Among family-owned restaurants groups, Hofman Hospitality Group (HHG) weathered the pandemic better than most.
As it turned out, though, the 75-year-old company found itself obligated to evolve with the times, adding food trucks and ghost kitchens (detached kitchens serving pickup and delivery only)—not to mention a chief financial officer.
And just who the southern California family enclave hired as its CFO perhaps says just as much about HHG as it does about its finance chief himself. Now read the article on Forbes.com
Made Possible By
- The podcast episode features CFO Christopher Crawley of Hofman Hospitality Group, discussing challenges related to managing labor in the restaurant industry.
- Hoffman Hospitality Group, a family-owned restaurant company, adapted to the pandemic by introducing food trucks and online kitchens, enhancing their financial processes.
- Crawley shares his career journey, including experiences in audit, finance, and operations, emphasizing the importance of adapting to change and understanding business metrics.
- He highlights the complexity of managing operations in the restaurant industry, involving regulatory compliance, financial intricacies, and shifting consumer preferences.
- Crawley discusses the challenges of fluctuating profit margins, labor management, and adapting to market changes, emphasizing the role of technology in addressing these issues.
CFOTL: Tell us about Hofman Hospitality Group … what does this company do, and what are its offerings today?
Crawley: HHG has been a family-owned business for more than 70 years. In 1952, the first Hof’s Hut was erected. What’s interesting is that the chairman of our board, owner Craig Hofman, was actually born on the day when the first Hof’s Hut opened.
Hof’s Hut is kind of a throwback Americana diner, located today in southern California. The organization grew the Hof’s brand to about 21 units. Today we only have three. It’s very nostalgic, but all three of them do very, very well. There is quite a following in southern California for the Hof’s Hut concept.
Read MoreIn the late ’90s, though, Craig Hofman had the idea of bringing barbecue to the West Coast. He did a round of visits throughout the South and came up with this concept that HHG has now put together as Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ. What makes us unique here is that we actually do all of the smoking of the barbecue meats directly in the center of all of our restaurants. Today, we have 24 units located in California, Arizona, and Nevada. It was really Craig’s concept to build a very strong brand based on barbecue because on the West Coast, we had very few barbecue offerings. Thus, we were really able to get this brand to take off.
The next exciting piece that Hofman Hospitality offers is a high-end dining experience called Saint & Second. A lot of this has been driven by our current CEO and president, Brad Hofman, Craig’s son. This experience features a chef-inspired seasonal menu in Belmont Shore, which is a beach city inn Los Angeles County. This is one brand with which we are looking to expand and grow the business. There’ll be a new opening in the Manhattan Beach area of Los Angeles, and we’re hoping for a lot of success with the Saint & Second concept.
jb
Hofman Hospitality Group | www.hofmangroup.com | Signal Hill, CA