Kelly Roddy is the CEO of WOWorks.
Kelly Roddy said there’s never been a population more educated about healthy food than millennials and Gen Zers, and the WOWorks CEO is confident those younger, health-conscious consumers will help drive business at his company’s brands this year.
“This younger generation that grew up with the Food Network and has access to the internet and tremendous amounts of information on genetically modified foods and what they’re putting in their body, understands nutrition and overall health better than any of us ever did,” said Roddy, a baby boomer who has been instrumental in building out WOWorks’ online ordering restaurant platform the last four years.
Formed in 2020 and owned by Centre Lane Partners, St. Petersburg, Florida-based WOWorks is the umbrella company for Saladworks, Barberitos, Frutta Bowls, Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, The Simple Greek and Zoup Eatery. Together they have 365 quick-service locations throughout the United States. The WOW in WOWorks stands for Watch Out World.
The better-for-you restaurant company shows no signs of slowing down. WOWorks signed 60 deals and added 24 units in 2023, led by 10 Saladworks openings and six new Frutta Bowls. The company opened two new hubs with ghost kitchen operator Reef Technology. WOWorks expanded its menu offerings with the addition of digital-only brands Soup Works, Stack’d Sandwiches, Toasty, Spoon Me, Sips, Titan Gyros and MacLove.
This activity follows a year when WOWorks had 14 openings in 2022 and 21 new franchise signings.
The company’s growth all goes back to Roddy’s assertion that consumers under the age of 40 are being more careful with what they put into their bodies than previous generations.
“Our brands are all over the country, but most of them are stronger in the Northeast and really up and down both coasts,” said Roddy, “but we’re also seeing a lot of interest now in our brands in Denver and in the middle of the country. Along with that we’re also targeting Florida, the Carolinas and Tennessee. Really anywhere where there is a growing concentration of younger demographics.”
Roddy, a savvy restaurateur with more than 30 years of industry experience, said WOWorks’ primary goals for 2024 are rolling out the new brand positioning for Barberitos and its Southwestern-inspired burrito, taco and nacho menu, and converting Zoup to Z!Eats to avoid a potential copyright infringement. He also said a major focus is improving unit-level economics across the platform.
“We are focused on strong brand positioning and highlighting the better-for-you qualities of our products, offering clean and nutritious food that surpasses our competitors,” Roddy said. “Additionally, we recognize the importance of catering growth and are placing a tremendous focus on expanding our catering services. Furthermore, we are launching virtual brands in all of our brick-and-mortar restaurants to further enhance our offerings and reach a wider audience.”
Frutta Bowls, an acai bowl and smoothie concept, is one of six brands under the WOWorks umbrella, which altogether account for more than 350 locations across the country.
The company’s long-term goal, Roddy said, is the same: “To integrate our entire platform of restaurants into a single tech stack. Work is being done on the back end as we speak to unify databases to build a custom intranet, we are calling WOWnet. It will eventually become the centerpiece of all of our operations.”
Prior to the formation of WOWorks in 2020, Roddy was the CEO of Saladworks. Previously, he was president of Schlotzsky’s, where he repositioned the brand from a sandwich deli chain to a more high-quality eatery and doubled its average unit volume.
In 2023, Roddy was instrumental in helping WOWorks form partnerships with technology companies Qu, Olo, Punchh and World Pay. He said the new technology integrations will improve the company’s point-of-sale systems, menu management platforms, third-party delivery options, payment processing and customer loyalty programs. The changes will also improve overall customer support, allowing for direct messaging between the guest and the brand and provide franchisees the ability to run their own promotions.
Roddy said the tech stack upgrades are already proving beneficial for employees, customers and franchisees, with owners seeing a greater level of operational efficiency than ever before. Single-unit franchisees, meanwhile, are taking advantage of the wealth of data now available to them.
“We have several franchisees that own multiple brands, so for them to be able to work with one true shared system across all our brands is a major advancement for them,” Roddy said. “We know long term having one fully operational platform will be better for everyone and make us a better operating company.”