Grill'd became a reality when founder Simon Crowe got tired of complaining about the usual burger. Without a food background, he set out to reinvent the product and create a fun, healthy and hearty eating experience for restaurant customers.
A strong, differentiated brand is Crowe's key to sustained growth and customer loyalty. 'We want to be a lifestyle brand that talks very much to our constituents who are 20-something urbanites, loving music, being very social and always getting together with friends,' he explains. 'We know that in part, our brand is two parts: it’s a rebel with a cause, it needs to have a lifestyle element to it, but on a rational basis'.
Crowe pays close attention to all the details that add to the experience. 'If we get our music volume right, the product quality right, and if we get the ambient features relating to lighting and/or temperature right, then what we’ve created is a brand that actually engages with our local community', he says.
Through a combination of company-owned restaurants and franchising, Grill'd has already grown to more than 50 locations, with additional restaurants soon to be announced. Where is Grill'd headed next? When Ernst & Young named Crowe its 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year, he mentioned the possibility of opening restaurants in Asia and the US.
