Angie’s Lobster’s New Drive-Thru Gets Off to a Fast Start

When Tony and Roushan Christofellis sold their stake in 40 Salad and Go restaurants in 2021 for an undisclosed amount to private equity firm Volt Investment Holdings, which held a larger stake, an outsider could easily have assumed that retirement might be looming for the married couple. Not so fast.

They launched Salad and Go in 2013 in Gilbert, Arizona, and grew the business with the help of Volt Investment. After selling it, Tony Christofellis, a 47-year-old Medford, Massachusetts native now based in Phoenix, Arizona, and Roushan developed a series of drive-thru restaurants, starting with Angie’s Lobster.

After selling their restaurants, Tony says, “We had a fire in us that we’d never felt before.” The couple wanted to prove something: They could run and grow their own specialty drive-thru restaurants, all by themselves.

To launch Angie’s Food Concepts, the couple invested $15 million of their own money, attracted $6 million from a family member and $7 million from other investors. “Our goal is to delay the need for private equity as much as possible,” he says.

The two Christofellis have therefore returned to the restaurant business by launching Angie’s Lobster and Angie’s Prime, and are testing two other concepts, Angie’s Chicken and Angie’s Burger. Ten establishments have already opened their doors: 8 Angie’s Lobster and 2 Angie’s Prime.

In fact, it’s testing two Angie’s Burgers within their Angie’s Prime. Tony Christofellis explains that Angie’s Burger has a separate assembly line within Angie’s Prime with a separate menu to test whether the concept works or not.

A start-up concept offering cheap takeaway meals, including lobster, seems like a winning combination.

Fast and casual yet affordable

Their goal was to develop affordable drive-in restaurants that offered the meals Americans were craving. Tony Christofellis (all other quotes are his) makes it clear that “Traditional America is protein-driven, especially chicken, beef, and seafood. This drives the decisions of low- and middle-income consumers and accounts for 90% of all drive-in fast food transactions.”

“Our goal is to make luxury food accessible to everyone,” he explains. That’s why they started with lobster, which is considered a premium dish, and offered it at a lower price point than most of their competitors. If they succeed with lobster, he figured they’d move on to steaks, burgers and chicken.

Their prices are lower than many competitors for comparable items such as Chipotle and Shake Shack. In fact, their lobster roll, fries and drink cost a reasonable $11, their chicken bowl with antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken costs $8, their premium burger with fries and drink is $5.10, and their Angie’s fried chicken sandwich with fries and drink is $5.

Their first Angie’s drive-thru opened in August 2022 in Mesa, Arizona, and the others are all located in the Phoenix area, with the exception of Las Vegas, their first location outside of Arizona.

How do they keep their costs low enough to offer $11 lobster dinners? Christofellis explains that most restaurants spend 30% on food and 30% on labor, but their labor costs are 12.6% and their food costs are 49%, allowing them to spend more on food. He also notes that they have kept their supply costs low because they have invested in their own processing plant and trucks to distribute their food and make their own sauces in a warehouse.

Reduce staff numbers

They now have only 3 to 5 employees per hour at each location, fewer than most of their competitors, and pay their employees slightly more. In Phoenix, they are paid $18.51 an hour, a penny more than In-N-Out Burger, and $18.01 in Las Vegas and $19.51 in Flagstaff, still slightly more than In-N-Out Burger, which are known to be the highest paid.

Christofellis explains that “we ask customers to do a lot of work. The customer places the order and then cashes out, because we only accept credit cards, debit cards or phone payments like Apple Pay or Google Pay.”

He points out that “every day we generate over $30,000 in revenue at our Las Vegas store, with lines out the door, and we haven’t even launched breakfast yet. It shows how hungry America is for affordable, high-quality drive-thru fast food.”

Yelp reviews for Angie’s Lobster in Phoenix have been mostly positive, with some reservations. For example, Danielle from Mesa, Arizona, wrote, “For the price, you can’t beat it. I also enjoyed reading the story about how they keep their prices low at the drive-through. The lobster was well prepared and tasted great.”

But Tanya, from Quincy, Massachusetts, complained that her lobster was cold. She explained that she had to drive two hours, but the manager who served her argued that it was warm enough for her to take her temperature. Eventually, the manager agreed to reheat it. Tanya was not happy with her treatment.

Why did Christofellis open multiple versions of Angie’s, rather than sticking with lobster only? He replied that “the operating model and assembly line of each store is the same; the only difference is the menu.”

Angie is on the move

The next Angie’s Lobster is scheduled to open in Flagstaff, Arizona, in late August, which will be its 11th location, followed by four more by the end of 2024, including two in Tucson and two in Phoenix. It then plans to open about 15 in 2025, if all goes according to plan.

“So far, we have managed to self-finance,” he reveals.

When it comes to the married couple’s management of Angie’s Food Concept, Tony is the overall manager, overseeing the entire business and distribution plants, and Roushan handles training, development and marketing.

When asked what the keys to his future success are, he says, “Money, money, money.” He adds, “We know how to run the business and we know how to create a culture. We have the infrastructure now to do that.” His goal for the future is to “find the money to allow us to continue our mission.”