Georgia Has The Meats!

You probably knew that companies like Home Depot, Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola are all Georgia based companies. But did you know that several of our other favorite brands have recently made Georgia their home as well? 

It started to happen when Inspire Brands was first founded in February 2018. With a vision to invigorate great brands and supercharge their long-term growth the newly formed enterprise began acquiring some of your favorite restaurant chains!  “Why?” you ask. 

Well, the hope was that by joining together, each restaurant chain would be made stronger than they would be on their own. The formula has been working even better than they planned.

Inspire Brands, while young, is now a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes nearly 32,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin', Jimmy John's, Rusty Taco and SONIC Drive-In restaurants worldwide and the best part - they are headquartered right here in Georgia!

“We are creating a family of brands with maverick qualities, each with their own distinct positioning, guest experience, and product offering. Our brands are diverse, distinctive, and fan favorites. In a sense, you could say we seek those who provide something different than the norm.” Says Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Paul Brown. 

Paul Brown serves as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Inspire Brands, and in 2021, its brands achieved over $30 billion in global system sales, making Inspire the second largest restaurant company in the United States.

“The restaurant industry has typically operated with a holding company that has brands loosely integrated and the rest of the business more or less is running as an independent enterprise,” Brown said. “Inspire is more similar to the hotel industry, where you look for core capability. So, things we are focusing on are the digital platform, data analytics, personalization, supply chain, operations, infrastructure and innovation. The brand teams are leveraging off those investments and our teams work collaboratively to share learnings across the organization.”

It's been three years since Inspire’s formation. The organization now includes a variety of distinct brands with offerings across multiple dayparts, each with a clear definition of a respective target audience and brand purpose. That process not only helps each brand create a defined marketing strategy, but having a differentiated portfolio has also allowed Inspire to take learnings from individual brands and implement its successes across the organization. Inspire’s investments in technology have also helped the organization forge the future of the restaurant industry as a whole.

“Digital has really grown into being a channel of communication and building a relationship with our guests outside of the restaurant,” Brown said. “If you go back five years ago, the relationship of the restaurant app with their customers started when they walked in the door and ended when they left, so there was no continuity in that relationship. There was no channel to have direct dialogue. Now, we can start developing the ability to market and communicate personalization through a direct channel.”

Prior to founding Inspire, Brown was Chief Executive Officer of Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc.

Arby’s turnaround “can be attributed to Brown’s vision and leadership,” according to Fortune. As CEO, he launched several transformative initiatives across the brand’s global system with a focus on innovation, including: introducing a new brand purpose, Inspiring Smiles Through Delicious Experiences®; unveiling a visionary restaurant design that increases energy efficiency; launching a team member training program that is centered on goal setting; and fostering a unique approach to product development that reinforces the brand’s We Have The Meats® marketing.