Yahoo Finance Zoup! CEO Eric Ersher On The Fast-Casual Chain's Growth Into A $50 Million Business
The beginnings of the fast-casual restaurant chain Zoup! came in an unlikely place: a former General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) factory.
The building on Detroit’s east side was where Zoup! founder and CEO Eric Ersher was leasing kitchen space and began holding soup tastings for family and friends every Saturday before opening his first restaurant, he said.
The other tenant in the building was the Detroit Police Department narcotics squad, and a Thorn Apple Valley slaughterhouse was across the street.
“It was our start,” Ersher said during a recent talk hosted by FoodLab Detroit during Detroit Startup Week.
Southfield, Michigan-based Zoup! now has 88 restaurants in the northern U.S. and Canada and sales of about $50 million annually, according to the company’s website.
‘It Was The Details’
In 1997, Ersher was running a wholesale spice business that began making soup for small restaurant chains.
In the process of visiting restaurants, Ersher said he realized three things that would drive Zoup's eventual formation:
After developing recipes and hosting his Saturday tastings, the first Zoup! restaurant opened in September 1998 in Southfield.
Esher and his partners paused at this point to set goals, he said: They wanted Zoup! to lead the soup category of the fast-casual dining sector, and they wanted to open five restaurants in the company’s first five years.
“The reality is that it was the details. It was the quality and the details,” Ersher said of the reasons behind the company’s success.
Fielding Curveballs In Business
Ersher used a problem faced by Zoup! hours before his appearance to illustrate the unpredictability of running a business.
The USDA was prepared to issue a recall of Zoup! broth due to it not being produced in a USDA plant, he said.
The USDA rule being cited didn’t apply, since the broth falls beneath the threshold of 2-percent meat, and the recall was never issued, Ersher said.
“It is humbling and makes me feel grateful when things are going well, because you don’t know what’s around the corner."
The Zoup! broth, described by Ersher as good enough to drink, launched three years ago.
The Importance Of Corporate Culture
A defined culture at Zoup! “Has helped us weather some of the most difficult times,” Ersher said.
Having a consistent corporate culture “seems to attract those who are like-minded [and] helps them self-select,” he said.
Employees learn 14 “Zoup-isms.” Ersher shared the story behind one: “Find ways to say yes.”
Zoup! received an email from a customer who wanted a bowl of soup that was half vegetarian split pea and half chicken pot pie. They were turned down.
“We did not empower the front-line staffer to to do the right thing for the customer,” Ersher said of the lesson learned from the customer feedback.
The company’s core values for employees are to be action-oriented, open and honest, “no jerks,” and to have a can-do attitude and passion for the brand.
“They were not created. They were discovered,” Ersher said of his company’s values.
Detroit Startup Week was held May 22–26. For more information, visit detroit.startupweek.co.
Related links:
Fast Food Tops Fast Casual Traffic In 2016
Whet Your Restaurant Sector Appetite: A 2017 Outlook
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Image Credit: Zoup! CEO Eric Ersher speaks Wednesday at the Masonic Temple during Detroit Startup Week. Photo by Dustin Blitchok.
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