HuHot Mongolian Grill’s same store sales increased 7 percent during the first period of 2015 as compared to the same time in 2014.

The company credits the increase in sales to a rise in visits seen at almost every location, driven by improved operations and marketing. HuHot’s company-owned Lafayette, Indiana location is one of the main stores leading this charge with a 34.9 percent increase compared with the prior year. This increase is greatly attributed to community relationship building through local store marketing efforts by general manager Anthony Bonfitto in 2014.

The Lafayette HuHot participated in more than 30 local marketing events and campaigns in 2014, resulting in an increase of about $500 a day more than the previous year. “Local Store Marketing requires time and effort. If you’re going to do it, you need to commit and be extremely active. You can’t just do one event and expect to make an impact, you have to become a consistent part of the community,” says Bonfitto when asked about the success of the local marketing. “Our product and our unique guest experience speak for themselves, and it’s simply about getting people through the door.”  Bonfitto adds, “Take the time and make the effort to become friends with leaders in your community: They’re the gatekeepers to guest count growth and solid word of mouth.”

“Location growth and same store sales increases combined have HuHot system-wide sales growing by 22 percent, while our corporate locations have increased our cash margin by almost 8 percent,” says Jeff Martin, COO. “This is a huge accomplishment when the industry is seeing such high increases in beef costs. We are really proud of how our stores are managing labor, waste, and driving sales to affect the bottom line.”

HuHot Mongolian Grills LLC has high hopes for their core concept growth in 2015 and expect additional growth from their newest concept, NuHu Mongolian Express.