![]() When Cunningham was hired, Steve Standlea also joined as director of operations services. This will allow the growing team to monitor its culture very closely. He takes our job as franchisor extremely serious.”īlack Bear Diner’s goal is to get its corporate/franchise growth to a 50/50 split. “Bruce really cares deeply for the success of not just the corporate diners, but he’s just as concerned and cares about the franchisees. “We want to see where these values will take us,” Cunningham says.Ĭunningham says Dean is passionate about the entire business. Twenty-six consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth doesn’t hurt the projection, either.īut throughout this path, Cunningham says, through the ups, downs, and steady flows, Black Bear Diner will lean on its “secret weapon.” After that, Cunningham says the chain will look at 12–15 or so, which represents 20–25 percent growth, year-over-year. Black Bear Diner has a target of 6–8 new stores in 2018. Cunningham is confident it will do just that. Those efforts will litmus test the brand’s ability to ramp up growth. In 2018, Black Bear Diner plans to enter two new regions-Midwest City, Oklahoma City, and Katy, Texas. Those locations, of which 37 are company owned and 67 franchised, stretch across eight states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington). Having the chance to really take their vision and grow it nationwide, it’s something I’m looking forward to.”īlack Bear Diner was founded in 1995 in Mount Shasta, California. ![]() ![]() “Very few times in your career do you actually get that opportunity. “Working day-to-day with the founder in a founder-based company is something that’s exciting to me,” Cunningham says of Dean, the brand’s CEO. One was simply chatting with founders Bruce Dean and Bob Manley. ![]() There were many factors at play when Cunningham decided to join the 104-unit brand. He held roles at Mimi’s Café, Smoke Modern BBQ, and Smashburger, working his way up from server to executive. ![]() Craig Cunningham’s experience led him to an early conclusion: Black Bear Diner was a different kind of animal in the restaurant industry. ![]()
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