Michelle Hook was appointed Portillo’s chief financial officer in December 2020, which is surely an interesting time to be managing the balance sheet for any restaurant company. Prior to that, she spent 17 years at Domino’s Pizza, where she rose from senior manager of corporate accounting and reporting to vice president of finance, global finance, planning, analysis and investor relations.
In 2013, while Hook was the pizza chain’s director of financial reporting and assistant corporate controller, she was presented with the Women in Foodservice Forum’s “Woman in Leadership” award, an honor created to recognize women who are “ready for leadership.” Less than a decade later, she has become a statistical anomaly, a rare female in the restaurant industry’s C-suite.
Of the nearly 15,000 C-level roles across all companies in the S&P Global Total Market Index, only 11.8% are held by women. The restaurant industry reflects that figure, but the gap is even larger because the majority of foodservice workers are women: 54% of foodservice workers are women, compared to 47% of employees in the overall U.S. employed workforce.
For Hook, getting to this challenging level was only possible by “putting her time” into various roles and learning as much as she could. She joined Domino’s just before it went public and is still a shareholder, loving the company for giving her these opportunities. But when the role at Portillo’s opened up, she jumped at the chance, knowing it was another chance to go public, but this time she’d be leading the charge.
“Leaving Domino’s required two things: passion for the brand and a cultural fit. You always have to take a bold step when making change, but Portillo’s culture is special. It’s unique and different. This company has great people,” Hook said.
Becoming a company leader has presented a huge opportunity to drive that culture forward. Hook credits strong mentors, both male and female, throughout her career, including one who welcomed her into the company at Domino’s. This experience has led her to have a bit of a “pay it forward” mentality and to step up and offer herself as a mentor to emerging leaders.
If she had one simple piece of advice for other women in the industry aspiring to C-suite positions, it’s to be open to that mentorship and stay true to it.
“It’s important to accept mentorship so you can talk to people about what you need to talk about in a safe environment,” says Hook. “It’s also important to be yourself. You don’t have to change who you are or be afraid to share your thoughts and opinions just because you’re in a room with a lot of people. Sometimes people will fight back and it’s going to make you uncomfortable, and that’s okay. You can have a healthy debate or conversation and learn something.”
Business Status
Hooks looked back fondly on his vast experience in the industry, but quickly returned to talking about the business at hand. Portillo’s same-store sales were negative in the first quarter, as the brand, like most other restaurant companies, faces pressure from consumers; second-quarter earnings are due to be released on Aug. 6. Hooks outlined some of the efforts the chain is making to protect itself from increasingly worn-out customers, including an increased focus on (and increased investment in) marketing.
“We’re not a brand that typically spends a lot on advertising and marketing. We do very local, grassroots marketing. In the fourth quarter, we spent more in our core market, Chicago, which is our only market of scale, and we saw strong trade and same-store sales, so we know it paid off,” she said. “So we’re going to spend a little more on advertising in the second half of the year.”
Portillo’s is also focusing on speed of service and throughput at its drive-thru, knowing that a 30-second improvement translates to a 1 percent increase in sales for its peers. About 40% of its business comes from the drive-thru. And catering is a growing channel, increasing to about 5% of Portillo’s business. Hook said catering is a strong channel and the chain is putting more resources into building awareness. The company is also working to build awareness on third-party delivery platforms, including through targeted offers.
“These are incremental investments and they are driving incremental sales, maybe more so on some platforms than others, but overall we are seeing a return on our investment so we continue to invest in them,” Hook said.
Still, the best way to increase awareness is to keep building restaurants in growing markets like Texas and Florida, with the goal of expanding to scale, which the company defines as six to eight restaurants in a market.
“It’s important to have deep roots in the community,” Hook said.
And given the current climate, being present in the conversation about value is even more important. Portillo’s doesn’t offer discounts, so it’s focused on set menus. These menus include the Famous Five menu, which features meal combos for under $10.
“[The Famous Five]does two things: it continues to raise awareness of what to order when you go to Portillo’s. If you’ve never been, it can be overwhelming. The menu is extensive and the restaurant is busy. The Famous Five guides you. You can’t go wrong by ordering one of these five things,” Hook said.
The Famous Five emphasizes sides and drinks as well as main dishes, which should help restore customer retention, which has declined over the past few quarters.Portillo’s latest efforts are just a response to what consumers are feeling: They’re in a bind.We’ll have a better idea of its progress after the company reports earnings on Tuesday, but Hook said finding the right solutions is key.
“In this environment, restaurants are one of the first places consumers turn, and then we all start competing for a share of that stomach. Lower-income consumers feel more pressure, and the industry becomes more value-focused in terms of significant pricing,” Hook said. “I think we’ll see this trend continue through the rest of the year.”
Portillo doesn’t have the budget to outsmart or outspend many of the more aggressive value-sellers, but Hook believes the company still has a big advantage in this environment.
“We have a world-class business and we’re careful not to be too pushy with our pricing,” she said. “Consumers are still willing to spend money on brands they believe offer overall value and we think our extensive menu plays a part in that.”
Please contact Alicia Kelso (email address protected)
