Cooper’s Hawk is a restaurant chain that specializes in American cuisine with a focus on wine. The company was founded in 2005 in Orland Park, Illinois and has since expanded to over 45 locations across 13 states. While Cooper’s Hawk has a significant presence primarily in the Midwest and Southeast regions of the United States, it is not technically considered a national chain restaurant.
What constitutes a national chain restaurant?
There is no definitive criteria for what makes a restaurant chain a national one, but some key factors often considered are:
- Number of locations – Generally having 100+ locations across multiple regions of the U.S. is seen as reaching national scale.
- Geographic coverage – Having a presence in regions across the U.S. like the Northeast, South, Midwest, Southwest, and West Coast.
- Brand recognition and awareness – Being widely recognized and known by consumers across the entire U.S.
- National marketing and advertising – Running promotions, campaigns, and ads nationwide instead of targeting specific regions.
While subjective, these attributes help distinguish national chain restaurants from regional or local chains. Many well-known brands like McDonald’s, Subway, Starbucks, and Olive Garden qualify under these standards as national chains with hundreds or thousands of locations coast to coast.
Cooper’s Hawk’s current footprint
As of October 2023, Cooper’s Hawk operates 48 restaurant and tasting room locations predominantly concentrated in the Greater Chicagoland area, Metro Detroit, Greater St. Louis area, and Greater Atlanta area. The chain has also expanded into other Midwest markets like Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin as well as southeastern states like Florida and South Carolina.
Here is a breakdown of Cooper’s Hawk’s location footprint by state:
| State | Number of Locations |
|---|---|
| Illinois | 19 |
| Michigan | 7 |
| Florida | 5 |
| Georgia | 4 |
| Ohio | 3 |
| Wisconsin | 3 |
| Missouri | 2 |
| Indiana | 2 |
| South Carolina | 2 |
| Virginia | 1 |
The concentration is clear with over 60% of locations in just two states, Illinois and Michigan. Expanding to additional markets like Virginia shows Cooper’s Hawk’s growth ambitions, but a truly national footprint would require much greater geographic diversity.
Cooper’s Hawk’s national brand recognition
In terms of brand awareness, Cooper’s Hawk has strong regional penetration but lacks national scale and recognition. The company’s marketing and advertising efforts have focused on Midwestern and Southeastern markets with the most locations. However, investment in national campaigns and promotions has been minimal.
According to YouGov BrandIndex, Cooper’s Hawk has a -100% Buzz score as of October 2022, indicating the chain has very low brand awareness and barely registers on a national level. By comparison, leading national chains like Olive Garden (+31%), LongHorn Steakhouse (+29%) and Texas Roadhouse (+25%) have strong positive awareness. Outback Steakhouse (+77%) and Red Lobster (+57%) lead among dining brands in national Buzz score.
Cooper’s Hawk also has no presence in some of the largest U.S. markets like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington D.C. This lack of foothold in major metropolitan areas prevents Cooper’s Hawk from reaching true nationwide familiarity.
Potential for future national growth
Despite not yet reaching national scale, the Cooper’s Hawk management team has expressed ambitions to expand aggressively in coming years. CEO Tim McEnery outlined plans in 2021 to achieve over 60 locations by the end of 2024, which would represent 50% growth in under 3 years.
Cooper’s Hawk’s expansion strategy focuses on contiguous regions near existing locations to grow its regional density before venturing into new markets. But the chain has begun initial exploration into states like California, opening a Modesto, CA tasting room in 2022. More diverse geographic expansion into new regions will be required to support a national growth strategy.
Achieving national chain status could be feasible for Cooper’s Hawk with 5-10x more units over the next decade. Expanding to 500+ locations in over 30 states would provide the coverage needed to be competitive and relevant across all U.S. regions.
Advantages of national chain scale
There are many potential benefits if Cooper’s Hawk could achieve nationwide scale and recognition on par with leading casual dining chains like Cheesecake Factory, Texas Roadhouse, and Bonefish Grill which each operate 200+ units.
- Purchasing power – National buying scale provides leverage with suppliers for lower costs.
- Real estate access – Broad footprint provides more options for ideal site locations.
- Brand building – National marketing provides consumer awareness across all markets.
- Talent recruitment – Broad geographic coverage aids recruiting and workforce development.
- Investor appetite – Wall Street more attracted to national growth story stocks.
However, expanding from Cooper’s Hawk’s Midwestern roots to thrive in markets like New York and California with high costs and saturation would carry risks in execution. The brand would also face stiff competition from larger players in most markets. Major national marketing campaigns would involve costs and complexity not incurred as a regional brand.
Conclusion
In summary, Cooper’s Hawk operates close to 50 locations currently concentrated in Midwest and Southeast regions. The chain exhibits many attributes of a strong regional brand, but lacks the national footprint, brand awareness, and geographic diversity required to be considered a national chain restaurant. Significant nationwide expansion entering new markets and media advertising would be needed to achieve national status and benefits. Cooper’s Hawk has ambitious growth goals that may eventually lead to joining the ranks of national dining chains, but its limited current scale and concentration firmly plant is as a regional brand.
