Fazoli’s Day in Lexington: Restaurant industry continues to change

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Starting a restaurant is hard enough keeping it going is even tougher and starting a franchise, well, there aren’t many of those that really are successful but Lexington is home to one success story.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Fazoli’s has offered a model for others.

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton declared September 1st as Fazoli’s Day to honor the restaurant that was founded in the city.

“At the beginning the whole piece was really challenging because thing’s changed so much.”

Lexington has been home for Fazoli’s for 32 years now.

Carl Howard, the Fazoli’s CEO, says they’re fortunate workers were able to come back after the COVID-19 outbreak and months of quarantine and now they’re seeing all time record high sales.

Howard says for other restaurants who may be struggling during this time, just continue to work on improving and fine tuning.

“This has been a really tough time on the restaurant industry, the hospitality industry, airlines and so many others, ones we don’t even discuss and talk about but for the restaurant industry there are three things that are working really well right now,” Howard says. “Those are the brands that have a drive thru or curbside takeout, promote extreme value and make it really easy for the guests. so the consumer has to have a good digital experience, it’s just as important now as a good hospitality experience.”

He says one thing businesses also have to include is the necessary precautions for COVID-19 because customers appreciate it and they deserve it.