Restaurant Trade Area Research

The only big burger chain without a breakfast presence in the marketplace - will try it again in 3 test markets - for the third (is that all?) time. The effort will be including oatmeal bars, egg sandwiches, paninis and burritos (which evidently are being demanded elsewhere?) to entice the new users set already in their morning drive breakfast routine. (Where’s the toast? Bacon? Pancakes?) - Perhaps in direct mocking of the BK new breakfast ads with marching males - Wendy’s could use Sexy Secretaries or something similar? - more at the link behind the move into extending dayparts http://www.ajc.com/business/wendys-sees-opportunity-in-618248.html

Speaking of burritos - Carl’s Jr., Green Burrito Open 500th Dual-Branded Restaurant - http://www.restaurantnews.com/carls-jr-green-burrito-open-500th-dual-branded-restaurant/

And, speaking of opening - Steak ‘n Shake Opens New Prototype Restaurant in Rome, Georgia - Same seating, @1/3 less to build - better view of grill for patrons - more at link http://www.restaurantnews.com/steak-n-shake-opens-new-prototype-restaurant-in-rome-georgia/

http://www.fastcompany.com/files/imagecache/panoramic_image/files/MOD-105-Weil-1.jpg

And speaking of makeovers - here’s a great story about the man who is re-designing McDonald’s - http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/149/super-style-me.html

My YouTube Channel which has free 2010 Top Of Mind Research about Restaurant Brands - http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhum

One must pat KFC on the back for this inexpensive marketing move - pay a few coeds to advertise your bunless sandwich - targeted at males - on the buns (backsides, butts, buttocks) of pretty college coeds. Is `anything fried’ becoming a male dominated target demo? As the link says `a head turning’ idea - http://www.restaurantnews.com/kfc-places-double-down-ads-on-the-backsides-of-sweat-pants-worn-by-college-co-eds/

At this link - http://www.slashfood.com/2010/09/23/vegans-cheer-dennys-new-burger/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-w%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk1%7C172876 - you can read another winner from Denny’s (after their AARP success) - here  - heading in the opposite direction to the Double Down of KFC - is Denny’s new Vegan Burger - picking up on the new `health’ positioning and burger trends in one product. Also, burgers are a strong lunch product often times.

Two Subway new products reviewed - http://www.slashfood.com/2010/09/21/subways-fiery-turkey-jalapeno-and-steak-and-cheese-subs-reviewed/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-w%7Cdl8%7Csec3_lnk3%7C172053

Here is a real fun read - On Colonel Sanders’ 120th Birthday, Survey Reveals Young Americans Unclear If KFC Founder Was Real Person - http://www.restaurantnews.com/on-colonel-sanders-120th-birthday-survey-reveals-young-americans-unclear-if-kfc-founder-was-real-person/ - don’t miss this and what can happen to icons and brand images.

My YouTube Channel which has free 2010 Top Of Mind Research about Restaurant Brands - http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhum

It’s scant data but this website is once again in the Alexa Rankings - http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/restauranttradearearesearch.com# - the stats from 1&1 my host would indicate a growing readership too.

So, I have now seen the TV ad campaign for the new Burger King Breakfast menu —– to me —– OK, but, strange IMO. I mean, ONLY MEN marching in the street? (I noted the various types of men from office to laborer to `funny’ still in bathrobe man.) I thought BK wanted to slowly move to less emphasis on ONLY the male target. The commercial also left me wondering what these products were that I only had a few seconds to view all together.

Recently got two very different coupons via the mail for Honeybaked Ham and CiCi’s. HH offered a 6.99 combo and CiCi’s offered a 3.99 adult buffet. Now my first statement is that CiCi’s hasn’t offered this price point for quite sometime, and, became famous for it when the chain was in full expansion mode prior to the new normal. Except for the fact that the coupon was only for one person (why not make it for more than one on the same coupon) - it was a very compelling reason `to return’ to having CiCi’s be part of the mix of restaurants used. Whereas, my first thought about HH was - WTH? — What is the NORMAL price if this is the `value’ they now are offering (and in the same plaza as a Subway with a 3.99 daily deal)? And, who in the world is this coupon trying to compete with - O’Charley’s?

I’ve also caught sight of the fact that the Woodstock Steak and Shake - in addition to meeting the new afternoon dayparting of drink prices (like Sonic) - to attract some of those `convenience store’ types — they now offer the same 2-1 deal from 2AM to 4AM — very cool.

And, here’s a new technology that even mentions usage by Fast Food Chains - Bump Uses License Plate Image Recognition to Text Fellow Drivers  - Includes this statement:

Fast food restaurants, for example, could use the technology to offer personalized menus to drive-thru customers, as based on their previous selections

http://www.switched.com/2010/09/16/bump-uses-license-plate-image-recognition-to-text-fellow-drivers/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-w%7Cdl5%7Csec3_lnk2%7C171298

More bad news - but positioned as `less bad’ than in the recent past (that said, let’s not forget the prediction of a 5-6% gain in restaurant visits last year http://restauranttradearearesearch.com/2009/04/19/does-new-restaurant-research-point-to-real-surge-in-confidence-and-more-restaurant-spending-or-not/) — the new normal continues to seep into everyones consciousness. Highlights of this link include:According to NPD’s CREST®, which continually tracks consumer usage of commercial and non-commercial foodservice outlets, traffic was weakest at full service restaurants, visits to casual dining restaurants were down -2 percent and midscale restaurant traffic was down -3 percent. Traffic to quick service restaurants (QSR) was stable in the second calendar quarter following five quarters of year-over-year declines. http://www.restaurantnews.com/visits-to-us-restaurants-decline-in-spring-for-the-eighth-consecutive-quarter-but-rate-of-decline-slows-over-year-ago-reports-npd/

Sonic sales decline over 6% - http://www.restaurantnews.com/sonic-announces-preliminary-sales-results-for-fiscal-2010-and-outlook-for-coming-year/

It’s Friday night, you decide to take `the fam’ of 4 (two growing teens) to dinner at a place that will have good food and good times (where you can have a beer). In the `olden days’ that might mean a visit to Chili’s or Friday’s - but - with the rise of the `fast casual’ segment of the restaurant business - it might mean taking `the fam’ to one of those new `upscale’ burger places; such as a place called Canyon’s in Woodstock, Georgia; but, most likely, such a place now exists within your community too with one of a thousand names.

These `fast casuals’ often have beer, wine, big screen TV’s and a fun atmosphere - AND - serve your food to your table when ready - with the `house waitresses’ (whoever grabs your food immediately when it become available from the kitchen - as opposed to IT sitting under a lamp while YOUR waitress is busy with others). And, when the good, hot, quality food is served by a friendly wait person -  it mentally hits the `restaurant decision maker’ - who has already paid for the food at the counter when ordering the made to order food - “I can save a LOT of money here (compared to a `casual’ style restaurant) — BECAUSE I don’t even tip anyone.”

And, in this economy of the new normal, where any purchase demands Quality of product AND at a VALUE price- can the days of 5-10 dollar tips be with us much longer for a `fam’ meal? Or, is it more likely that some casual restaurant will begin to treat `wait staff’ like other businesses models that do NOT depend on `customers supporting’ the employees paylevels - AND ATTITUDES? (Wait staffs can easily have `attitude’ problems when being overworked, undertipped, or having fewer customers and income than in the past - which makes one feel more obligated to tip 20% than before.)

Let’s compare a now typical choice in the restaurant marketplace.

                                  Casual Dining                      Fast Casual

Four meals                    36.00                                    28.00

Soft Drink/2 Beers      10.00                                      9.00

Tip                                       7.00                                      0.00

Total                                  53.00                                  37.00 

Is tipping beginning to be perceived as `needless markup’ and as `hidden costs’? Would customers be happy to know that a wait person is a salaried employee? Will customers really miss the 3 `checkbacks’ on how the meal is/was - or the dessert selling? Would wait person `turnover’ be reduced? Would wait person attitude be improved knowing livelihood was not dependent on upselling and frugal customers?

Would meals really cost that much more if tipping was eliminated? Shouldn’t business models exist that are not tip dependent in table service restaurants? If the new normal continues - I think we will find out - after all - wouldn’t `we pay our employees well, so you don’t have to’ - make sense?

(Customers could still have a voluntary 1.00 `check off `superior service recognition’ box on a bill too.)

Restaurant Food Service Equipment
Design and Equipment for Restaurants and Foodservice: A Management View

BK goes directly after the only daypart still expanding in visits - Breakfast; with upscale type items, a 4.29 full breakfast platter, AND 1.00 value items too. Did I mention pancakes?

Ads begin 9-13 and info will be positioned broadly for the next 11 weeks. http://www.restaurantnews.com/burger-king-rolls-out-new-breakfast-menu/ more details at the link.

Here’s the story of a chain that has largely gotten the whole `new normal’ right - Taco Bell - Taco Bell CMO David Ovens Sees Hot Opportunities - http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3ic193b6eacf48409b5f5a56dbec655408 good coverage of his marketing strategies in this interview.

New To This Blog? http://restauranttradearearesearch.com/important-posts-of-2009/

http://restauranttradearearesearch.com/important-posts-in-2008/

Want to read an innovative story? One with real growth potential IMO - http://www.restaurantnews.com/at-detroit-burger-joint-everyone-gets-their-share-2/

Happy Labor Day.

Today, I’m going to clean out some links that have been building up - most are from a bit back in time (earlier this year):

How to Market Your Restaurant in a Bad Economy - http://restaurant-owner.com/restaurant-marketing/how-to-market-your-restaurant-in-a-bad-economy/ - great advice almost to a T. Quick read. Bookmarkable.

UMMM Grill Lines - http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/features/140/graphics/grilled.jpg

Fire Up the Grill - http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/features/140/grilled-1.phtml - Covers those grill lines that are so popular.

10 most popular franchises - http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/smallbusiness/1004/gallery.Franchise_failure_rates/index.html - Subway #1.

Fast Casuals - A Tip from Fine Dining - http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/columnists/george_green/141/finedining-1.phtml excellent coverage of why fast casuals will grow in the new normal.

Here’ some of the important posts in 2009 around here. http://restauranttradearearesearch.com/important-posts-of-2009/

Please check out the sidebar for more info and products.

Could this move make the mallpad strip even more competitive - especially for the `leaving Walmart’ drive thru traffic? - http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201007160959dowjonesdjonline000442&title=mcdonalds-plans-upgrades-to-wal-mart-based-restaurants

Starbucks Will Win the Wi-Fi War - http://www.pcworld.com/article/203304/starbucks_will_win_the_wifi_war.html

Or, will they?

With banks lending most of the money - the #2 Burger chain is sold -blaming focus on the 18-35 year old male as one positioning problem with the brand - http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/09/02/129604272/burger-king-sold-for-3-26-billion-to-private-investors - here’s to hoping the BK `King’ Character is safe.

Hardee’s develops for the only increasing segment of visitors - breakfast - and focuses on having the product `mobile’ for users - Hardee’s Makes a Breakfast Classic Portable with New Country Fried Steak ‘N’ Gravy Biscuit - http://www.restaurantnewsrelease.com/hardees-makes-a-breakfast-classic-portable-with-new-country-fried-steak-n-gravy-biscuit/853611/ - still, is GRAVY on a biscuit - really `mobile’?

Meanwhile - instead of pursuing the `Gravy’ crowd at breakfast - Ruby Tuesday’s is going Healthier and Lower Calorie at Lunch - Ruby Tuesday Highlights More Healthy Options on New Menu - http://www.restaurantnews.com/ruby-tuesday-highlights-more-healthy-options-on-new-menu/ - the salad bar allows RT’s to have more of a positioning in this area compared to a Chili’s, etc.

More about my services here - www.squidoo.com/tradeareasurveys - have a safe Labor Day Weekend.

When I do some of my on the street - top of mind interviewing - I often ask my respondents about recall for Restaurant Advertising - here’s an example interview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTRO81RR7DA. Anyway, as I got to thinking of it just now - I thought I’d `do myself’ so to speak.

And the ad I like the most - is - Hardee’s; specifically the two `valley’ girl secretaries who are eating the `fresh’ breaded Chicken Strips and ignoring the `annoying’ phone calls they should be answering. To me, it’s hilarious and gets the message across about Freshness and upscaled.

The Wendy’s `talking couple’ ads about the new Fresh Salads (different types being featured) also comes across as promoting the Freshness and upscaled - with a bit of humor too. (The distracting relationship of the male and female Wendy’s worker.)

The Domino’s Pizza chief with his `not fluffed up’ pizza photography ads are next for me. Connects that his (Domino’s) pizza is Real Food and to not wanting to `fool the customer’ (implying the others do). The invite for consumers to send in their own pictures also connects at the personal level.

Captain D’s slogan recently - `Cookin in the Kitchen’ - caught my attention for its snappiness and food shots.

Chili’s - 5.99 Hamburgers caught my attention for low price point for sit-down casual (tipping locations) and product shot.

Steak and Shake coupons for Butter Pecan milkshakes increased my desire to go.

KFC - I’ve caught myself singing - G Double O D Goooooood - reluctantly a time or two. Catchy.

Quizno’s - 3, 4, and 5 dollar combos. Like this idea of a sliding combo price.

The laid back Zaxby’s tune - so easy to whistle.

More Top of mind Restaurant Videos Here - http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhum