Del Taco CMO Focus: Bring Back Energy

Here’s a bit more insight on Del Taco Restaurants Inc.’s (Nasdaq: TACO) branding strategy from Chief Marketing Officer Tim Hackbardt, who returned to the company last February.  

The Lake Forest-based company, with about 600 restaurants and a recent market cap of nearly $360 million, is of course doing more with digital, he said.
 
“We’re certainly spending more and more time and more and more money in that space. There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “So, lots more digital this year.”
 
Del Taco’s new customer retention management platform was featured in the Business Journal’s print edition on March 29, but it’s important to note Hackbardt’s initial focus upon his stepping into the CMO position was on bolstering the brand through the menu and messaging before anything else.  
“The first thing we centered on was bringing back a lot of energy to the company,” he said. “When I was here before (from 1999 to 2003), we were a very irreverent brand. We were a very aggressive brand. We were a fun brand, and we felt the brand needed a little bit more of that personality back.”
 
Since that time, the company—with the help of Costa Mesa agency of record Skiver Advertising Inc.—has aimed to do that, with the crispy chicken menu lineup, tamales and jumbo shrimp, Hackbardt said.

“We want to start with the food and the energy of the brand and once we feel that’s kicking in pretty good, which we feel it is, now we can take it to some other elements,” he said.
 
The restaurant veteran had his own consultancy working with a number of restaurant companies prior to rejoining Del Taco. He was first at the restaurant chain as vice president of marketing, going on to executive marketing positions at Rubio’s Restaurants Inc., The Johnny Rockets Restaurant Group Inc., BJ’s Restaurants Inc. (Nasdaq: BJRI) and Pieology Pizzeria.