In January, the company rolled out a new proprietary training platform called Egg Yolk University to help improve operating efficiencies across the system.
“We moved from paper content to digital content at our owners conference back in January and we use that platform now to strategically communicate to existing members the culture and the DNA of our brand and what makes a good experience unique and how they can help reinforce that with compelling videos,” Richardson said.
He is pushing now to develop a new management platform he said will help operators better manage their food costs. Completion of the platform is slated for the fourth quarter, with its introduction to the system planned for the company’s conference in January 2025.
“The goal of the company has and will always be to make our restaurants more profitable because the more profitable your restaurants are, the more successful your company is,” Richardson said.
The numbers indicate Richardson’s plan is working. The average unit volume at Eggs Up Grill increased steadily over the past five years, with almost half of that sales growth coming from increased transactions. He also reported guest counts rose nearly 20 percent for the top half of restaurants during that time frame.
“In 2023, the average annual unit volume for the top 50 percent of our restaurants exceeded $1.5 million, marking a 40 percent increase in AUV since 2019 and further cementing our
winning position in the better breakfast category,” Richardson said. The AUV for the system is $1.3 million; prior to 2020, it was around $900,000.
Along with offering an upscale breakfast and lunch menu, another differentiator for Eggs Up Grill is its alcohol offering. Richardson said while mimosas only make up about 3 percent of overall sales, just having them on the menu in 90 percent of locations helps attract a new customer base.
“We get guests in our restaurants for a visit that we probably wouldn’t see if we didn’t offer those drinks,” said Richardson as he noted he lives close to a company-owned restaurant and sees “first responders or hospital folks that worked the overnight shift that stopped in for an after-work mimosa with their breakfast.”
Richardson said one of the first things he did when he arrived at Eggs Up Grill was sit down with the founder, Chris Skodras, the company’s longest tenured franchisees and some hourly team members from restaurants to get down on paper what is it about the brand that makes it unique through the eyes of its guests.
To this day, all employees of Eggs Up Grill are required to keep a 7-by-7-inch laminated index card close by to remind them of their mission.
“In this business, it’s about having complete clarity on who you are and what you’re doing,” Richardson said. “I’m proud to say that everyone here, from corporate to the restaurant operators and employers are on the same page.”