A new menu, refreshed store model and expansion are all on the cards for West Australian based bakery-cafe franchise Croissant Express, following the appointment of its new CEO Neil Soares. 

Soares brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the quick service retail (QSR) industry to the role.

He was previously employed as the WA state manager for Quick Service Restaurant Holdings (QSRH), the umbrella company of Chicken Treat, Oporto and Red Rooster, successfully managed the roll-out of 20 Wild Bean cafes in 26 weeks and has owned two franchises.

THE MENU

Croissant Express’s product offering has remained the same for around 15 years and so a new menu designed around what customers want is in the works.

“It’s about understanding what is contemporary today in terms of flavours. Australia’s demographic has changed – we have a very multicultural society but our product is still heavily European infused, we are probably over reliant on bread lines and we need to understand where the health market is going,” Soares told Franchising.

“It’s not just about health it’s about fresh, it’s about catering for different allergens, providing gluten free options, delivering a salad range and really expanding what we currently offer at the moment.”

STORE FORMAT + EXPANSION STRATEGY

Croissant Express will focus on expanding outside of its current CBD market, as well as interstate. 

“If I look at our current footprint we are heavily penetrated in the CBD, but we also want to expand out into suburbia,” says Soares.

“We’ve got one store in Brisbane at the moment and it does extremely well so we definitely want to leverage off that. We are rapidly looking at engaging with leasers both within the Brisbane CBD and suburban areas to expand our footprint there.”

The Sydney and Melbourne markets are also on the radar, and there will be an initial focus on CBD areas in these cities to establish brand recognition.  

There are plans to develop three different store models that are tailored to the locations in which the brand wishes to play – the city CBD, the suburbs and regional areas.

“We want to try and develop different platforms for having an express grab-n-go type model, a kiosk model in shopping centres and I also want to be able to cater to a customer base in regional areas, where there will probably be more of a cafe format,” Soares explains.

REPOSITIONING THE BRAND

Croissant Express has enlisted the assistance of a Perth-based brand agency, as well as its existing franchisees and customers, to understand how it is currently perceived and re-position itself accordingly.

“What we’re doing internally is setting up a brand forum using internal franchisees to validate where our direction is, and we’re also engaging customer research by building a fan club for example, so we want customers to tell us what changes they’d like to see,” Soares explains.

Croissant Express is looking to increase customer engagement via the web and is subsequently developing a new online strategy.

“You’ll see us come out with some very innovative ways for customers to engage with us using online platforms and social media, because we don’t connect with that generation today. Our business has lasted the test of time but it’s probably also stood a bit still in time, so it’s a brilliant opportunity for us to innovate in different ways using technology,” he says.

“We also want to be able to gauge customer sentiment pretty quickly, and by using social media platforms and online technology we will be able to respond to customers pretty quickly.”

COST OF THE CHANGES

While Soares admits there will be some outlay required of franchisees during the process, Croissant Express will assist them every step of the way.  

“I’ve been a franchisee myself in a few different franchise systems and I am very sensitive to franchisees needing to out pay capital and needing to see a return on investment,” he says.

“We will work through various strategies around how we can do that [manage the outlay] in a time efficient, cost effective way.”

Soares adds Croissant Express’s network of franchisees is open to change. “We have a franchise group that is very passionate but also very conscious of the need for us change to meet the market into the future.”