How to grow a hot restaurant concept without destroying it

How do you take a hot restaurant concept national without destroying it?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Chris Schultz, the CEO of Voodoo Doughnut. 

The doughnut chain was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 2000 by Kenneth Pogson and Tres Shannon. It quickly gained a reputation for off-the-wall doughnuts—we’ll let you check out the website for the names of said doughnuts—and a brilliantly pink color scheme. 

The company has been expanding rapidly with private-equity owners. We talk with Chris about some of the changes the company has made and how the chain can make itself ready for growth without losing the irreverence that helped it gain popularity in the first place.

And we also talk with Schultz about the chain’s expansion strategy, and whether that strategy can work for a concept that focuses largely on treats.