Dive Brief:

• Smokey Bones will launch an e-commerce site, BiteHall, on Tuesday to showcase its virtual brands, the company wrote in an email to Restaurant Dive.
• The site will include existing brands Smokey Bones, The Wing Experience and Burger Experience, as well as new brands Bowl Market and Tender Box.
• The website comes two years after Smokey Bones initially launched its first virtual brands, and just months after it opened its first traditional drive-thru.

Dive Insight:

BiteHall will expand Smokey Bones’ virtual reach by allowing customers to order food across multiple brands with one order. Creating its own website for these digital brands also gives Smokey Bones better access to customer data, an ongoing sticking point between restaurants and third-party aggregators. Smokey Bones will also benefit from offering delivery, takeout and curbside pickup from its virtual brands at all 62 of its restaurants. More concepts could also be added in the future, according to the press release.

To support its virtual brands, Smokey Bones added screens to its kitchens that allow staff to better separate dine-in and off-premise orders, Smokey Bones CMO Nichole Robillard wrote in an email to Restaurant Dive. As its off-premise channel has grown, orders began overwhelming existing display screens, and additional screens were needed to allow staff to prioritize and separate dine-in versus take out or delivery orders, she said. 

Smokey Bones’ addition of the two virtual brands is part of its ongoing strategy to expand its off-premise channel. During the pandemic, Smokey Bones’ virtual brands and off-premise offerings performed so well that the chain decided to open up a drive-thru to attract more diners. The traditional drive-thru offers a menu of items that can be prepared quickly, but customers can still order food that takes more time and wait at designated parking spots. 

Other restaurants have also been expanding the customer reach of their virtual brands to generate sales outside of delivery alone. Applebee’s added items from its Cosmic Wings brands to its core menu earlier this year to allow dine-in and takeout customers to order from this menu. Brinker International is removing low-performing items from its virtual brand menus and adding items from It’s Just Wings to Chili’s menu.