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80 CommerCial ConstruCtion & renovation — January : February 2014 west coast cool 2.0 CommerCial kitChens the restaurant. These are very important to our rebranding effort. While it's a modest investment, we're fnding it really helps accelerate inside sales growth. At the end of 2013, we did 90 or so remodels. No franchisee wants to spend the money to remodel – that's just human nature. But we made it so compelling on the invest- ment side that it worked. We offer a nice fnancing program. What lessons have you've learned from the most recent ragged economic times? The phrase I think when I think of that question is, "Go slow to go fast." California was really hit hard during the recession because of the real estate. There were major ups and major downs on the real estate side, including major downs in 2008, 2009 and 2010. We didn't do much for the frst three years. It was getting to know the business and the fran- chisees and keeping the system intact. We only lost about 15 stores or so over those three years because we spent a lot of time with our franchisees working on sustaining the business. It enabled us to do a lot of research. We also contracted with WD Partners for our new store look. We worked on menu offerings and food quality. We didn't ask our fran- chisees to invest a dime except to pay their royalties. We asked them to be the best they could be in the way of customer service. This was all about getting ready for our coming out party (the new store look). After we got confdent in our new store offerings, we went to the franchisees and asked that they get on board with it. How did the franchisees do during those diffcult economic times? Two thirds of them did well. There was a split between the ones who got it and the ones who got it but needed help, and then there were the ones who just weren't going to get it. We found franchisees out there who wanted to get that coaching and ad- vice; they wanted to succeed. Honestly, the economic downturn forced our operators to get better at what they do. When we look at the numbers, from 2008-2012, each of our franchisees' EBTAs grew – 2013 was fat. Walk us through a Togo's store. Our sweet spot is retail strip centers, end caps are ideal, between 1,200 and 1,500 square feet, 20-30 seats inside each restaurant, and when possible, 10-20 seats on the patio outside. Each unit has a walk-in refrigerator with a see-through door so that our patrons can see all of our fresh ingredients. The counters are also see-through (no sneeze guards) so that you can see the ingredients and meet your sandwich maker. Talk about your sustainability strategy. It is something we are working on. We feel we have some real opportunities moving forward. After four years of working on our Overall, the restaurant category in general is a little stagnant in the number of seats that have been built nationally, but our world is growing. CCR-JanFeb.14_48-.indd 80 2/7/14 2:26 PM