Paul Macaluso likens his first year at Krystal to a home remodeling project at his own house.
“We basically tore everything down to the studs and rebuilt from there,” said Macaluso, who joined Krystal as CEO on April 2, 2018 after previously heading McAllister’s Deli and serving as marketing director for Moe’s Southwest Grill. “It’s been a series of initiatives that we have taken and we’ve been very pleased with the results.”
Krystal at a glance
Start: 1932 with the first restaurant at 7th and Cherry Street in downtown ChattanoogaHeadquarters: Atlanta since moving from Chattanooga in 2012Owner: Argonne Capital GroupNo. of restaurants: 220 company owned stores and 130 franchised restaurants operated by 23 different franchisees in 11 statesSignature product: Krystal small square hamburgerStaff: More than 6,000 employeesCEO: Paul MacalusoSlogan: “Live a little”Website: krystal.com
Krystal, the nation’s second oldest fast-food chain which began in downtown Chattanooga in 1932, revamped its marketing, replaced more than a half dozen of its oldest stores and upgraded its food delivery and preparation in the past year to reverse a nearly 3-year decline in same store sales.
For the first time since 2016, Krystal has reversed its declining sales so far in 2019 and boosted same store sales while adding two new stores last year and plans for a couple of new stores this year to the 350-store restaurant chain.