Blurring restaurant lines

You can make a strong argument that line-blurring has been the most successful restaurant strategy of the last 20 years. Without the daring to nudge a familiar type of restaurant into another category’s turf, we never would’ve had fast-casual, a blurring of the lines between fast-food and casual dining, or hybrids like burger joints run by celebrity chefs (think Daniel Boulud’s CBDB’s or Marcus Samuelsson’s Marc Burger).

Now two of the earliest and most successful proponents of line-blurring are smudging a different boundary.

By the industry’s standard definition, Mimi’s Café and Cracker Barrel fall into the category of family restaurants, or what were called coffee shops in the pre-Starbucks age. A key feature was serving breakfast, a rarity among full-service places. Indeed, a heavy morning clientele was one of their signatures. Ditto for selling more soft drinks than wine, beer or spirits. And their menus were as broad and mainstream as what we in the East would find at a classic diner.

But Mimi’s and Cracker Barrel never exactly fit the specs. Yeah, they do considerable breakfast business. But these aren’t your father’s Denny’s or Village Inn. Slip into a Mimi’s at lunch and you’ll find plenty of office workers, not families. And the menu is more ambitious than the roster for many upscale casual places.

Cracker Barrel also has that casual feel, and its reliance on a country-store schtick is reminiscent of the heavy-duty theming that’s common in casual dining (think Friday’s, Lone Star or Olive Garden).

Now those non-comformists are blurring the line again, this time by shifting into the pricing strata right below them. Both have just unveiled new lunch deals that rival the value and convenience afforded by fast-food outlets.

Cracker Barrel’s new offer is a line-up of daily specials that sell for $5.99 each. Consider for a moment that $5 is the going bargain rate for a sandwich at sub specialists like Subway. At Cracker Barrel you can pay just a buck more for meatloaf and mashed potatoes, a chicken pot pie, or a turkey platter with the usual trimmings.

Mimi’s is stressing speed of service along with the low prices of its midday options. It guarantees that its new Express Lunch service will take no more than 15 minutes. For $6.99, that gets the customer servings of soup and salad. For $1.50 more, they can get the soup or salad with half a sandwich. A soda adds just another $1 to the check.

Mimi’s may be venturing into fast-food territory, but it’s not dropping its competitive challenge to casual places. Also new on its menu is a takeout deal that might turn the heads of consumers who use casual restaurants’ curbside delivery services. Priced at $25 each, the meals are marketed as sufficient to feed a family of four. The options include such comfort favorites as pot roast, chicken parmigiana and turkey.

It’s also added a new Happy Hour deal: wine flights for $5.

Clearly the chalk marks between segments are still being smudged.

Aren't they supposed to sell the food?

Uh-oh. If the restaurant industry is getting back on its feet, why are so many chains reverting to food giveaways, the traffic builder of choice during the downturn’s darkest days?

Today you can grab a free cup of Popeyes’ new cane-sugared sweet tea (translation for northerners: An iced tea that’s made with sugared water). Then again, maybe you’d prefer one of Taco Bell’s new Limeade Sparklers, available without charge if you download a coupon from the chain’s website.

Diabetics could really be in trouble if they’ve been scouting the deals. Friendly’s recently gave away a scoop of ice cream, and Mimi’s Café offered four free muffins on Wednesday to any patron who bought a breakfast.

Either giveaways are going to remain part of the marketing arsenal, or maybe traffic is softer than the numbers reveal.

Either way, it’s enough to make you hope for a two-for-one cocktail special.

Getting bounce from 'balance'

Wipe “locavore” and “natural” off the whiteboard. A new buzzword for restaurant menu planners is starting to take hold: “Balance.”

That’s the underlying principle of True Food Kitchen, the new concept that P.F. Chang’s has decided to back with a $10-million infusion of growth capital. If the emperor of Asian casual dining likes what it fosters, it has the option of buying a controlling stake in the brainchild of Sam Fox, the Rich Melman of Phoenix. The young concept creator’s earlier hatchlings include the Sauce pizza and wine fast-casual chain and one-offs like Olive & Ivy.

True Food is a foodservice retreat for those seeking “a more balanced lifestyle,” according to Fox’s company, Fox Restaurant Concepts. It was created in collaboration with a New Age medical guru, Dr. Andrew Weil, who advocates a blend of conventional medicine and alternative aids like herbs and moderation.

It may be the most visible proponent of the new balance sensibility, but it’s hardly alone. Across the Atlantic, Sodexo, the contract-feeding giant, is featuring a menu based on “balanced nutrition” at 500 of the institutional feeding operations it manages. The aim of the new Vitality line-up, according to the France-based company, is to provide healthy dining options without sacrificing the enjoyment. In short, it aims to strike a balance.

The strategy is hardly unknown on this side of the pond. Seasons 52, Darden Restaurant’s brilliant play for aging Baby Boomers, promises the same sort of balance between taste, indulgence and health concerns. You can have a low-calorie entrée, finish it off with tiny shot-glass-sized desserts, and wash it down with a few selections from the concept’s extensive wine list.

“Balance” also figured into Mimi’s selection of the winner in a customer recipe contest. Patrons were asked to come up with a Meaningful Muffin that could be added to the casual chain’s menu. The winner was a Pineapple Coconut Crumb preparation, praised in part by celebrity judge/chef Gale Gand for its “perfect balance of flavors and textures.” In part because of that distinction, “we felt it would appeal best to a wide audience,” said the Chicago restaurateur.

Clearly “balance” is being used in a variety of ways, just as “health,” “fresh,” “wholesome” or “homestyle” once carried more definitions than a pocket-sized Webster’s. But all the applications suggest it’s a word that resonates right now with the public. For that reason, it’s certain to show up on more menus.