Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles is open almost around the clock: 8 a.m. until midnight on weekdays and until 4 a.m. on weekends. Now, patrons of the Hollywood fried-chicken chain can purchase several Roscoe’s dishes for consumption for the few hours the restaurant is actually closed.
East L.A.’s Dolores Canning Co. Inc., which has an exclusive license with Roscoe’s, is releasing the chain’s frozen waffles next month. The waffles will come in packages of 10 and will sell from $2.99 to $3.99 online, and at retailers including Food 4 Less and Superior Grocers.
Those craving Roscoe’s signature fried chicken after hours will have to wait until the restaurant reopens. But Bert Munoz, sales manager and a member of the family that owns Dolores, said the company was still working on developing a Roscoe’s branded fried-chicken product for home consumption.
“The big release will be the waffle,” Munoz said. “We’re still working through the kinks with the chicken. There’s a lot involved with frozen fried chicken. It’s the dedication to the quality and flavor that is Roscoe’s. Their customers will beat you up if it’s not up to par.”
Munoz did not have a time line on when the fried chicken will be released.
Dolores, which has 25 employees, already makes and sells Roscoe’s-branded mac and cheese, chili mac and collard greens. The company first partnered with Roscoe’s four years ago to make the chain’s chicken chili off site and deliver it to the restaurants.
Dolores approached Roscoe’s in 2012 with the idea of packaging and selling select menu items online and at supermarkets.
Munoz said there’s an advantage with working with a local restaurant with national recognition. He said he’s hoping to tap customers that have visited one of Roscoe’s six Southern Californian locations on a trip but are too far away to visit a restaurant in person.
“Their recognition nationally is astounding,” he said. “Some people in Alabama might just be happy enough to get the Roscoe’s brand out there.”
Social Strategy
Cerritos apparel e-commerce company Revolve has overhauled its website and teamed up with Santa Monica social media agency HelloSociety for a new campaign.
The moves come after San Francisco private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners’ $50 million purchase earlier this month of a minority stake in Revolve. The 11-year-old apparel company said it did upwards of $150 million in sales last year.
HelloSociety helped organize a campaign where access to Revolve’s updated website was only available through social media site Pinterest. That promotion ran through the first week of February; the site was accessible directly Feb. 6. According to Revolve, the campaign was successful in boosting traffic to its site.
“We were able to reach tens of thousands more people than we could organically,” said Ashley Torres, Revolve’s senior manager of social strategy.
Pinterest allows users to curate and share pictures of products and other things they like. The social media platform acts as a user-curated online fashion catalog. HelloSociety works to connect retailers and major brands such as Martha Stewart and J. Crew to influential Pinterest users who can drive visitors and customers to the brands.
Kyla Brennan, chief executive of HelloSociety, said her agency represents around 300 Pinterest users who range from having 100,000 to 9 million followers.
“For some of the retailers we work with, the traffic they receive from Pinterest will actually work better than Facebook sometimes and Twitter many times,” Brennan said.
Neither company would say how much the campaign cost. Brennan said her company’s charges vary depending on the menu of services chosen by a client. A basic Pinterest campaign starts at $2,000 and goes into six figures if clients want her company to help create original editorial content for Pinterest users to share, or “pin” as the community calls it.
Revolving Doors
Small-plate restaurant and bar Tom’s Urban 24 opened at L.A. Live in downtown last week. The Denver restaurant took over part of ESPNZone’s old location. … Japanese apparel chain Uniqlo will open its first L.A. outpost this fall at the Beverly Center. … Gourmet sandwich shop Marcona will move from 7368 Melrose Ave. on March 1. It has not announced the address of its new location, which will also accommodate expanded catering services. … Peruvian restaurant Los Balcones in Hollywood is about to complete its renovation and open its doors to the public by the end of this month. … New Jersey’s Cups Frozen Yogurt has announced plans to open as many as 26 stores in Southern California.
At Your Service
Dog Haus has hired chef Michael Brown as culinary director. Brown previously was an executive chef at Nike’s world headquarters and Google Inc. He will help oversee the hot-dog chain’s expansion and will help lead the company in creating menu items for the spring. … Shops at Montebello has hired Marida Petitjean as its director of marketing and business development.
Staff reporter Justin Yang can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 228.
