Tom Colicchio, best known from his role on the television show “Chopped,” has opened a new location of his restaurant ‘Witchcraft in East Tribeca. Along with partner Sisha Ortuzar, he re-branded his restaurant chain to emphasize the freshness of the sandwiches they were preparing. The new location includes lots of windows for natural light as well as a green motif. Colicchio believes that his food has stood the test of time, but that the conceptual aspects of the marketing needed to be updated. The goal is to appeal to the target customer, a person who follows celebrity cooks but may not want to spend the time or money to dine at one of their signature restaurants. He believes the unique sandwiches will allow for growth into an already saturated sandwich market.

Key Takeaways:

• A restaurant that serves sandwiches caters to the say crowd rather than the typical night crowd.
• The shops had to be rebranded as they did not show identity.
• The idea was to far ahead of it’s time. The owners had to adjust to reach a broader market share.

“But premium sandwiches don’t come easy. Beyond branding and messaging, the original ’Wichcraft iteration struggled to meet the fast-casual expectations of speed and convenience. Fortgang, the former Craft beverage director, reflects on the first month ’Wichcraft was open in 2003 and how he’d go there for lunch and have to wait forever to get his sandwich.”

Read more: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/reports/can-tom-colicchio-conquer-fast-casual