The Secret Recipe for 50 Years in Business? At The Melting Pot, It’s Flexible Facilities

For a 50-year-old brand like The Melting Pot, the secret to longevity is knowing when and how to be flexible. By adapting store layouts and materials to fit each market, the franchise can prioritize local relevance while still preserving a unified guest experience. It's a part of a growing trend in flexible facility strategy, combining a non-negotiable brand promise with a surprising degree of operational freedom. The freedom is made possible by a unique restaurant model that sidesteps the structural demands of a traditional kitchen.

To break down the model, we spoke to Collin Benyo, Franchise Growth Strategist for The Melting Pot Restaurants. In this role, Benyo oversees the brand's expansion, leveraging data-driven support to empower local owners and implement firm brand guardrails to protect the company's core identity.

In an effort to modernize without dilution, the brand allows the how to be modified by each franchisee, as long as the what remains constant. "We are fondue, and we're the only fondue concept in the United States. Our service model is 'the perfect night out.' That's never going to change, but the different flavor of how we do that is definitely a modification for each franchisee," Benyo says.

In an industry where it's common to hear vague promises of "the best support," Benyo stresses meeting the franchisee leadership face-to-face before any contracts are signed. "Meeting the leadership team face-to-face is very important because those are the men and women who ultimately are going to be making decisions for the franchise as a whole. If you can't see eye to eye with them and understand where they're at, or what their vision is, then that relationship is not a match," he says.

• Fondue for football: From that foundation of alignment, The Melting Pot delivers tangible support. Leveraging a unified tech stack, including Toast POS, Tableau, and OpenTable integrations, the corporate team provides actionable intelligence that helps owners make smarter business decisions. Take the Super Bowl as an example. For years, the company assumed nobody wanted fondue on game day but didn't dig into the data. "When we actually supplied the data, we could show franchisees the amount of revenue in real dollars that they lost on game day. Being able to have those very truthful, real-life conversations with our franchisees shows them the potential that they are working with," he explains.

That "freedom within a framework" includes the brand's facility strategy. The internal team, led by Donnie Smith in construction and Deborah Ramos Squires in design, intentionally varies color palettes and layouts to suit each city, from New Haven to Saint Petersburg to Syracuse, while maintaining the brand's core atmosphere. A key component of this flexible design is a unique operational advantage. "We don't have a hot kitchen. There aren't traditional hoods, fryers, or flattops. That gives us a lot of flexibility in how we approach each location," he notes.

• Trust but verify: The facilities model is focused on empowering franchisee autonomy through a "trust but verify" approach. While franchisees are free to select their own local partners for maintenance, the franchisor verifies standards are met via third-party audits. "We give them the ability to position themselves with local partners they can work with. We have a third-party company called Steritech that comes in to do audits on food safety and brand standards. So, we're holding them accountable, yet we're giving them the flexibility," he outlines.

A recent initiative around the viral "Dubai chocolate" trend put their flexibility to the test. When the craze hit social media, The Melting Pot's team, led by Head of Culinary Jason Miller, moved quickly to develop its own version. The corporate team developed the new fondue and offered it as an optional, turnkey solution, empowering each franchisee to decide for themselves whether to adopt it. "Some teams jumped on it, put it out there, and guests loved it, while others declined. We gave them the option. Franchisees run their business the way they want to run it. At the same time, they're relying on the franchisor to supply them with those extra options," he says.

This blend of trust, data, and flexibility doesn't just make for a good story, it drives real growth. "We had a team that signed with us recently," Benyo recalls. "I'm not going to say that the chocolate did the job and made them sign, but I think it had a part in it."