By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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FREEPORT — The next Beef-a-Roo coming to the region will be a new carryout and drive-thru concept built from a shipping container.
The future Beef-a-Roo at The Meadows Shopping Center, 1810-1876 S. West Ave., is the second modular restaurant for the franchise, which has embraced the container model as a means to accelerate its growth at a lower cost and with a smaller real estate footprint.
“Real estate right now is pretty hard to come by for restaurant spaces,” said Megan Rosen, chief development officer for Next Brands, which franchises Beef-a-Roo. “The container model allows franchisees and corporate more options. You can develop a smaller plot of land. You can go into a pad-ready site in an outparcel of a big box store, which opens up your territory and increases brand awareness.”
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The shipping container model is part of Next Brands plans to bring Beef-a-Roo to more places across the country. The Redford, Michigan-based family-owned business hopes to open about 50 restaurants — modular or traditional brick-and-mortar — within the next five years.
Rosen said the company recently submitted its building permits for review to the city of Freeport. The two 40-foot long shipping containers will be adapted into a fully functioning quick-serve restaurant with drive-thru, carryout and outdoor seating. There is no indoor seating. The goal is to open the restaurant by summer, pending the review by the city.
The Freeport Beef-a-Roo is being franchised by V8 Ventures, and Rosen said the franchisee is also working on plans to bring modular Beef-a-Roo restaurants to Janesville and Beloit, Wisconsin.
Beef-a-Roo opened its first shipping container restaurant in April in Rose City, Michigan. The idea was born out of the pandemic, when the need for indoor dining decreased as customers increasingly turned to carryout, delivery and drive-thru, Rosen said.
“It’s designed to be specifically to be as efficient as possible, to keep the food as warm as possible and deliver it to the car,” Rosen said.
The concept has been used by other chains, too, including Jimmy John’s and Tim Horton. Rosen said Next Brands concept differs because it builds its modular restaurants with a full kitchen with fryers, convection oven, a grill with a hood, refrigerators, shake machine, restrooms and an office for mangers. Each container adheres to all safety and health code standards.
“We’re one of the first to market that actually offer a full kitchen,” Rosen said.
The style is consider more cost-efficient not only because of the start-up costs to build and open, but because it can be operated with a smaller staff.
“You can run on a slower day a container model type Beef-a-Roo with only two employees, three or four max during a rush period,” Rosen said. “During a traditional brick-and-mortar you’re going to need minimum four individuals and six during a rush period.”
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The concept first came to the region in November 2022, when Lino’s Restaurant opened its second location inside a 53-foot-long red shipping container at 8410 E. Riverside Blvd.
Lino’s could serve as a prototype for a shipping container village that is being developed as part of a larger placemaking project by the Parks Chamber of Commerce, city of Loves Park and Place Foundry.
“Our business is actually continuing to grow over there where it seems like every month we’ve introduced more customers, and this is usually a slow time of year for us,” said Charlie Schweinler, who is part of the third generation of family that’s running Lino’s “It’s become a real convenience for our customers and really for us to be able to grow.”
Schweinler said he’s working with Rockford officials on the potential to bring the shipping container concept to the city. Lino’s had built its shipping container in its warehouse with its own design.
Schweinler said the shipping container was built out of necessity for Lino’s as it looked to combat high costs of construction with inflation. The concept also reduces operating costs to “fractions compared to what they would be in a traditional brick-and-mortar.”
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Next Brands has also used the shipping container model with Blenderz, an acai and smoothie bar. The first modular Blenderz opened last year in Mio, Michigan. It was the second shipping container restaurant for Next Brands after the Rose City, Michigan, Beef-a-Roo.
Beef-a-Roo was founded in Rockford in 1967 by Dave DeBruler and Jean Vitale. Their children took over the business in 2007 and ran it until 2019 when it was turned over to a private equity firm.
Next Brands got the franchise rights to Beef-a-Roo in 2021 and it opened five new locations outside of Illinois in the last six months of 2023. There are now 18 locations across the country.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas