At Black Rock Bar + Grill’s locations across Michigan, Ohio, Maryland and Florida, guests cook their own steaks on superheated volcanic rocks right at the table. The kitchen cooks up a host of complimentary and premium sides, including Barilla pasta. Switching to Barilla Frozen was a rock-solid choice for this sizzling brand.  We caught up with Operations Director Jeff Cox to get the story. 

What led you to Barilla Frozen for your operations? 
As an ops guy, I’m always looking at costs and efficiencies. With a diverse set of operations across multiple states and franchisee partners, it’s even more important. Anything that can help us be better operators will get a look!  

Where do you see the best value in using Frozen? 
The flexibility that using Barilla’s pre-cooked and frozen product is a win for us – we can deliver a consistent, high-quality product to the guest, and are able to prep almost on-demand. That really cuts back on waste at our lower volume stores, and helps higher volume locations prep faster and be more agile.   

What advice would you have for other operators?  
Every operation is different, but I’d say run a yield calculation on your dry pasta vs. Frozen. The incremental cost can be minor, and easily worth it for all the advantages. You probably have another use for the labor that was prepping your dry pasta!   

“For a minor incremental cost, we’re getting less waste, more consistency and flexibility across our system. Those advantages have real value, especially with our franchisees!” -Jeff Cox, Operations Director, Black Rock Bar & Grill