The classic steakhouse chain has gone back to basics as it refreshes the system.

Robert Clark acknowledges this isn’t the first “Sizzler rebirth” he’s been a part of in his 41 years with the company. He began in 1984 when, in a lot of pundits’ eyes, the brand owned and invented a category that more than a decade later would begin to be called “fast casual.” There were hundreds of stores globally (the brand would rise into the 700s in the early 1990s) and Clark held just about every position you could. He started as a system manager. He lived in Asia for 15 years.

Now chief growth officer, Clark says what’s different this go-around is the brand isn’t trying to be something it’s not or ever was. Past management, he says, spent a lot of time looking to change Sizzler. “And it just never worked,” Clark says. “Our current leadership [CEO Chris Perkins has held the role since 2019] is much more focused on hey, let’s take the best of Sizzler and let’s make it even better.”

Clark, sitting in a remodeled location, says he’s having more fun than he’s had in a long time. The brand, which currently spreads about 80 stores, is seeing sales lifts of roughly 47 percent in updated restaurants. One that finished a few months ago hiked 100 percent. Sizzler has completed nine of these in the last two years and has a plan for franchisees to follow suit that’s receiving broad buy-in—also something that can’t be taken for granted in a system dating to 1958, 35 years before Texas Roadhouse was founded and 30 before Outback.

“We feel like we have a really great brand here,” Clark says. “And our results have been very solid. We constantly pop up in pop culture. I think what we’re trying to do with the remodel is really stay relevant and have facilities and assets that meet our reputation. We understand that remodeling is probably the single biggest driver of guests in the restaurant. It’s the most important thing I think we could do aside from a lot of other operational things we’re doing as well.”

Source: Sizzler’s Latest Rebirth is About Getting Back to its Roots—Not Reinventing Them