RTAR is sad to report the demise of `the train station’ restaurant in downtown Woodstock Georgia - the Right Wing Tavern. Regular readers will remember that I featured the RWT when my family used a Groupon there in February of this year  The Groupon `Restaurant’ Experience - Why Pay More? - when I wrote one of the first `negative’ reviews of using the marketing idea of Groupon for restaurants (and coupons in general). Here’s a link of the closing in the local online coverage - http://woodstock.patch.com/articles/oh-no-right-wing-tavern-is-closed - which `blames’ the democrats and liberals now that Obama is in power (a bit tongue in cheek) - while at the facebook page the owner sites the 2008 Great Recession downturn for the restaurants eventual closing.

However, it may go beyond both those reasons - even if both had a part in the closing. Reason being, Downtown Woodstock is THRIVING at the moment, and, over the last 2 years in particular, - with multiple eating places opening in direct competition to RWT - including Canyon’s Burgers (fast casual with beer, wine) , Pure (more funky, tex-mex, drinks, outside atmosphere), and J.Christophers (breakfast, lunch) . Indeed, a dessert place and a `coffee bar’ have also opened and are attracting dollars.

Now, I would hardly blame the Groupon for the RWT closing - but, remember my words after my Groupon experience (and remember, my family was an irregular user within the trade area):

“The effect of Groupon’s ultimately on the sit-down, alcohol available, how about an appetizer or dessert places - such as Right Wing Cafe (yes with a political theme) could be even worse IMO. There, in a location we only use perhaps once a year, - I am SURE that I wouldn’t return without getting the same 15.00 savings (bill was 38 - minus 15 for 23 bucks) (not including tip).

It’s just my opinion, but, it seems unlikely that folks that have stopped goingto hostess seated, appetizer-dessert-alcohol pushed by waitpersons restaurants - but who are indeed enticed by 15.00 savings - will be returning at FULL price. Right?”

So, the fallout of 2008’s new normal is STILL working its way thru the competitive restaurant marketplace - and some foods, and political climates and pricing and marketing - can `do in’ even icons in perfect trade areas.

The upscaling of the non-tipping restaurant segment continues - http://www.restaurantnews.com/boston-market-completes-nationwide-upgrades-in-400-restaurants/ - highlights include:

Addition of Dining Room Ambassadors – Guests will notice a higher level of service designed to make the dining experience more pleasurable in this fast-casual concept

MUCH more at the link of the upgrades:

——————————————————–

Oldie but goodie link - Zagat Fast Food Survey Rates 136 Major Dining Chains From Breakfast to Burgers, Dessert to Drive-Thrus - http://www.restaurantnews.com/zagat-fast-food-survey-rates-136-major-dining-chains-from-breakfast-to-burgers-dessert-to-drive-thrus/

—————————————–

Meanwhile… How Lunchtime Is Turning Into Snack Time  - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703720004575477652910948336.html?mod=googlenews_wsj – smaller portion options to fit snack movement. And, White Castle Inducts Its Most Dedicated Fans Into Cravers Hall of Fame - http://www.restaurantnews.com/white-castle-inducts-its-most-dedicated-fans-into-cravers-hall-of-fame/ - in some cases the super user is priceless. Brand loyalty. And, in UPSCALE locations - perhaps this benefit is worthwhile in today’s new normal of competition - Restaurants Now Realizing That the iPad Makes Life Easier - http://www.switched.com/2011/01/04/restaurants-ipad-makes-life-easier/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-w%7Cdl8%7Csec3_lnk2%7C193449

————————————–

Some year to year sales numbers - Chick-Fil-A, 2010 up nearly 6% same store - http://www.restaurantnews.com/chick-fil-a-continues-sales-growth-momentum-in-2010/ - Jack-In-The-Box, up 1.1% first quarter compared to year ago - http://www.restaurantnews.com/jack-in-the-box-inc-reports-first-quarter-fy-2011-earnings-updates-guidance-for-fy-2011/

——————————-

Thanks for visiting. Dig deeper for much more.

It’s worth thinking back about 2010 — what fast food ads do you remember? (I wrote this in late Jan.)

For me, Pizza came to mind first; from the 10 Dollar  price point positioning of Pizza Hut (which offered value and an immediate clarification on pricing, always a nebulous weak point for the Pizza category) to the Domino’s ads about `sending in a picture of your pizza’ and real pizza in ads from now on with no special effects (a reaching out to be more real to people - in essence just what that Undercover Boss series does).

Yes, that funny ad with those Valley Girl type secretaries eating Hardee’s Fresh Chicken Fingers comes to mind still too; and, Wendy’s Sea Salt Fries, but that was recent. Okay, I still have a memory or two of McDonald’s different `Wraps’ type offerings, Arby’s 1.00 Menu - and Subway now offering Breakfast (all three of which induced not one actionby myself until recently trying Arby’s Buck Items). Nearly all the rest is a wash. Money swept under the bridge of TV Fast Food Advertising.

Zaxby’s is simply that easy to whistle same music theme over and over and the folksy endorsement by small celebrities - IHOP is endlessly pushing slightly expensive breakfasts IMO - all the Casual Restaurants such as Friday’s are endlessly pushing the under 10.00 price point (and ignoring that I will be paying a tip beyond any price point that EXcludes a drink to begin with) (not real) - and, where has the Burger KING went anyway? Price is also what I remember about Capt. D’s ads - and Steak and Shake - while price AND size is what I remember about Taco Bell. (As I go mentally thru my local Woodstock Ga. Fast Food Market.)

My guess is that some marketing departments are patting themselves on the back - they have gotten the point thru to a weary America that `eating out’ can fit into a reduced `frills’ budget diet the new normal has put America onto.

But, PRICE may be less compelling - especially emotionally to a consumer - than the reward of trying a new product offering that sounds especially good; one that you may be excited to tell a friend about. And, less compelling than trying to directly talk to consumers like the Pizza category did in 2010. IMO.

So, what would I do if it were MY ad dollar?

I’d want to stand out.

For example, to `reach the consumer’ would 4 thirty second ads bunched with a block of perhaps 4 minutes of similar ads each time - sound like a way to stand out — OR — WOULD A TWO MINUTE `SHOWCASE’ AD? —————– Heck, even 24 - Five second logos might have more impact than the standard forgettable 30 second ad a week into a new ad flight.

IMO, with `Showcase’ Ads - Brands can address all the marketing categories with 3 or 4 variations (a strategy not often used) - first and foremost, the `frequency-rejecter’ - that is the core population base that is aware of your brand, has used it in the past - but now, it has been so long, as to be a `trier-rejector’ (at least to YOU the owner of the brand) of the brand - having replaced it with other choices.

IMO, many of these people can be lured back - and many fall into the influenced by advertising campaigns motif - that ad agencies have long relied upon for improvement of sales during sales campaigns. IMO, they could be targeted MUCH more via a Showcase ad.

After all, REGULAR users are JUST that - and are UNLIKELY to be significantly changing their Frequency of Usage over any term; other than to bump up the next visit interval by a few days, perhaps. Much more effective ways exist to market to your existing customer base than TV mass advertising.

Of course, the ultimate boom would exist on MAKING A NEW USER ENTIRELY - the total rejecter; never user (for all practical purposes) - certainly a Showcase Ad for these extremely low awareness of what your brand IS market - can become better informed and tempted about what YOU have to offer via your brand.

These LOW-KEY, almost, aw-shucks ads - like an infomercial - are the emotional connection to change behaviour ——— not the mind numbing, what did I just see, 30 second blasts of normalcy.

————————————-

See just how different regular fast food users are compared to rejecters at my YouTube channel or by following these links:

Frequent user of Fast Food - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTRO81RR7DA 

Hates Fast Food - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8G9OAFlquI

http://oncetherewerelions.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/green-arches.jpg

Just when you thought some things were sacred - http://www.restaurantnews.com/the-golden-arches-go-green/ just four so far in the country - expect this as a trend.

Bring back the favorites is a time-tested marketing idea - White Castle’s Popular Original Slider-Scented Candles - http://www.restaurantnews.com/white-castles-popular-original-slider-scented-candles-returns-for-the-holiday-season/

Here’s another targeted seasonal marketing effort by Popeye’s - Popeyes Cajun Style Turkeys are Back! - http://www.restaurantnews.com/popeyes-cajun-style-turkeys-are-back/

Here’s a catchy way to sell a limited time offering - Whataburger Introduces New Whataburger 5-3-1 - http://www.restaurantnews.com/whataburger-introduces-new-whataburger-5-3-1/ - with five pickles, 3 onion rings and one great sauce. Available for about 5 weeks and starting and ending at 3PM. Cute.

Meanwhile, a natural competitor in the growing morning daypart should be Dunkin Donuts, - and perhaps this will be just the addition they need - Pancake Breakfast on the Go: Dunkin’ Donuts Adds to Its Menu With New Pancake Bites - http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pancake-breakfast-on-the-go-dunkin-donuts-adds-to-its-menu-with-new-pancake-bites-106606363.html

Some 3rd Quarter sales numbers tomorrow.

The whole concept was startling at first - but now - is beginning to rub off on the community. Great PR, cool business plan - find out details about how it is going at the link - http://www.stltoday.com/business/article_f77cccaf-f498-5bb7-9b72-eb641095a175.html - The only part of this story that I would’ve like to know more about was - did ANY of the truly down and out make it a regular thing to work to get the free meal coupon.

Meanwhile, Restaurants cook up marketing to counter downturn - http://www.ajc.com/business/restaurants-cook-up-marketing-691103.html - marketing like flipping a coin to see if you pay for a meal - free margaritas, etc. Link has lots of good data related to the national and Atlanta markets.

Here’s a fun story on the McRib Cult - Meet the tireless hunters of the McDonald’s McRib - http://chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/10/meet-the-mcrib-hunters.html would you drive 10 hours for a McRib?

Top Of Mind Restaurant Research? Right here - http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhum

Often when owners do the MarketView at their fast food restaurants they find in the crosstabs interesting information of which they simply were not aware. For example, a store may find that ONLY `Drive-Thru’ customers before 5 PM had a low frequency of usage (compared to all after 5 customers at the drive-thru OR any segment of in-store users) - and specifically target JUST that `tight targeting’ to get the most bang for the buck.

OR, the data may show that one age group - say those over 55 - indexed lower on frequency of usage than all other segments - resulting in an easy `visual’ `tight targeting’ effort with those customers.

OR, the data may show a particular zipcode that simply isn’t performing for the store (on-site it requires asking) which would allow for a `tight targeting’ marketing effort. In the new normal - tight targeting may be all one can afford.

More about the MarketView here - www.squidoo.com/tradeareasurveys

Part of the data the MarketView I offer asks the customer for their zipcode - pretty basic. Yet, the outcome of the data - can paint a very revealing picture of a stores customer base. Indeed, let me paint that picture with REAL data from a MarketView project.

For example, in a recent MarketView with over 10 units - the range of customers who came from the stores main two zipcodes - varied from 23% to 58%. And, as I have mentioned many times already in this blog - stores with similar sales figures often have totally different individual marketing needs. Indeed, since the above figures are real - lets say in a fairly large market that you buy a full zipcode distribution for your Fast Food Brands restaurant coupons into the homes of your market.

Not too hard to figure out which ones will do the best - does it?

What if you decided to save some cash and only target the stores that have their data show that over 50% of the stores customer base comes from the top two zipcodes? Pretty smart - don’t you think? And, is a real targeting of your marketing dollars.

Here’s some other FF restaurant links of interest:

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/082309/bus_485065787.shtml After the boost from an Obama visit - 5 Guys hamburgers is up to 450 stores.

Church’s Chicken benefits from goodwill from $20,000 giveaway - http://www.qsrweb.com/article.php?id=15523&prc=66&page=58 Being local, giving a sense of helping in this down economic time - important.

JPMorgan downgrades Burger King on sales - http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/08/03/ap6733181.html This is based solely on the continued unemployment seen in 2010 - which will affect all FF restaurants.

As far as the Woodstock Georgia fast food market is concerned  - restaurants continue to be under competitive pressures with strong discounting and `new and interesting’ promotions to offset the continued shrinking of customer bases. Indeed, just recently, ABC - the Atlanta Bread Company in Woodstock had a Sunday evening `Murder theater’ (with actors of course) near closing time for which tickets at 10.00 per head were sold. These `patrons’ would have an additional chance to purchase food and dessert from the unit too - for enjoyment when watching the play.

And, the discounting continues at all levels from Waffle Houses 4.99 meals, to 4.00 KFC meals, to 99 cent Dunkin Donut specials, to the buck level at Checkers, Wendy’s and — whatever special Arby’s has going at a various promotion period. In the nearby Sandy Plains/Shallowford area the Boston Market was doing bounce back coupons for buy one meal - get one meal —— that’s up to a 6.99 value — (and one our family took advantage of) and up to 50% off. And, within the past month, Arby’s was giving the `RoastBurger’ away with the purchase of a drink (& Quizno’s also gave away it’s small sandwich.)

Couple all this with promotions from the last posting - many of which are still going on in one form or another (including daypart pricing) - and you have a very sensitive price market the likes of which haven’t been seen in a long long time, if ever. Increasingly, `eating out’ is positioned by the media as the one way that Americans are cutting back and saving money. And, again increasingly, the eating out `habit’ is being broken at some level.

Indeed, the extreme multi times a week users (4+ times a week)  - while usually not  a huge element in most fast foods - is largely gone - as these hardest regulars have become part of the once a week users - generally. And, while most of the two times a week or once a week users have hung on in most circumstances - especially in white collar, lunch oriented restaurants - those users are probably most reduced in the evening timeframes.

Probably most affected frequency wise in customer bases are the occasional once a month type users - who have often fallen into the `never use anymore’ or seldom use category - as consumers tighten up into their most favorite choices. NEW customers, once a mainstay at 3-8% of all fast food customers is again - almost nil. (Why waste precious money on places without a proven track record?)

So, with all this - with restaurants of all kinds closing (which does help others who survive in degrees) - with frequency rates dropping - with price pressures at every turn - the question must be asked if this is the bottom to be endured - or - a new normal? (No one wants to think it could be worse - and indeed - as competition closes - the `replacement effect’ of the `new meal occasions’ to be filled in the local market - will modify - to a degree - further downturns.)

Indeed, if the downturn continues for much longer - say - another year (an overly negative view compared to consensus) - we could see some companies go to a more innovative way of pricing their food products. Perhaps combos will once again reflect a real `savings’ as opposed to an easy way to order in a few words. Perhaps we will see the drive thru priced in a different manner - compared to inside customers. Perhaps drinks will become cheaper at the drive-thru (as no re-fills occur).

Indeed, perhaps we will see `customer loyalty’ cards be set at effective levels - buy two combos get one free - for example —- as opposed to cards that required too many uses to motivate a customer base. Or, even `in-store’ contests to motivate the bigger instore spender - or - targeting the very largest purchasers (only) with a `discount’ on that next purchase (setting the level at transactions in the highest 5% total) - showing recognition of these remaining `special’ customers.

Because, as Dylan said, the times,  they are a changin - and, previous practices and marketing approaches - especially if they all sound the same - may have little useful effect. It may take new approaches and new ideas of consumerism to survive to the other side of the downturn - and - it’s not too early to begin to consider such ideas.

Nearly all of the clients I have are owners of franchised restaurants - and = one thing they nearly always have in common is that they have limited `marketing dollars’ above and beyond the % they already pay to corporate to market the brand-name. That said, they do have SOME dollars and the decisions as to whether to sponsor a youth team, local charity golf tournament, do limited in-store marketing via bouncebacks, or buy billboards - are important image and marketing decisions.

When choosing to spend those limited dollars, it’s probably best to `do both’ - local image building and REAL marketing such as billboards. One of the `advantages’ that comes from using my services - doing what I call the MarketView — is that the owner knows the CUSTOMER BASE SIZE and type of user - of every individual unit in a market. And, based on that information - the owner knows which units are best and worst in converting their total customer base into `heavy’ users (some chains define this as the once a week customer, others, the once a month customer). Accordingly, the owner then has some direction from the research on how to spend those precious and limited local marketing dollars.

Much more on Customer Base Estimates in future posts - or - find out more at my squidoo website www.squidoo.com/tradeareasurveys.

TODAY’S RESTAURANT LINKS

Are Fast Food Building Restrictions Constitutional?

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71377  Michael Ackley does a satire piece about how `gray’ the law becomes when thinking of `fast food restaurants’. A quick two minute read you don’t want to miss.

The Rise of the Breakfast Segment

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGpPSjXCwpcs-JKUmPG3Gy5sht8QD92BG2380  Excellent article on how chains are increasingly looking at breakfast items as the way to more sales. Denny’s new containers and IHOP’s increase in take out over the past year is examined; as well as the reasons the FF chains have been successful in stealing the business from the sit-down breakfast eateries. Notes that some chains are thinking of offering breakfast items all day long. Finally gets into new offerings from FF restaurants including Carl’s Jr new product: “that features two eggs, bacon, sausage and cheese between grilled sourdough bread.”

Forget The Free Food and Drink Refills

http://www.startribune.com/business/26188614.html?location_refer=Most%20Emailed:Homepage:12 This story covers the many ways that restaurant owners are mitigating the increase in prices for foods and the increasing reluctance of patrons to eat out often. Here’s a quote from the 3 minute article:

The real problem, they argue, is that many large chains overbuilt at a time when Americans were starting to pull back on restaurant spending….Now, unable to raise prices to match rising wholesale food costs, so-called “menu makeovers” have become increasingly common

America’s WORST Restaurants For Kids Revealed

http://www.emediaworld.com/press_release/release_detail.php?id=120323  WOW - amazing article that GRADES each chain for offerings and other attributes related to healthy eating.  Getting A’s were Chick-Fil-A, Subway and Wendy’s - Getting F’s were Applebees, IHOP, Olive Garden, Outback, Red Lobster and T.G. I. Friday’s. A 3 minute, must read article.