If you doubt the Happy Hour is making a comeback, consider the sales elixirs two heavy-pouring restaurant chains are currently sucking down.
The pair acknowledged this month that they’d uncorked what’s again becoming the most common sales lubricant in casual dining. Brinker International was the more recent to join the likes of P.F. Chang’s and Cheesecake Factory, announcing Wednesday that its Chili’s chain was rolling a “full-blown Happy Hour program,” in the words of CEO Doug Brooks.
Speaking to investors, Brooks was sketchy on details. But he divulged that the lures for the post-work crowd would include sangria, an upgraded version of Chili’s signature margaritas, and new food offerings at the bar.
He described the push for evening guests as one of Chili’s “very big initiatives” for rebounding from the Great Recession, which walloped all of casual dining. The rollout is right up there in strategic importance with the redesign of the concept and the changeover to more efficient kitchens, he stressed.
The financial analysts listening to Brooks refused to let his tease pass without amplification. Pressed a bit, Brooks described the new program as a natural outgrowth of Chili’s re-imaging, which extends to such bar enhancements as the installation of better flat screen TVs. He also spoke cryptically about changes that put the bartender in a position to field more drink orders.
But Brooks rebuffed requests for any sales info from the program’s market tests, which he characterized as having just concluded.
Three weeks earlier, Ruby Tuesday provided a few details about its Happy Hour program, which is already in place at the diversified company’s namesake chain (Ruby Tuesday now has more brands in its portfolio than some of the bigger private-equity firms.) CEO Sandy Beall noted that the draws include half-price appetizers and $2 tacos and sliders.
“The investments we've made in our beverage lineup and bar program should help us reach our long-term goal of increasing alcohol sales to 12% of revenue,” Beall said in Ruby’s conference call with investors.
Looks as if Ruby Tuesday is going to have a lot more competition in getting there.
Showing posts with label Cheesecake Factory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheesecake Factory. Show all posts
Friday, October 28, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
The news gets personal
An obscene part of my day is spent online, scouting for news, glints of a trend, or the radar beeps of a new direction in dining. Usually it means wading through the type of informational detritus that makes me a leper at cocktail parties. (Bet you didn’t know Brad Pitt wore a chicken outfit for El Pollo Loco, or that Barry Manilow wrote many of the catchiest fast-food jingles. I’ve got a million of ‘em.)
The last few days have brought discoveries of a different type, Sadly disposable for most people, in or out of the industry, they’ve definitely gotten under my skin.
Not that they’re out of the ordinary. You would not believe how many stories appear in local papers or the news services about violent crime that erupts in or near restaurants, particularly on weekends. It can be gruesome stuff. But little is as affecting as the news briefs that appeared this week about an incident at a Dave & Buster’s I routinely pass.
It occurred last fall, but full details apparently weren’t revealed until recent court dealings. A 23-year-old man went into the food-and-games establishment and approached an 8-year-old who by all accounts had been selected at random. The adult drew a knife and stabbed the boy in the back five times, then dashed away.
The attacker was grabbed while he tried to hide in a bathroom by the boy’s father and another customer. Authorities found a note in the man’s pocket, explaining as if it was a to-do list that he intended to kill a child that day.
Fortunately, he failed. Now he’ll be working off a 14-year prison sentence as the boy and his family contend with the memory.
Far less gruesome was the release of a code of behavior that definitely drew my attention. I ran afoul of Tim Zagat 12 years ago by responding in a column to his declaration of a Diner’s Bill of Rights. I actually took issue with only one provision, an assertion that restaurants field any special dietary need posed by a customer. Still, mutual acquaintances informed me that I’d drawn some bad ratings from the dining-guide mogul.
I still believe the point of annoyance was a suggestion that a dining-out code should go both ways; restaurants were entitled to certain behavior from their customers. For instance, abuse of a server or disregard for the comfort of fellow patrons should be prohibited, enforceable by a boot out the door.
This week Zagat issued the sort of list I was envisioning, a set of dining etiquette rules. I agree with him on every point of the new do’s and don’t’s, particularly the stipulation on handheld distractions: “Do not talk, text, tweet, e-mail or surf the web at table.”
It’s interesting that he put that responsibility in 1999 on the restaurant, stating that the establishment should ensure a cell-phone-free dining room. But, as the Zagat notes in its preamble to the new behavioral code, times have changed.
Today, I’d say his etiquette rules should apply to the people who interact with restaurant customers. If servers use their cell phones while they’re within view of diners, they should have an immediate meeting with the manager, provided he or she isn’t tweeting. Sadly, that's too often the case, and it's a personal ire-raiser.
Finally, it was a point of personal annoyance that the watchdogs at Center for Science in the Public Interest missed an irony in their newly released roster of the unhealthiest restaurant foods.
Among the winners of the group’s annual Xtreme Eating Awards was Cheesecake Factory’s Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake, a single dessert that weights three-quarters of a pound and packs 1,530 calories. How could a chain even develop such a gut buster?
Well, it didn’t. The delectable was the brainchild of a customer who participated in a contest two years ago to find Cheesecake’s next cheesecake addition. Patrons were invited to submit recipes for the sort of products they’d like to find. Some 10,000 were entered.
Then customers were asked to vote on their favorites among the finalists. The Red Velvet won handily.
In short, patrons demonstrated that it was the sort of choice they wanted when they dined out.
It’s proof of the industry’s longstanding argument that its job is to give patrons what they want, not what they should be eating.
The last few days have brought discoveries of a different type, Sadly disposable for most people, in or out of the industry, they’ve definitely gotten under my skin.
Not that they’re out of the ordinary. You would not believe how many stories appear in local papers or the news services about violent crime that erupts in or near restaurants, particularly on weekends. It can be gruesome stuff. But little is as affecting as the news briefs that appeared this week about an incident at a Dave & Buster’s I routinely pass.
It occurred last fall, but full details apparently weren’t revealed until recent court dealings. A 23-year-old man went into the food-and-games establishment and approached an 8-year-old who by all accounts had been selected at random. The adult drew a knife and stabbed the boy in the back five times, then dashed away.
The attacker was grabbed while he tried to hide in a bathroom by the boy’s father and another customer. Authorities found a note in the man’s pocket, explaining as if it was a to-do list that he intended to kill a child that day.
Fortunately, he failed. Now he’ll be working off a 14-year prison sentence as the boy and his family contend with the memory.
Far less gruesome was the release of a code of behavior that definitely drew my attention. I ran afoul of Tim Zagat 12 years ago by responding in a column to his declaration of a Diner’s Bill of Rights. I actually took issue with only one provision, an assertion that restaurants field any special dietary need posed by a customer. Still, mutual acquaintances informed me that I’d drawn some bad ratings from the dining-guide mogul.
I still believe the point of annoyance was a suggestion that a dining-out code should go both ways; restaurants were entitled to certain behavior from their customers. For instance, abuse of a server or disregard for the comfort of fellow patrons should be prohibited, enforceable by a boot out the door.
This week Zagat issued the sort of list I was envisioning, a set of dining etiquette rules. I agree with him on every point of the new do’s and don’t’s, particularly the stipulation on handheld distractions: “Do not talk, text, tweet, e-mail or surf the web at table.”
It’s interesting that he put that responsibility in 1999 on the restaurant, stating that the establishment should ensure a cell-phone-free dining room. But, as the Zagat notes in its preamble to the new behavioral code, times have changed.
Today, I’d say his etiquette rules should apply to the people who interact with restaurant customers. If servers use their cell phones while they’re within view of diners, they should have an immediate meeting with the manager, provided he or she isn’t tweeting. Sadly, that's too often the case, and it's a personal ire-raiser.
Finally, it was a point of personal annoyance that the watchdogs at Center for Science in the Public Interest missed an irony in their newly released roster of the unhealthiest restaurant foods.
Among the winners of the group’s annual Xtreme Eating Awards was Cheesecake Factory’s Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake, a single dessert that weights three-quarters of a pound and packs 1,530 calories. How could a chain even develop such a gut buster?
Well, it didn’t. The delectable was the brainchild of a customer who participated in a contest two years ago to find Cheesecake’s next cheesecake addition. Patrons were invited to submit recipes for the sort of products they’d like to find. Some 10,000 were entered.
Then customers were asked to vote on their favorites among the finalists. The Red Velvet won handily.
In short, patrons demonstrated that it was the sort of choice they wanted when they dined out.
It’s proof of the industry’s longstanding argument that its job is to give patrons what they want, not what they should be eating.
Friday, February 11, 2011
What Cheesecake Factory is thinking
Cheesecake Factory’s quarterly analysts call revealed some interesting details of the casual-dining giant's post-Recession strategy.
For instance, executives explained why you won’t see frozen Navajo sandwiches, a Cheesecake specialty, in the freezer case of your nearest SuperValue. The company’s menu signatures are usually too expensive to sell well in mass-market supermarkets, explained CEO David Overton.
“That’s why we have done so well in the warehouse clubs,” where the slighter markup makes Cheesecake-branded products a bargain, said Overton. He pegged the company’s sales through that channel at $30 million to $40 million, minimum.
Overton also noted that all of the chain’s salad greens are now organic, and that stores already offer a choice of brown or white rice. Cheesecake Factories also serve sweet potato fries, which some perceive as more healthful than the standard version.
Health will continue to be a concern as the chain evolves its menu, said Overton. But he noted that the effort will be a process, not a wholesale changeover, a reflection of consumer preferences. The company has restaurants in 12 areas that already require chain operations to post calorie counts on the menu, and “there’s been virtually no change in what people are buying,” he said. “They’re not buying less desserts. So when people go out to eat, they really want what they want.”
Portfolio managers participating in the call pressed the Cheesecake officials for their views on buying or starting a new chain with all the cash they have on hand. The executives didn’t respond squarely to the quasi-suggestion that they diversify, noting that the company could double in size just from the expansion of its namesake brand.
Overton did note that a new smaller-sized Grand Lux Café will make its debut later this year, and that a RockSuger Pan Asian Kitchen, Cheesecake’s upstart concept, will add a unit.
In one of the strangest asides I can recall from an analysts’ conference call, Overton also cited a news report that nose jobs are increasing in number and that economists read that as a positive omen for the economy.
Hey, the man has built one of the most phenomenal sales machines in the business. If plastic surgery is a gauge for him, I suggest we start a rhinoplasty index.
For instance, executives explained why you won’t see frozen Navajo sandwiches, a Cheesecake specialty, in the freezer case of your nearest SuperValue. The company’s menu signatures are usually too expensive to sell well in mass-market supermarkets, explained CEO David Overton.
“That’s why we have done so well in the warehouse clubs,” where the slighter markup makes Cheesecake-branded products a bargain, said Overton. He pegged the company’s sales through that channel at $30 million to $40 million, minimum.
Overton also noted that all of the chain’s salad greens are now organic, and that stores already offer a choice of brown or white rice. Cheesecake Factories also serve sweet potato fries, which some perceive as more healthful than the standard version.
Health will continue to be a concern as the chain evolves its menu, said Overton. But he noted that the effort will be a process, not a wholesale changeover, a reflection of consumer preferences. The company has restaurants in 12 areas that already require chain operations to post calorie counts on the menu, and “there’s been virtually no change in what people are buying,” he said. “They’re not buying less desserts. So when people go out to eat, they really want what they want.”
Portfolio managers participating in the call pressed the Cheesecake officials for their views on buying or starting a new chain with all the cash they have on hand. The executives didn’t respond squarely to the quasi-suggestion that they diversify, noting that the company could double in size just from the expansion of its namesake brand.
Overton did note that a new smaller-sized Grand Lux Café will make its debut later this year, and that a RockSuger Pan Asian Kitchen, Cheesecake’s upstart concept, will add a unit.
In one of the strangest asides I can recall from an analysts’ conference call, Overton also cited a news report that nose jobs are increasing in number and that economists read that as a positive omen for the economy.
Hey, the man has built one of the most phenomenal sales machines in the business. If plastic surgery is a gauge for him, I suggest we start a rhinoplasty index.
Monday, April 26, 2010
A thin sliver of Cheesecake Factory news
Cheesecake Factory has given its newest concept a menu overhaul. The Asian flavored Rock Sugar, still in the single-store test phase, has just been outfitted with a new bill of fare, though company CEO David Overton didn't divulge details during Cheesecake's recent conference call with analysts.
He did divulge, however, that Cheesecake may not be interested in opening more than one additional Rock Sugar at the current time.
"I’m only going to maybe look for one [more], and it’s going to be a very, very special prime location because we have to build that brand in the right places," said Overton, as recounted in a transcript provided by the website SeekingAlpha.com.
"It’s not just one of those things that we’re just going to open in any mall at this particular time."
During the call late last week, Overton also revealed the company plans to scale down the size of its secondary concept, Grand Lux Cafe. Cheesecake is also interested in "bringing the decor down a little."
A downsizing of the company's namesake brand has yielded a new prototype that "is here to stay," said Overton. "We’ve built a couple of them and we’re very happy with the size, with the volume that they’re able to do, so we’ll move forward with that." He projected that 10 to 12 of the smaller Cheesecakes will be constructed during the next two years.
He did divulge, however, that Cheesecake may not be interested in opening more than one additional Rock Sugar at the current time.
"I’m only going to maybe look for one [more], and it’s going to be a very, very special prime location because we have to build that brand in the right places," said Overton, as recounted in a transcript provided by the website SeekingAlpha.com.
"It’s not just one of those things that we’re just going to open in any mall at this particular time."
During the call late last week, Overton also revealed the company plans to scale down the size of its secondary concept, Grand Lux Cafe. Cheesecake is also interested in "bringing the decor down a little."
A downsizing of the company's namesake brand has yielded a new prototype that "is here to stay," said Overton. "We’ve built a couple of them and we’re very happy with the size, with the volume that they’re able to do, so we’ll move forward with that." He projected that 10 to 12 of the smaller Cheesecakes will be constructed during the next two years.
A thaw in big-chain thinking?
Slowly but audaciously, big restaurant chains are starting to address the public’s interest in localized ingredients and preparations.
You can see it in two high-profile introductions of the past week: Cheesecake Factory’s relaunch of its burgers as regionalized “Glamburgers,” featuring ingredients associated with a particular place, and Applebee’s debut of what it describes as “neighborhood-inspired Realburgers,” with flavors ascribed to three local preferences.
No, these aren’t products made with West Virginia ramps or Jersey peaches. A cynic would say the burgers embody culinary clichés of certain regions—pulled pork as a topping on Cheesecake’s Memphis burger, for instance, or the hoagy roll used for Applebee’s Philly Burger, which is dressed with the standard cheesesteak fixings.
But at least the big systems are trying to get away from their One Bland Taste Fits All myopia, an orientation that’s clearly less feasible today. Cheesecake is actually using goat cheese and arugula on its Sonoma burger. By big-chain standards, this is bold stuff.
Connecting an ingredient or item to a region, or using components actually sourced locally, isn’t completely alien to the chain market. Small systems like Burgerville and Smashburger have been doing it for some time. As RestaurantRealityCheck noted last fall, New England’s D’Angelos and Papa Gino’s now use cheeses from Vermont for a number of their selections. Louisiana officials were delighted when local Outback Steakhouse units decided to stick with locally caught shrimp.
But those noble efforts were undertaken on a relatively small scale. Bigger chains just couldn’t overcome the logistical issues, much less the need to be one thing to all people. That coast-to-coast consistency is viewed as absolutely necessary when you’re spending millions of dollars to advertise via national media.
The new endeavors of Cheesecake and Applebee’s are hardly bungee jumps off that safe ledge. But they may signal a change in the hoary thinking that a chain should offer what works for its well-grooved systems, instead of serving what consumers want.
You can see it in two high-profile introductions of the past week: Cheesecake Factory’s relaunch of its burgers as regionalized “Glamburgers,” featuring ingredients associated with a particular place, and Applebee’s debut of what it describes as “neighborhood-inspired Realburgers,” with flavors ascribed to three local preferences.
No, these aren’t products made with West Virginia ramps or Jersey peaches. A cynic would say the burgers embody culinary clichés of certain regions—pulled pork as a topping on Cheesecake’s Memphis burger, for instance, or the hoagy roll used for Applebee’s Philly Burger, which is dressed with the standard cheesesteak fixings.
But at least the big systems are trying to get away from their One Bland Taste Fits All myopia, an orientation that’s clearly less feasible today. Cheesecake is actually using goat cheese and arugula on its Sonoma burger. By big-chain standards, this is bold stuff.
Connecting an ingredient or item to a region, or using components actually sourced locally, isn’t completely alien to the chain market. Small systems like Burgerville and Smashburger have been doing it for some time. As RestaurantRealityCheck noted last fall, New England’s D’Angelos and Papa Gino’s now use cheeses from Vermont for a number of their selections. Louisiana officials were delighted when local Outback Steakhouse units decided to stick with locally caught shrimp.
But those noble efforts were undertaken on a relatively small scale. Bigger chains just couldn’t overcome the logistical issues, much less the need to be one thing to all people. That coast-to-coast consistency is viewed as absolutely necessary when you’re spending millions of dollars to advertise via national media.
The new endeavors of Cheesecake and Applebee’s are hardly bungee jumps off that safe ledge. But they may signal a change in the hoary thinking that a chain should offer what works for its well-grooved systems, instead of serving what consumers want.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Welcome back, happy hour
Gather ‘round, youngsters, and hear of a day when casual restaurants were known as “fern bars,” and loaded potato skins were about the coolest thing you’d find on a restaurant menu. Heck, you could even drink legally at age 18 back then, provided mom or dad would loan you the Nova or Maverick.
In the keen competition for young imbibers, places would offer a passel of attractions under the common slug of Happy Hour. A typical element was offering two drinks for the price of one, though the deals could range to such drool-inducers as getting your second and third drinks for a penny, or women drinking for free all night. We’d shop the various offers to determine who had the best giveaway. Life was sweet.
Then came the crackdown on drunken driving, a worthy cause that tarred happy hours as a major threat to innocent lives. They had to go, insisted groups like MADD. Restaurants tried to save the draws with adjustments like free food or bans of two-for-one, but the breed was clearly doomed.
Now come ample indications that happy hours are making a comeback, this time with the focus on food and quality drinks, not cheap intoxication. P.F. Chang’s, for instance, is offering sake for $4 (for a “large jar”), high balls for the same price, and decent wines for $5. For $6, you can get spare ribs, shrimp or seared ahi tuna. This is not your old uncle’s happy hour.
Then again, there are some familiarities. The Z’Tejas casual chain, for instance, offers a bunch of items at half price, or two-for-one if you prefer that frame of reference. But these are appetizers, not Mellon Balls.
Cheesecake Factory is doing the same thing, at least in some markets. Sure, you can get a Cosmo and similar specialty drinks for $5. But the spotlight is on 15 appetizers available for half price from late afternoon to early evening.
The Happy Hour is clearly back, this time as a way to enjoy foods at a steal. I’ll still miss my Alabama Slammers for 50 cents, but four mini spring rolls for $2, or free sliders, isn’t a bad draw. Especially if you can get a Pabst Blue Ribbon for $2, or not much more than we’d spend back in the day.
It’s enough to knock you off your platform shoes.
In the keen competition for young imbibers, places would offer a passel of attractions under the common slug of Happy Hour. A typical element was offering two drinks for the price of one, though the deals could range to such drool-inducers as getting your second and third drinks for a penny, or women drinking for free all night. We’d shop the various offers to determine who had the best giveaway. Life was sweet.
Then came the crackdown on drunken driving, a worthy cause that tarred happy hours as a major threat to innocent lives. They had to go, insisted groups like MADD. Restaurants tried to save the draws with adjustments like free food or bans of two-for-one, but the breed was clearly doomed.
Now come ample indications that happy hours are making a comeback, this time with the focus on food and quality drinks, not cheap intoxication. P.F. Chang’s, for instance, is offering sake for $4 (for a “large jar”), high balls for the same price, and decent wines for $5. For $6, you can get spare ribs, shrimp or seared ahi tuna. This is not your old uncle’s happy hour.
Then again, there are some familiarities. The Z’Tejas casual chain, for instance, offers a bunch of items at half price, or two-for-one if you prefer that frame of reference. But these are appetizers, not Mellon Balls.
Cheesecake Factory is doing the same thing, at least in some markets. Sure, you can get a Cosmo and similar specialty drinks for $5. But the spotlight is on 15 appetizers available for half price from late afternoon to early evening.
The Happy Hour is clearly back, this time as a way to enjoy foods at a steal. I’ll still miss my Alabama Slammers for 50 cents, but four mini spring rolls for $2, or free sliders, isn’t a bad draw. Especially if you can get a Pabst Blue Ribbon for $2, or not much more than we’d spend back in the day.
It’s enough to knock you off your platform shoes.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Smudging the line between restaurants, retailers
Once upon a time, restaurateurs and their investors questioned the wisdom of dabbling in retail. If consumers can eat your specialties at home, they reasoned, why bother visiting the restaurant?
But today, with supermarkets sporting all sorts of products emblazoned with restaurant logos, investors are asking a decidedly different question: Why aren’t you jumping on that (Bob Evans-brand) gravy train?
David Overton, CEO of The Cheesecake Factory, was grilled on that point by a financial analyst last week. “Well, we haven't decided to sell any of our actual dinner items or restaurant items yet,” danced Overton. “It's something that we could look at. We have been asked to do so…[but] the 70-something million people that came in the restaurant last year is where we're concentrating. I still think that's our greatest game at this point.”
Cheesecake, which just recently made concessions to such profound trends as discounting and offering mini-portions, may find the ranks of retail holdouts to be a lonely place. Panera Bread Co. ran through enough menu initiatives during an investment conference call on Thursday to suggest steroids testing for its R&D staff. One of the bigger ones, literally, mentioned by CEO Ron Shaich was a possible move into the retail sale of bulk baked goods.
He explained that units of the bakery-café chain have started retailing multipacks of muffins, scones and bagels. “You will see us focus on selling more seasonal breads at retail,” added Shaich. “We will regularly celebrate our gift worthy breads, things like Panettone, holiday bread, Irish soda bread, hot cross buns and a variety of sweet breakfast breads. We will also merchandise our breads to our guests for everyday use.”
Panera will be selling the baked goods through its own retail outlets rather than supermarkets, a twist that’s also being embraced by Starbucks. Its new retail push, the sale of Via instant coffees for home mixing, will be undertaken through the coffee giant’s own cafes, not a Piggly Wiggly or a King Kullen.
Other restaurants chains recently conferring with investors about retail initiatives include Bob Evans and California Pizza Kitchens, neither of which is a stranger to that alternative sales channel.
Indeed, Bob Evans is as much of a grocery-product supplier as it is a restaurant operator, a role it continues to expand by adding heat-and-eat products bearing the brand of its namesake restaurant chain. In its most recent quarter, for instance, the company added nine new retail choices, including “family-sized” portions of such comfort foods as mac and cheese and mashed potatoes.
But it also raised what should be a yellow light for restaurateurs branching into retail: During the most recent quarter, supermarket sales of Bob Evans-brand products decreased on a volume basis for the first time in more than seven years, executives noted.
But today, with supermarkets sporting all sorts of products emblazoned with restaurant logos, investors are asking a decidedly different question: Why aren’t you jumping on that (Bob Evans-brand) gravy train?
David Overton, CEO of The Cheesecake Factory, was grilled on that point by a financial analyst last week. “Well, we haven't decided to sell any of our actual dinner items or restaurant items yet,” danced Overton. “It's something that we could look at. We have been asked to do so…[but] the 70-something million people that came in the restaurant last year is where we're concentrating. I still think that's our greatest game at this point.”
Cheesecake, which just recently made concessions to such profound trends as discounting and offering mini-portions, may find the ranks of retail holdouts to be a lonely place. Panera Bread Co. ran through enough menu initiatives during an investment conference call on Thursday to suggest steroids testing for its R&D staff. One of the bigger ones, literally, mentioned by CEO Ron Shaich was a possible move into the retail sale of bulk baked goods.
He explained that units of the bakery-café chain have started retailing multipacks of muffins, scones and bagels. “You will see us focus on selling more seasonal breads at retail,” added Shaich. “We will regularly celebrate our gift worthy breads, things like Panettone, holiday bread, Irish soda bread, hot cross buns and a variety of sweet breakfast breads. We will also merchandise our breads to our guests for everyday use.”
Panera will be selling the baked goods through its own retail outlets rather than supermarkets, a twist that’s also being embraced by Starbucks. Its new retail push, the sale of Via instant coffees for home mixing, will be undertaken through the coffee giant’s own cafes, not a Piggly Wiggly or a King Kullen.
Other restaurants chains recently conferring with investors about retail initiatives include Bob Evans and California Pizza Kitchens, neither of which is a stranger to that alternative sales channel.
Indeed, Bob Evans is as much of a grocery-product supplier as it is a restaurant operator, a role it continues to expand by adding heat-and-eat products bearing the brand of its namesake restaurant chain. In its most recent quarter, for instance, the company added nine new retail choices, including “family-sized” portions of such comfort foods as mac and cheese and mashed potatoes.
But it also raised what should be a yellow light for restaurateurs branching into retail: During the most recent quarter, supermarket sales of Bob Evans-brand products decreased on a volume basis for the first time in more than seven years, executives noted.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Cheesecake tries snacks
Fast feeders aren't the only chains trying to lure more customers with snacks. Executives of The Cheesecake Factory say the new winter menu now in 36 of its stores features an array of snacks and small plates.
"They are very, very well priced," CEO David Overton commented during yesterday's conference call with financial analysts. "You can order two or three of them as you would one."
He indicated that the menu would be rolled to all stores within the next month.
The value appeal of the snacks and small plates is apparently meant to complement the bargains offered on what the chain calls its "special menu," an array of toothsome entrees priced at $11.95 to $12.95. Those selections are currently in "most of our restaurants, [but] not 100%," Overton said.
"They are very, very well priced," CEO David Overton commented during yesterday's conference call with financial analysts. "You can order two or three of them as you would one."
He indicated that the menu would be rolled to all stores within the next month.
The value appeal of the snacks and small plates is apparently meant to complement the bargains offered on what the chain calls its "special menu," an array of toothsome entrees priced at $11.95 to $12.95. Those selections are currently in "most of our restaurants, [but] not 100%," Overton said.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
A genetically altered Cheesecake Factory?
Cheesecake Factory opened the first of its new downsized restaurants this month, a departure from the pricey cathedrals that’ve been a hallmark of the concept since its earliest days. Now it has a smaller, less-expensive prototype, just like everyone else in casual dining.
That concession to the times follows the addition of a menu section consisting solely of bargains, an asterisk to the chain’s positioning as a place of indulgence, as its luscious cakes or huge portions attest. Now deal hunters will find the same sort of values they might seek on other Friday or Saturday nights at Red Lobster, McCormick & Schmick’s, Outback or Mortons.
Point by point, the once high-flying chain is addressing the issues that have tempered its phenomenal financial success. But, in the process, is it engineering its way into one of casual dining’s biggest problems? Is it sacrificing dramatic points of differentiation to become like everyone else in the pack?
If I’m typical of Cheesecake’s fan base, patrons go there because the experience is over-the-top, from the 200-item menu to the portions, the unusual choices (Navajo Sandwich, anyone?) and the dramatic settings (insider’s note: Look for a sky scene in your local unit, a concession to the religious orientation of longtime leader David Overton). It’s not an overstatement to say it provides a sense of awe.
But awe doesn’t sell in this tight-walleted environment. Bargains, economy and accessibility are today’s stock in trade. Still, by curbing what’s been in its DNA to embrace those head-turning qualities, is Cheesecake thinking merely for the short term? Certainly this economic situation is a crisis, and hence by definition a passing pain.
I’ll be the first to admit that it’s easy for me to second guess one of the industry’s most successful executive teams. I don’t have investors, executives, landlords and employees looking to me to pull the concept out of the doldrums.
But I hope Cheesecake doesn’t sacrifice the counter-intuitiveness that made that brand a stellar success. When everyone was going for streamlined menus, it maintained a tome of fare. When nods to healthfulness were the order of the day, it continued to serve selections that could have fed whole Caribbean islands. When competitors shotgunned units into the market like space invaders focusing on street corners and malls, it grew slowly and with painstaking selection of sites (to the best of my recollection, it’s never had to close a restaurant).
It needs to think in evolutionary terms—how to tailor the brand to the times. Merely co-opting what’s worked for other casual-dining concepts is de-evolution of the worst kind. I hope the folks in Calabasas Hills are careful about how they navigate these perilous times. Otherwise, they’ll just be jumping the shark.
That concession to the times follows the addition of a menu section consisting solely of bargains, an asterisk to the chain’s positioning as a place of indulgence, as its luscious cakes or huge portions attest. Now deal hunters will find the same sort of values they might seek on other Friday or Saturday nights at Red Lobster, McCormick & Schmick’s, Outback or Mortons.
Point by point, the once high-flying chain is addressing the issues that have tempered its phenomenal financial success. But, in the process, is it engineering its way into one of casual dining’s biggest problems? Is it sacrificing dramatic points of differentiation to become like everyone else in the pack?
If I’m typical of Cheesecake’s fan base, patrons go there because the experience is over-the-top, from the 200-item menu to the portions, the unusual choices (Navajo Sandwich, anyone?) and the dramatic settings (insider’s note: Look for a sky scene in your local unit, a concession to the religious orientation of longtime leader David Overton). It’s not an overstatement to say it provides a sense of awe.
But awe doesn’t sell in this tight-walleted environment. Bargains, economy and accessibility are today’s stock in trade. Still, by curbing what’s been in its DNA to embrace those head-turning qualities, is Cheesecake thinking merely for the short term? Certainly this economic situation is a crisis, and hence by definition a passing pain.
I’ll be the first to admit that it’s easy for me to second guess one of the industry’s most successful executive teams. I don’t have investors, executives, landlords and employees looking to me to pull the concept out of the doldrums.
But I hope Cheesecake doesn’t sacrifice the counter-intuitiveness that made that brand a stellar success. When everyone was going for streamlined menus, it maintained a tome of fare. When nods to healthfulness were the order of the day, it continued to serve selections that could have fed whole Caribbean islands. When competitors shotgunned units into the market like space invaders focusing on street corners and malls, it grew slowly and with painstaking selection of sites (to the best of my recollection, it’s never had to close a restaurant).
It needs to think in evolutionary terms—how to tailor the brand to the times. Merely co-opting what’s worked for other casual-dining concepts is de-evolution of the worst kind. I hope the folks in Calabasas Hills are careful about how they navigate these perilous times. Otherwise, they’ll just be jumping the shark.
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