---
title: "A Comeback Story for Back Yard Burgers"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/181c496a-ca96-45b7-bffc-75b37932edee
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/a-comeback-story-for-back-yard-burgers-1376
category: "Burger"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Burger"
published: 2015-03-30T14:09:11.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:16:22.442Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/8d777f385d3dfec8815d20f7496026dc3738.png
---

# A Comeback Story for Back Yard Burgers

**TL;DR:** Back Yard Burgers achieved a 10.2% annual sales increase after Chapter 11 bankruptcy by focusing on team and field visits. The brand exited bankruptcy in January 2013 and has since seen 21 consecutive months of same-store sales increases.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2015-03-30. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/a-comeback-story-for-back-yard-burgers-1376).*

## Story

Back Yard Burgers is known today as the successful purveyor of 100 percent Black Angus beef burgers - a taste its loyal customers can’t get enough of. However, the brand is also known for a great comeback.

Back Yard Burgers closed out 2014 with 21 consecutive months of same-store sales increases. In fact, last year alone saw a 10.2 percent increase on an annual basis. These numbers would be impressive for any franchise, let alone one that found itself contending with Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the not-too-distant past.

David McDougall, CEO of Back Yard Burgers, highlighted just how the brand was able to cook up such a 180.

“We got the team focused,” he said. “We went to the field to visit with every franchisee and company general manager, asked them what had been going on, what they would do differently, what needed to be done to fix Back Yard Burgers.”

Getting back to the brand’s roots while improving franchise relations and focusing on unit level economics may seem fairly straightforward, but accomplishing such a turnaround was far from easy.

“We had to cut expenses fast, look at every line item on the [profit and loss statement], every check cut each week,” he continued. “We appointed a cost-saving czar to relentlessly pursue every cost-saving opportunity, had to get expenses in line with revenue. We established budgets for all areas of the company, which had not existed.”

And, of course, the company turned to the most important factor for its success: the customers. This included detailed customer focus panels and feedback systems designed to provide information on what consumers wanted out of the brand, and helped lead to a complete shift in marketing and culinary strategy.

More importantly, it worked. Back Yard Burgers exited bankruptcy in January 2013. By May of that year, the brand started seeing positive comparable same-store sales, a trend that has not let up since. In June the brand began to outperform its budget. By the end of 2014, Back Yard Burgers had doubled its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization compared to the previous year.

While the brand was momentarily on shaky ground, it ended up resulting in some valuable lessons, according to McDougall.

“Going through those hard times taught us to understand our niche and focus on our customer base,” he said. “Don’t try to be all things to all people.”

And what is Back Yard Burgers’ niche? Serving up the best-tasting food in the industry, McDougall said.

“We have great customer loyalty in the markets where we operate,” he continued.

This is why more and more entrepreneurs find themselves exploring their options as Back Yard Burgers franchisees.

“The hamburger category is No. 1 in the industry,” McDougall said. “And Back Yard Burgers is a proven concept for those that are committed, present and hard working.”

With the brand looking to build on its accomplishments - steadily rising comp sales, increasing profitability - as well as developing new strategies to improve return on investment, there’s no doubt more people will find themselves wanting to become a part of the Back Yard Burgers family.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- franchise growth (topic)
- sales increase (topic)
- chapter 11 bankruptcy (topic)
- brand turnaround (topic)
- customer focus (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/a-comeback-story-for-back-yard-burgers-1376). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/181c496a-ca96-45b7-bffc-75b37932edee).