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BBQ isn’t exactly fast food – but Branding Iron serves it fast

By Donald Finley, Contributing Writer

Real pit-smoked barbecue is becoming a juicy player in the outlet industry.

Branding Iron Texas BBQ is one of 70 tenants in the newly opened Gettysburg (Pa.) Village Factory Stores, a village center that had its grand opening Oct. 7-14 (see page 20). The Austin, Texas-based barbecue company also owns Branding Iron food-court units in Prime Outlets projects in San Marcos, Texas, and Castle Rock, Colo., and has plans for expansion to other projects in the value industry.

Branding Iron owner John Muzzy, a retired Army colonel, says he is shifting to franchising instead of company ownership, and expects to franchise as many as six additional units in outlet centers and value malls by the end of 2001.

In fact, he says, the Gettysburg unit will be franchised to a partnership that includes his son, Philip Muzzy.

The elder Muzzy says Branding Iron serves its full range of beef, pork, chicken, potatoes, beans and salads like a fast food restaurant, but smokes its meat fro 12 to 13 hours on site for an authentic smoked barbecue taste. Take-out and catering service is also available, as well as on-premise dining in the food court.

“While we’re not really fast food, we do serve it fast,” says Muzzy, with serving time as quick as 45 seconds. “We offer a menu that appeals to the whole family – all-beef gourmet hot dogs, chargrilled Black Angus Beef burgers, and plates of barbecued beef, pork and chicken, as well as heaps of french fries, salads, baked beans, baked potatoes and other sides.”

Prices are outlet-center compatible. Beef and pork sandwiches sell for $3.79, barbeque plates for $5.99.

“We use barnwood and antiques for décor to create an inviting atmosphere,” Muzzy says. “Customers have really responded to the great look and to the smell and flavor of barbecue in the food-court setting.

“I’m trying to create some excitement in outlet-center food courts,” Muzzy says, “because many of the food courts look alike, with expensive tile and neon signs that don’t always work, and with the same types of food. But out Branding Iron BBQs are unusual and have a warm design.”

The Gettysburg Village unit covers 1,100 sf and has a frontage of 25.5 feet, and is larger than the other two units: San Marcos covers 790 sf and has an 18.5-foot frontage and Castle Rock is 840 sf and 20 feet of frontage.

Muzzy says sales so far at Gettysburg have been extremely good. For example during the eight-day grand opening of the outlet center, sales were $40,000, as compared to a projected $22,000.

While real pit barbecue places have been a fixture across the nation for many years, they have not been common in outlet centers and value malls, or even in conventional malls, Muzzy says.

Muzzy says he retired from the Army in 1993 after 27 years of service, during which “I left many a foreigner happy as I shared the secrets of pit-smoked Texas barbecue.”

This led him to open his first barbecue place in Prime Outlets at San Marcos in 1990, 3 years before he retired from the Army, and a second unit in Prime Outlets at Castle Rock in 1992. Gettysburg Village is his third unit.

“My Cajun wife, Linda, from Houma, La., always had her gourmet seasonings close by to complement the barbeque and other Southern favorites,” Muzzy says. “After I retired from the Army, she began labeling her secret blend of herbs and spices and introduced her Texas Heat Gourmet Seasoning to the public.” The seasoning is sold in Branding Iron restaurants as well as other retail stores, and can be purchased on-line at www.brandingironbbq.com.

Branding Iron BBQ units are not the only restaurants opened in outlet center food courts in the 1990s by Muzzy. He also opened more than a dozen others in outlet centers, including BeBops Chicken ‘n Burgers, Pasta Roma Cucina Italina, Fiesta Mexico, Big Apple Deli, Sweet Ice Cream & Yogurt and Garden of Eatin’. But Branding Iron BBQ was the most successful, which is why he now concentrates on it.

Other outlet centers in which Muzzy opened various eateries include Wigwam Outlet Stores in Goodyear, Ariz. (where Muzzy organized and operated the entire food court); Prime Outlets at Woodbury, Minn.; and Prime Outlets at Odessa, Mo.

Muzzy calculates that a potential franchisee would need from $188,500 to $237,500 to finance a Branding Iron BBQ store. This includes a franchise fee of $17,500. He says franchisees can get their units open for business in as little as 15 weeks.

The Branding Iron in Gettysburg Village Factory Stores will serve as a training facility for new franchisees, he says, adding that the company plans to open units in Mexico and Europe as well as the United States.

For new locations, Muzzy is looking for spaces in outlet center food courts of 1,000 to 1,100 sf, with a frontage from 18 to 26 feet. For centers with no food courts, he can use in-line spaces of about 2,400 sf and with frontages of 25 to 30 feet. The larger spaces would be needed in these centers to accommodate tables and chairs for diners.