What makes a restaurant concept a brand? 

First and foremost, it’s the customers. A restaurant brand’s value is resident in the customer’s mind, never in the Board Room. What a company does to create consumer brand value is, of course, highly important in forging this image.  Service, quality, experience, all help to create a connection to each individual customer so that they find themselves being uniquely attracted to the brand. 

Many people will recall studying “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” in a Psychology class. Maslow suggests the higher up the pyramid of needs—beginning with the base physiological and safety...Read More

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On the eve of the upcoming release of the new movie, Julie and Julia, I thought I might post a different kind of blog, and tell a story about my encounters with the legendary Julia Child.

During the late spring of 1978 I was a waiter in the new Thompson's Chowder House restaurant in Boston's Quincy Market. This restaurant was part of the Landmark Inn complex (Thompson's in the basement, Flower Market Cafe on the ground floor, Wild Goose game restaurant and The Bunch of Grapes--Boston's first wine bar--on the second floor) all designed and owned by Ben and Jane Thompson. Ben was the architect/genius creator of the entire Fane...Read More

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Remember the idea that all restaurant marketing should be local marketing? And all local marketing should reinforce your two main consumer goals—frequency and loyalty? 

Well, if you are not living in a time warp or in total denial, you have noticed that today, every second article in the national and trade press is about Twitter, the currently “on fire” social media system. Restaurant companies (along with everyone else) are trying desperately to find a way to get in on the craze (want proof? read this).

So, how are these two things—local marketing and Twitter—conne...Read More

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By now you will have heard about Domino’s, the “disgusting employee” viral video and the way that Twitter played a crucial part in the rapid spread of the message. If not visit R & I’s story at http://www.chainleader.com/article/CA6652042.html?nid=3458&rid=13554328.

One initial reaction you might have would be to ask “what were they (the employees) thinking?”  After that, you might start to ask “how did Domino’s handle this?” Then, the hard question, “what would I do in this same situation?”

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A group of announcements from around the business world has caused me to think about how fast our restaurant environment is changing, and how slow our industry is to respond. There are great opportunities popping up in new places, we just need to discover them.  I will list some of the ideas I've found in this blog, and then over the next few postings, I will try to offer meaning for them separately, and as seen together. And for the record, I don’t own an iPhone or hold any stock in Apple (just in case you read to the end and think I’m being a shill).

Supermarkets are becoming smarter, restaurants are not. For more than 50 years, restaurant companies had been literally feasting on retail grocery chai...Read More

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Last March I took some shots at Starbucks. Looking back, it was clear they deserved them. Now again, this week Starbucks is back in the news with the introduction of another new product, Via, an “instant, soluble” coffee product, to be sold in 3-pack or 12-pack portions. One of the world’s leading professors of marketing, Harvard University’s Dr. John Quelch, has written that this is a positive move on Starbucks part. He wrote on the Harvard blog http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/quelch/2009/02/how_starbucks_via_helps_consum.html the following com...Read More

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In the developed nations around the world a new generation, now almost universally called “The Millennials,” is positioned to take over as the driver of demand for restaurants. The timing of this shift in cultural dominance from one generation to another, at a time of real global economic disruption, creates a unique opportunity for change to those ready to embrace it. 

This thought was the message in a keynote speech I gave to the Foodservice Consultants Society International meeting here in Orlando this week.   Entitled “Re-Invent, Re-Think, Re-Tool” I suggested to the group that Demographics and Technology are aligning together to offer a breakthrough in the way that re...Read More

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Here is something to consider, let’s call it the paradox of a bad economy. 

You will not only have to play “Defense” during 2009, you will have to play “Offense” as well.

While some, including me, have predicted that 10% or more of the existing foodservice units will close their doors in 2009 (roughly 100,000 outlets) something else will be happening. Another 100,000 will open.  

How can this be true? How can new restaurants open in such bad times? Especially when credit is so tight, costs are up, revenues and customer counts are down, and unemployment i...Read More

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In tough times like we are seeing today, it is more important than ever to consider branding as a source of competitive advantage. Branding is basically a combination of consumer psychology and applied micro-economics. All businesses need to connect with the psyche of our core customers so that they feel compelled to purchase our offered products and services. A great brand is like an old friend.

So, I offer a short reminder of what a brand is and how you can build on it.

Think about how you are reading this right now. As you sit there, you know that your thoughts are not confined to just the space inside your head, meaning that small 5 inches between your ears. No, we all have an extended area outside of our heads which we occ...Read More

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Restaurants matter. To the macro-economy, to a local neighborhood economy, and to the micro-economy of just one customer making one purchase—restaurants matter across all levels of social enterprise. Millions of people are actively involved in making sure that the single purchase at “the last three feet” of customer/restaurant interface is made. 

Consider just this simple example: Blueberries grown in Chile are planted, harvested, packaged, ground-transported, air-freighted, inspected, warehoused, purchased, distributed, received, prepared, and will be served to a single customer in a small café in Chicago, or Amsterdam, or Singapore tomorrow ...Read More

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As if times weren’t bleak enough, last week USAToday ran an article on the problems facing the Casual Theme Restaurant segment. It was a description of the attempts industry leaders are making to overcome the tough economy while offering consumer views of the success (or failure) of these attempts. To view the story click on this link. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-10-13-casual-dining-restaurants_N.htm  

When the reporter, Bruce Horvitz, called me for a comment on this story, I put together a short th...Read More

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No matter what you think of the national discussion on the credit crisis, it is time to react to the realities of the market so that your business will survive through 2009. 

In my blog on Monday I described the highly likely negative outcomes of this debate on your business (your many comments certainly were pointed). You only need to read any of the world-wide financial press to know that my predictions are within the mainstream economic views—from the Wall Street Journal to the National Restaurant Association, from Warren Buffet to Jim Cramer. Ignoring negative news does not make it go away.

So today, I offer positive sugges...Read More

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