Great article on the historical and model role of what's become known as "the host."
Click below for the full article.
RESTAURANT PERSPECTIVES - from nationally recognized adviser to management Tom Kelley and Concept Branding Group
A restaurant blog and retail blog sharing thoughts on increasing brand identity, guest counts, marketing, building alliances and guest satisfaction for retail food, restaurant, supplier and hospitality establishments. A service from nationally recognized adviser to new and existing management Tom Kelley and Concept Branding Group.
Travel
September 06, 2011
The role of the modern maitre d' -- from CNN Eatocracy
June 20, 2011
Restaurant and Hospitality Consulting-- a holistic and restorative approach to improve the bottom line
Restaurant and Hospitality Consulting
-- a holistic and restorative approach to improve the bottom line
The word “restaurant” comes from the Latin word for “restore”, and indeed a restaurant provides a restorative experience, a chance to enjoy good food and wine and company, to relax and forget about the outside world, to refresh, indulge, and rejuvenate whether the restaurant is a small counter service deli or a fine dining place with a 12 course tasting menu.
From the moment a guest calls a restaurant to reserve a table, they should feel welcome and important and that feeling should continue until they pay the bill and leave with a smile on their face. They might not even know why it all works together so well, how they got this feeling of satisfaction. The décor, the service, the menu, the music, the food will all fit together in an invisible, holistic harmony. If done right, guests will come back again and again and tell others about their great experience.
Sadly, these kinds of harmonious restaurant experiences are few and far between. There’s always a “disconnect”. The hostess is rude on the phone. The décor doesn’t fit the cuisine, it’s out of date. The atmosphere has no identity. The music is wrong and too loud. Service is indifferent, inattentive, and staff doesn’t know the menu. Guests are ignored for too long or treated like a nuisance. Entrees come out before appetizers are finished. The menus are unkempt. Food is out of date, not keeping up with the times or poorly prepared. It just doesn’t look nice. It’s not cooked right. No one can recommend a wine to go with the meal. They don’t know how to pour the wine properly. It could be one thing or many, but it just takes one thing in the experience that falls through the cracks to make a guest never come back, and tell others never to go either.
Most restaurateurs think that none of this could ever happen in their place. But it does. It happens everyday and all the time. It may be that you just need a second pair of eyes, but the restaurant consultants at Concept Branding Group will look at what’s going on in your restaurant, identify the problems and the strengths and work with you to fix the problems and build on the positives. We’ll show you how to train your staff to be able to give consistent, knowledgeable, efficient and welcoming service. Your bartenders will draw guests to the bar. Glasses will always be filled, plates cleared in time, and guests happy and restored. Solo diners, families, couples and large parties will all feel accommodated. We’ll even suggest cost effective little touches that will leave guests very pleasantly surprised.
We’ll also take a look at your menu. It should fit into your concept and not be “all over the map.” If you don’t have an identifiable concept, we’ll help you develop one. Our trained experts will sample the menu thoroughly to suggest improvements. We’ll discuss the cuisine with kitchen staff with a view to honoring the guest and keeping things fresh and creative, if that’s the goal. If the goal is comfort food, we’ll offer suggestions as to how to make it the best of its kind.
From the moment guests enter your restaurant they will be lead through a great harmonious restaurant experience, one that will restore the mind and body. They’ll walk out smiling and look forward to their next visit, a visit that will be just as good, if not better than the first.
Contact us for a review of your operation: info@conceptbrandinggroup.com
©Concept Branding Group
May 24, 2011
Boost restaurant, retail and hospitality sales...done your annual review?
Facing increased competition?
Facing slowing sales?
Prepared for growth?
Prepared for a crisis?
Trying to do it all?
Advertising eating all your marketing dollars?
Act now before it’s too late. The restaurant industry lets you live your dreams but it also has one of the highest failure rates of any small business!
ACT NOW WITH A PROACTIVE REVIEW AND PLAN!
Restaurant Tune Up and Turn Around Consulting
Concept Branding Group has over 175 collective years experience building brands and sharpening operations for restaurant, lodging, and hospitality operators. We have over 70 years of direct, “on the floor” experience. With time-tested operational strategies, our restaurant consultants are able to deliver operational advice to management seeking to improve the overall hospitality experience for their guests--and to improve their bottom lines. We take appropriate analytical approaches to individual situations.
Tune Up (once a year review with recommendations to improve sales)
Most restaurateurs operate so close to their restaurants, their view of the dining experience often differs greatly from those of their guests. Restaurant Tune Up provides ownership and management with a fresh set of experienced eyes. Even seemingly smooth running restaurants will benefit from these services with efficiencies and increased profitability.
Menu development: Includes systematic menu analysis and tune-up with a view to consistency, presentation, value, profitability, appropriateness to theme/goals, and back of the house development. New product development. Setting of "signature" menu as points of distinction unique to that operation.
Operations Tune-up: Includes analysis, staff input, solutions, system development, and training. Improves front of house structure, functionality, experience, consistency, staff relations, flow of service, efficiency. Review of essential detail items needing to be consistently delivered to guests.
Guest experience: Includes evaluation of physical space as it relates to the overall theme/goals. Suggestions for creating an atmosphere that fits the overall goals, message and theme of the establishment and differentiating from competition.
Branding: Includes advice on marketing, concept development and brand refinement. Key message, standards, and mission statement development. Advice on marketing, logo development/use, and collateral marketing. Tradition reinforcement/review to keep pace with changing demographics. Non-advertising focused public relations outreach to reach geographic and demographic markets. Publicity for key personnel. Community outreach to showcase commitment to neighborhood.
Turn around (more detailed)
A popular and profitable restaurant can quickly turn into a cash drain with declining cover counts. In most instances, this usually has been going on for sometime before ownership is aware of the situation. Momentum is working against success. A turn around requires quick action with immediate, measurable improvements. Concept Branding Group has first hand experience with turn around strategies as well as bankruptcy recovery. With time and cash as the highest priorities, Concept Branding Group consultants will provide specific action steps to achieve stability and subsequent growth of the ongoing business. In addition to Restaurant Tune Up services, will also address these immediate, critical issues:
Cash flow priorities: Accounts payable and vendor relations. Product cost controls including ordering, receiving, preparation, presentation and collection. Staff retention, training and payroll costs. Budgeting of all variable expenses.
Improve brand: Increase a positive perception of the restaurant while resolving challenges. Strengthen brand by staff involvement and refocused training. Position brand for future growth as a vital contemporary competitor in the marketplace.
Drive sales: In house promotions, increase server sales, increased average checks, target a better demographic, develop loyal return customers, and develop new profit centers.
Action plan: Concept Branding Group will assist management in producing a actionable plan that includes methods to evaluate progress. Results will be maximized with minimum further cash outlay.
For an immediate quote, or even a minimum 3 hour mini-review, contact us directly at:
tomkelley@conceptbrandinggroup.com
760-688-0717
March 30, 2011
Tom Kelley comments on branding in Hotel News Resource
Tom Kelley comments on the need for authenticity in branding:
Article: Branding: Authenticity is the key to long term success
March 24, 2011
Burned by Daily-Deal Craze, Small Businesses Get Savvy - great article from Wall Street Journal
CHECK OUT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL STORY ON GROUPON
And our response:
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Ugh, here we go again.
Restaurants and retailers...STOP THE INSANITY! Coupons and % off deals breed a customer culture you don't want or need.
Use your marketing budget wisely and work with seasoned industry pros to accentuate what makes you unique in your market, promote your signature items, build business and community alliances to unleash a wave of local brand ambassadors for your operation.
Resources beyond discounting exist. Reach out and use your marketing dollars wisely!
March 14, 2011
How to Find Your Point of Difference and Promote It - from AmexOPEN
March 11, 2011, by Heather Allard
If you’re in business, then you know that standing out from the crowd is essential to your sales success. But in the sea of similar sellers out there, how exactly do you stand out? Easy. You find and market your point of difference.
What's a point of difference? It's how your product stands out from that of your competitors — in a very specific, positive way.
Pinpoint your Point of Difference
To figure this out, you need to know how your product is different in all sorts of ways, good and bad.
Some points that you could consider:
- Price
- Variety
- Features
- Benefits
- Availability
- Convenience
- Customer service
- Your story (how, why or where you do business)
A Dog Eat Dog World
Let’s say that you’re in the dog-biscuit business. You decide that your dog treats will feature all natural, exotic ingredients, the benefits of which include easing indigestion and helping with weight loss programs in pets.
The biscuits will be available at certain renowned pet stores and also online. They're shipped free of charge and even offered in gift-wrapped packaging.
Your website offers an automatic replenishment feature so customers never run out, and they can contact you personally to ask your advice on buying treats that are perfect for their pet's needs.
You also play up the story behind the creation of your business to add an extra point of differentiation from companies born just to make profits.
These are your points of difference. Identifying these — and what helps you stand out — can help you market and sell your products or services.
Here are two easy ways to figure out your points:
Method One: Be a Detective
1. Draw three columns on a piece of lined paper.
2. In the first column, list one of your top competitors.
3. In the second column, note how your products are similar (both use organic ingredients; both cost $25; both are healthy dog biscuits, etc).
4. In the third column, note how your products are different (theirs are made in China/mine is handmade; theirs costs $49/mine costs $29; theirs comes in two flavors/mine comes in 10, etc.).
Repeat these four steps for up to 10 competitors. When you're done, look for recurring points you've listed in the "differences" column.
Find any? Bingo. Those recurring points show some major differentiation that lets you easily stand out from the competition.
Method Two: Just Ask
It's that simple. Find someone you can ask what makes your product stand out. And by someone, I mean someone unrelated to you. Not your mother or your sister or your husband or your best friend.
Ask your customers. Ask them why they purchased from you. Ask them if they considered buying from the competition and if so, what made them choose your product instead. Ask them what they like about your product — and what they don't — and ask why they feel your product is the best choice for them.
Ask these questions to as many customers as you can — preferably 20 or more. Write the answers down, and scan through the list to spot recurring points of difference. To make this process even easier, you could send a quick survey to your last 50 customers using Survey Monkey — your answers will be organized and ready for point of difference analysis.
Once you've determined your point of difference...
Market, Baby, Market!
When you know your points of difference, you have a golden path to sales. You can market what makes you stand out and make sure potential and new customers know what makes you special.
How do you market your differentiation? Mention it everywhere:
- Your website’s landing page
- Your business cards
- Your company name (Think The Launch Coach and Toys-R-Us)
- Your wholesale brochure
- Your website bio
- Your product packaging
- Your shipping container
- Your logo
- Your email signature
- Your social media profiles and backgrounds
When you define your points of difference and market them well, getting your business noticed is easy. And you'll easily answer the crucial question potential customers always ask: "Why should I buy from YOU?"
March 11, 2011
Lots of good advice for restaurant operators: focus on the food! :-)
Click here for New York Times article
Tom Kelley comments in New York Times article on restaurant PR
February 18, 2011
Suppliers - planning for the National Restaurant Association Show for May 2011?
Some additional thoughts to consider. Think about doing some "out of the box" pre and post Show marketing!
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OUR APPROACH TO INDUSTRY RELATIONS
{excerpted from an article by Tom Kelley, Concept Branding Group, in Nation's Restaurant News}
Year after year many suppliers to specific industries spend thousands of dollars and even hundreds of thousands of dollars paying for traditional advertising, exhibiting their products and services as well as bringing their sales forces to trade shows for weeks at a time. Could they have done a better job? You bet!
While there are a good handful of longtime suppliers to the industry that do some of the things I am about to talk about, most exhibitors at trade shows don’t set up a strategic industry marketing platform before trying for the hard sell either at the booth or after the show. Suppliers need to become goodwill ambassadors for the industry before they seek to market their goods and services aggressively.
What specifically is the meaning of industry relations? Simply put, it means developing a plan of action that entrenches your company and you personally-- if it is done correctly. The plan identifies your company and you personally as a team player when you are actively supporting trade groups and institutions important to the success of the industry in general and specifically to build a positive name ID for your company.
Why do so many companies fail to get involved? Most figure that they need all their available dollars to advertise and market in traditional ways. Given the above definition of industry relations, if they had become an entrenched industry "player," a good part of those marketing dollars could have been saved, as many sales opportunities would have opened up via the good citizen name ID that would come with support for the industry.
The old saying of taking care of your own can be applied to the way most industries responds to good corporate citizens: They think more highly of them and tend to buy more from them.
What's an even better way of doing industry relations? Companies that have begun to figure out that an effective industry-relations campaign is needed to cement their corporate name into the minds of industry opinion leaders and trade groups should find some outside help in truly zeroing in on which events and which sponsorships they really needed to do. So many groups in the industry ask for support from the supplier community. It's obvious that companies cannot respond favorably to every single request.
Get some expert help. Do a private dinner. Get someone who’s already got great contacts and relationships to do some one-on-one introductions at industry dinners or conferences. Get an ambassador!
Enlist the assistance of someone who has worked in an industry trade group, on a trade publication or as an industry relations executive. Be careful to get objective advice.
With every marketing dollar becoming harder to find, be sure you have the necessary footing in this "community" before mounting just a traditional marketing campaign. The saying that "we are all in this together" is very applicable to this theory of doing the best job possible in industry relations. Operators look to those among their suppliers who have worked with them to protect, educate and promote their businesses. If you are visibly absent from strategic conferences, trade association events and industry public-relations campaigns, you will lose opportunities to build significant goodwill in the marketplace.
For a relatively small investment, compared with total advertising and exhibit costs, suppliers should look for ways to become active and supportive team players in the industry that is their bread and butter. The more successful your customers become, the better for you. As a decision maker, realize that you, and only you, need to see the larger picture of taking an active role in supporting your customer's collective interests -- alongside them in their meetings, events and trade group initiatives and projects.
Those companies that have done a good job at industry relations know who they are. More important, decision makers at large chain companies and leading independents know who those companies are, too. They are engaged actively in industry public-relations campaigns, show up at trade group Board meetings that they are appointed to, and realize the positive end result of being goodwill ambassadors to the industry to which they market. In simplest of terms, it makes supplier marketing executive jobs much easier; the doors open much wider when you are perceived as part of a team. It's hard to say no to someone who just kicked in a sizable investment into a new industry campaign and to someone who has given valuable time to industry efforts and initiatives!
Before next year's trade shows in your industry, do some planning and get active in industry affairs; you'll be pleasantly surprised at the long-term benefits your company will have.
©Concept Branding Group
February 10, 2011
Wow. Great dining insights from Gallup.
December 29, 2010
Restaurant revamps speed up as operators compete for customer interest - NRN.com
December 20, 2010 | By Steve Coomes
In the not-so-distant past, restaurateurs remodeled operations about every 10 to 15 years. But in today’s hyper-competitive business climate, updates happen not only in a fraction of that time, but they’re often perpetual.
Yet while rapidly changing consumer expectations are prompting restaurateurs across the industry to step up the pace of often costly revamps, many operators insist the sped-up cycles also have direct and proven rewards.
Restaurateurs, including such industry leaders as McDonald’s and Burger King, point to tangible sales increases resulting from the implementation of more dynamic renovation schedules.
Gary Occhiogrosso, chief development officer for Trufoods, a New York-based multi-concept developer of Wall Street Deli, Pudgie’s Famous Chicken and Ritter’s Frozen Custard, said that customers have come to expect more rapid change from their restaurant operators.
“There weren’t many restaurants when I was growing up, so we accepted whatever there was for what they were,” Occhiogrosso said. “But today it’s no longer a novelty to go to a QSR. It’s part of their lifestyle. They expect so much more than I and other baby boomers used to.”
John Miologos, executive vice president of architecture and engineering at WD Partners in Dublin, Ohio, said he’s seen some companies reimaging every three to five years to maximize existing investments with same-store sales lifts.
“In the past you grew top-line dollars by opening new locations,” Miologos said. “But today the best way to do that is by boosting comps in existing locations. Making positive, relevant changes gives your regular customers reasons to come back and spend more money.”
Kelly Hasty, spokeswoman for Liberty Restaurant Group, a 23-unit St. Louis-based Burger King franchisee, said its store remodels occur every three to five years and that short-term comps can soar as high as 25 percent.
“I know that sounds like an aggressive number, but we know that such sales are driven by our habitual customers who may come two to three times a week,” Hasty said. “They’re watching you put in new seating and adding TVs. So as soon as that’s completed, they’re back because they want to be part of the excitement.”
Dynamic is the goal
While Jerry Couvaris, chief executive of 80-unit Atlanta Bread Co., agreed that major remodeling happens more frequently today than in the past, he said minor updates to store decor and certain fixtures are ongoing.
That means Atlanta Bread Co. restaurants are Wi-Fi-enabled, have semi-private meeting space for larger groups and contain more lounge chairs for patrons who linger.
“I think the facility has to be continuously dynamic,” he said. “We’re really trying to be that third space outside of work or home where people gather.”
Industry giant McDonald’s also is busy making store upgrades. In October, chief executive Jim Skinner told Nation’s Restaurant News the chain remodeled about 15 percent of its 33,000 total stores between 2007 and 2009, and in 2010 it hoped to reimage another 2,000 systemwide. That number included about 400 U.S. stores that enjoyed 6 percent to 7 percent sales gains that the Oak Brook, Ill., chain attributed to the facelifts.
McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said store renewals are most commonly ongoing tweaks rather than radical overhauls, and include updates such as adding a second drive-thru lane or dining room enhancements.
“We have to determine what is relevant to people when they eat out now,” she said. “Sometimes that’s making the music more contemporary or offering free Wi-Fi.”
Hasty believes the near ubiquity and affordability of casual-dining restaurants has subtly trained fast-casual and quick-service customers to expect similar decor, atmosphere and amenities in those operations.
“It’s not just about using the drive-thru anymore; people are coming inside again,” she said. Even in a Burger King dining room, “people are enjoying flat-screens on the wall, padded seats, maybe even a Wii to play with.”
Consultant Tom Kelley said while customers have restaurant routines, they are easily drawn elsewhere by new makeovers. Part of the reason is curiosity, but part is a desire to dine at fresh-looking places.
“A restaurant’s cleanliness is such an important thing that immediately [customers] appreciate that it’s bright and new looking, not worn down,” said Kelley, managing partner at Concept Branding Group in San Diego. “But the change has to be much more than new carpet and changing out booths. People will respond only if it’s more than a dust-off of an old brand.”
Beauty is not cheap
While makeovers are proven to deliver sales increases, the flipside is that they’re costly. For significant upgrades, “you can’t touch anything for less than $125 a square foot these days,” said Lu Schildmeyer, principal at Design Associates in Kent, Wash.
In the Northwestern United States, he said the update cycle runs from three to five years in urban markets and six to eight years in rural markets.
“What’s good is independents are now thinking more like chains when it comes to these remodels,” he said. “They know they’ve got to do it right.”
Anticipating a tight lending market, Schildmeyer said some of his independent clients saved diligently to amass cash for total concept overhauls. Similarly, in his days as an executive with McDonald’s, Miologos advised franchisees to save 3 percent to 4 percent of sales each month for future reimaging. And when it came time to spend the money, a significant overhaul often ran as high as 11 percent to 12 percent of gross sales.
“Historically, I’ve seen the best return on that investment when all three touchpoints [decor, trade dress and menu] are addressed in the reimaging,” he said.
Miologos also recommended an entire market’s stores be changed simultaneously.
“The better restaurateurs understand that increasing awareness by hyping it though a grand reopening and getting some media attention helps that overall investment.”
Venture capital groups understand this, Miologos said, which partly explains their growing interest in restaurant companies.
“They understand that buying something that’s distressed and turning it around with a very cost-conscious, ROI-driven remodel adds value,” he said.
Since the recession tempered 250-unit Beef ‘O’ Brady’s plans for rolling out its Beef’s 2.0 store upgrade plan, chief development officer James Walker said the chain modified that option to “Beef’s 1.5.” It reduced 2.0’s lengthy list of modifications to an impactful few that include plasma-screen TVs, expanded draught beer lists, new paint colors and counter finishes.
“We want this minor reimage to be as efficient as possible and drive guest awareness, but be as cost effective as possible for our operators.”
Read more: http://www.nrn.com/article/restaurant-revamps-speed-operators-compete-customer-interest?ad=operations#ixzz19XpkHidB
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