Today we’d like to introduce you to Neil Goldrosen.
Hi Neil, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Cluck-U Chicken started on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick in 1985, which is where I first became a customer. One day, I saw a sign that read “Franchise Opportunities”. This was around 1991. I graduated Rider College (now called Rider University) in 1990 with a degree in business management and was working in Friendly’s to get experience in restaurant management. Anyway,Ii inquired about the possibility of owning a Cluck-U Chicken restaurant. The Franchise owner Rob Illvento, paired me up with another young guy, Charbel, and along with my friend from Union High, Ron, we formed a partnership and started searching for a viable location. We needed a “lively” populated town with a nearby college since we were open until 1am daily and 3am on weekends. We settled on a great spot with lots of parking in Morristown NJ which had everything we needed. Being a soon to be business with 3 young college graduates , we quickly ran low on funds, so we took on a financial 4th partner, my mom and dad, Sheila and Richard, to help us out. We opened for business on April 12th 1993. The town quickly took to us, being so unique at the time. It wasn’t easy though, Charbel parted ways within 3 months and Ron, and a few other employees, had to get fired for theft around the 2 year mark. At this time, it was only myself and a small staff, and my parents, especially my mom, took on a more active roll to help the business. We were slowly growing and so was the Franchise. By around 2000, we were the top store of our group of about 35 and have remained in the top 3 ever since. The Franchise was sold to a group in Maryland who already was operating a few locations. Fast forward to 2020, Covid changed a lot for us and the franchise. Besides dealing with the daily changes of state Covid rules, every week another staff member got sick, including myself. We were also informed that we had to soon vacate the premises after 28 years in business because the landlord would be building 2 office towers on the property. We moved next door on the premises for about 7 months. Then for 9 months, we were out of business waiting for our new store about a1/2 mile away was being constructed. We reopened on Sep 12, 2021 on South St also in Morristown. The challenges have not stopped. Parking is a huge issue now. The COVID affect, as I call it, interrupted our normal deliveries, causing delays and product shortages. Our open hours were cut since the late night crowd was limited due to bars closing early. Deliveries were lower due to customers now accepting the concept of DoorDash and others who you can get food from without leaving your house, virtually from any store offering food including many who never offered delivery in the past. Many local stores and restaurants, including many Cluck-U Chicken locations, have closed their doors for good since 2020. We had been at the top of our game until 2020, especially with delivery, and now it’s a challenge to keep up with the ever changing restaurant landscape. I call Cluck-U an innovative concept that was copied. Up until the Cluck-U was created in 1985, nobody was selling 20 different wing sauces and offering hot honey chicken. We were before Buffalo Wild Wings, Wing Stop or even Mikes Hot Honey. The only chicken restaurants were KFC around here, and they only sold fried chicken. We are surviving but not thriving nowadays, trying to compete with other similar chicken concepts, delivery everywhere, minimum wages consistently going up, and product inflation costs, but somehow we are still here! I credit my parents (who both passed in 2019), my family (Melissa, Stephanie, Matthew), and my longtime (and current) staff members for our stability and wellbeing.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Already mentioned most of our struggles….
Searching for the best location
Financing
Employee theft
Roudy late nights (pre 2021)
Keeping the store properly cleaned
Equipment breakdowns
Employees showing up on time
Keeping sales up
Finding effective advertising
Product shortages and increased pricing
Delivery challenges- delivery on time & now competing with all other delivery services
Profitability, especially when using Ubereats, GrubHub & DoorDash
Some current health issues
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I mentioned a lot before…..
So I am the sole operating partner right now. I do have help running the restaurant, utilizing 3 other managers. Shout out to my oldest manager Andres, who has been a staple since 1995. He assists in ordering food, upkeep of the restaurant, and scheduling. We still run 80 % of all our deliveries, and our longest current driver is Steve , since 1996. I am proud of our other staff members as well, some of who’s been with me well over 10 years. I guess I’ve done something right?
What matters most to you?
Staff retention… while they don’t get top dollar salary, I do give them free meals and schedule flexibility to have time off. I’ve also helped some of them out of financial jams through the years, as needed.
A Clean store, with direction and assistance , we are commonly considered one of the cleanest restaurants in town!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.CluckuMorristown.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/cluckumorristownnj
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/morristownclucku
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/clucknj
- Other: https://ordering.chownow.com/order/34910/locations/52811
