People Report’s Summer Camp made my two weeks at Boy Scout camp seem like a wasted piece of 1968. All I learned back then was how to smoke, spit and talk like someone who had sex four or five times a week—with a partner.
I took home a lot more from the past week’s version of camp. Consider, for instance, these info nuggets from Dallas:
*Red Robin has been using E-Verify, the controversial network for validating job applicant’s legal hiring status, for three years. The ramp-up was tough, but the company would never think of going back, said Bill Streitburger, vice president of human resources for the chain. “We had two state audits” and “there was no problem,” he recounted. Recruitment is a little more expensive because referrals from staffers have thinned, but wages haven’t risen as some critics had predicted, said Streitburger.
*The National Restaurant Association intends to raise the number of high schoolers enrolled in its ProStart foodservice prep program to 300,000 in any given year. The 90,000 currently participating get an early grounding in the culinary arts or foodservice management, typically before moving to an institution like the Culinary Institute or Johnson & Wales. It’s like a farm system for tomorrow’s restaurant talent—and as much loved by the kids as it is by the industry.
*Firehouse Subs is testing the use of QR codes as a tabletop marketing tool. Diners-in customers can use their smart phones to scan the little black-and-white markings. They’re instantly connected to information about the concept.
*Taco Bell, in contrast, is using the codes as a way of connecting to prospective employees. Potential job applicants who scan the markings call up a video on their phones about what it’s like to work at the chain.
*Also beginning at Firehouse is a bus tour for the fast-casual concept’s co-founders and CEO. The brass is rolling from unit to unit as a way of meeting as many crewmembers as they can, explained director of brand marketing Kristen Majdanics. She characterized the tour as a way of bringing the brand to the frontlines of customer interaction.
*The dark side of social media is the friction it can foster with labor regulators. As several speakers noted, a restaurant employee might cap a bad day on the job by slamming his restaurant employer via Facebook or Twitter. That’s the employee’s Twitter account or Facebook page, not the restaurant’s. If the place fires the youngster for sounding off, is it within its rights? It’s a matter that’s already come to the attention of the National Labor Relations Board.
*Remember the name James Fripp. He’s currently the young senior director of diversity and inclusion for Yum! Brands. During his time onstage at Summer Camp, Fripp showed an insight, knowledge and astute humor that makes me think he’ll be a superstar in the business before he ever has to even consider Grecian Formula. He did a pretty good job on the drums, too, wailing away as part of the Summer Camp band.
*The husband of Kelli Valade, Chili’s chief operating officer, frequently sits at Wally Doolin’s old desk. Yep, you read that right. But he’s not imagining that Wally’s job as CEO of Black Box Intelligence is really his. Joni Doolin gave Valade the desk years ago because the latter had no furniture after moving out of Roz Mallet’s home, where she’d lived for free in exchange for watering the plants. That’s Roz Mallet, as in incoming chairman of the National Restaurant Association. Valade revealed that she’d kept the desk all these years and that it now resides in her husband’s study. I’m not sure what any of this means, but it’s not the usual tidbit you get at a conference.
*Meanwhile, Valade’s son is showing clear restaurant-CEO potential, though he’s still in grade school. As the COO recounted, the boy recently informed her, “I’m having a service problem with the school cafeteria. Could you help me with that since that’s what you do?” And, of course, he stands to inherit a veteran CEO’s desk.
*Eighty-three percent of the generation known as Millennials sleep with their cell phones. See earlier observation, about interesting but not-so-useful morsels.
*Peanut-butter-and-bacon sandwiches are not going to be the next big menu craze, despite how nostalgic certain Campers waxed for that lunchtime flashback to their childhood camp days.
They might’ve been the ones sneaking out to smoke and spit, too.
Showing posts with label Red Robin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red Robin. Show all posts
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Thursday, April 22, 2010
What management tech can do for employees
Enough with all the talk about technology’s payback for restaurants. How about the benefits it’s delivering to the employees?Like leaving them less time-starved, more valuable on the job market, and more aware of the big picture? In short, how it’s leaving them more satisfied and engaged while distinguishing their restaurant as a superior place to work.
I, probably like you, have attended plenty of industry events where the pay-off from high-tech management tools was explored solely from the perspective of the restaurant operator. The panel discussion I was fortunate to moderate at the Restaurant Leadership Conference went beyond that viewpoint to look at the considerable advantages for the business’ changing workforce.
As the panelists stressed, the foodservice labor pool has been remixed considerably by the economic downturn. No longer is it a pack of youngsters looking to earn a few fast bucks before heading off to something else. High unemployment has put more heads of households on the payroll, including a number of economic casualties from other fields. Turnover has braked dramatically, and workers are thinking in longer-range terms.
Technology is helping restaurateurs manage that new workforce more adeptly and cost-consciously, the panelists agreed. They cited such capabilities as being able to gather more information from job applicants, or to coordinate scheduling more astutely with the labor needs of any given shift.
But the technology is also helping restaurants address the sensibilities and preferences of their changed workforce. Values have shifted, with staffers showing more appreciation for variables like how much time is left for their families, or even the caliber of the technology they wield on the job. If the restaurant industry was once a haven for techno-phobes, the panelists stressed, it’s done an about-face, with young people now picking a position in part because of the technology education it affords. They don’t want to fall behind the rest of the job market in their familiarity with the latest HR software and equipment.
Free time and the more enjoyable life it affords are particularly important, and will be even more prized as the economy recovers, the panelists stressed. The families of restaurant employees will have discretionary dollars again, and managers and hourlies will want the time to indulge and enjoy.
“Being an employer of choice will be all about giving the team the best quality of life, and the time to be with their families,” said Jeff Maier, the former restaurant operator who now heads retail and hospitality marketing for Kronos, the panel’s sponsor.
He cited the trend of using technology to provide more information to restaurant employees while they’re on the go. Instead of calling or stopping by the restaurant to see when they’re scheduled or what vacancies they might be able to fill, staffer can look at their smart phones or laptops.
Jacqueline O’Rourke-Smith, senior manager of payroll operations for Red Robin, spoke of her chain’s use of technology to provide employees “a gift of time.” Recently, for instance, it rolled out a streamlined, paperless payroll system “to make the payment process as quick as possible,” she said.
The company also strives to hold the line on administrative work. For every HR initiative that’s added, “we try to simplify the business process by two or three steps,” she explained. Technology has to deliver that benefit to the employee, along with a return to the company.
Employees will challenge a new technology-based responsibility to ensure it’s not been casually dropped on them, noted Andrew Van Ermen, director of information systems for Levy Restaurants. “They will ask you, ‘Why am I doing that? What’s the purpose?’” he said.
He noted how the restaurant operator and sports feeder uses technology to shave time and aggravation off employees’ non-work time. The 750 employees who work at Dodger Stadium, for instance, are now given explicit communications about when and precisely where to report for work on a game day, he explained. They don’t have to scurry anxiously to find their outpost for that shift.
Having them punch in at stations close to where they’ll be working also averts the cost of paying an employee to walk halfway around the stadium because he or she used a distant time clock.
Van Ermen observed that employees are demanding that sort of additional, more precise information. They want their employers’ technology to provide them with the intelligence to make informed decisions, instead of relying on intuition and possibly being faulted for a bad call.
The panelists agreed that new HR technology can generate that sort of information. Indeed, they noted, it can provide data in reams if an employer wanted it. Smart users work with their vendors to provide intelligence, not numbers or unnecessary information.
“You have to get the right data in the right hands at the right time,” said Maier.
“It’s all about trying to make their lives easier,” said O’Rourke-Smith.
I, probably like you, have attended plenty of industry events where the pay-off from high-tech management tools was explored solely from the perspective of the restaurant operator. The panel discussion I was fortunate to moderate at the Restaurant Leadership Conference went beyond that viewpoint to look at the considerable advantages for the business’ changing workforce.
As the panelists stressed, the foodservice labor pool has been remixed considerably by the economic downturn. No longer is it a pack of youngsters looking to earn a few fast bucks before heading off to something else. High unemployment has put more heads of households on the payroll, including a number of economic casualties from other fields. Turnover has braked dramatically, and workers are thinking in longer-range terms.
Technology is helping restaurateurs manage that new workforce more adeptly and cost-consciously, the panelists agreed. They cited such capabilities as being able to gather more information from job applicants, or to coordinate scheduling more astutely with the labor needs of any given shift.
But the technology is also helping restaurants address the sensibilities and preferences of their changed workforce. Values have shifted, with staffers showing more appreciation for variables like how much time is left for their families, or even the caliber of the technology they wield on the job. If the restaurant industry was once a haven for techno-phobes, the panelists stressed, it’s done an about-face, with young people now picking a position in part because of the technology education it affords. They don’t want to fall behind the rest of the job market in their familiarity with the latest HR software and equipment.
Free time and the more enjoyable life it affords are particularly important, and will be even more prized as the economy recovers, the panelists stressed. The families of restaurant employees will have discretionary dollars again, and managers and hourlies will want the time to indulge and enjoy.
“Being an employer of choice will be all about giving the team the best quality of life, and the time to be with their families,” said Jeff Maier, the former restaurant operator who now heads retail and hospitality marketing for Kronos, the panel’s sponsor.
He cited the trend of using technology to provide more information to restaurant employees while they’re on the go. Instead of calling or stopping by the restaurant to see when they’re scheduled or what vacancies they might be able to fill, staffer can look at their smart phones or laptops.
Jacqueline O’Rourke-Smith, senior manager of payroll operations for Red Robin, spoke of her chain’s use of technology to provide employees “a gift of time.” Recently, for instance, it rolled out a streamlined, paperless payroll system “to make the payment process as quick as possible,” she said.
The company also strives to hold the line on administrative work. For every HR initiative that’s added, “we try to simplify the business process by two or three steps,” she explained. Technology has to deliver that benefit to the employee, along with a return to the company.
Employees will challenge a new technology-based responsibility to ensure it’s not been casually dropped on them, noted Andrew Van Ermen, director of information systems for Levy Restaurants. “They will ask you, ‘Why am I doing that? What’s the purpose?’” he said.
He noted how the restaurant operator and sports feeder uses technology to shave time and aggravation off employees’ non-work time. The 750 employees who work at Dodger Stadium, for instance, are now given explicit communications about when and precisely where to report for work on a game day, he explained. They don’t have to scurry anxiously to find their outpost for that shift.
Having them punch in at stations close to where they’ll be working also averts the cost of paying an employee to walk halfway around the stadium because he or she used a distant time clock.
Van Ermen observed that employees are demanding that sort of additional, more precise information. They want their employers’ technology to provide them with the intelligence to make informed decisions, instead of relying on intuition and possibly being faulted for a bad call.
The panelists agreed that new HR technology can generate that sort of information. Indeed, they noted, it can provide data in reams if an employer wanted it. Smart users work with their vendors to provide intelligence, not numbers or unnecessary information.
“You have to get the right data in the right hands at the right time,” said Maier.
“It’s all about trying to make their lives easier,” said O’Rourke-Smith.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Putting more fiber in boards
As you probably suspected, restaurant CEOs are constantly pestering me for advice on exterior shrubbery and other headquarter flourishes. Consider this recent missive, for instance:
Dear Pietro, as I like to think of my design muse,
Like a pack of other restaurant companies, we recently recast our board to silence the jackals who’ve been yipping that our directors are too chummy with management. Just because they’re shareholders, these whiners figure they can tell us what to do. As I was griping to the board during our weekly poker game, the outsiders have no idea how to run a restaurant business, particularly one as tight-knit as ours.
But we did what they wanted—this is proxy season, after all. Like Panera Bread, Red Robin, Spicy Pickle, Noble Roman's (and soon Denny’s), to name a few, we tried to put more fiber in our board by seating some fresh blood.
So now we have plenty of newbies to haze on our quarterly fishing trips. But I was thinking we should dazzle the big-name additions by upgrading the board table itself. No more Ikea for us, my man!
But I don’t know what’s “in” with the big-bonus crowd this year. Cherry or teak? Modern or Art Deco? Reclining chairs or beanbags? And what about the ice buckets?
Please, tell me how to upgrade our board in a meaningful way. Help us deliver the professionalism that investors are badgering us to deliver.
--Designing exec
Dear Designing,
Since dueling is no longer in vogue, I can only aim a pistol at your reasoning.
For one thing, why do you even want a table or boardroom? Why aren’t the directors gathering in a restaurant, at a secluded table that would otherwise be hosting guests guests? Why not take a look at the business from the perspective of customers and employees?
And why would you want a table that could star in a Pledge commercial? A tabletop should reflect the work that’s done on it. Yours should look rougher than Keith Richards face.
Coffee rings would attest that this was the scene of late-night marathons to hammer out tough decisions, not the setting for some quick rubber-stamping between tee times. A bloodstain here or there would suggest that many an Armani had been torn in the bare-knuckled brawls over strategic direction. It’d reassure shareholders that the chairs—purposely weighted to prevent throwing—were inhabited by independent thinkers, not human bobble-head dolls that perpetually nod yes.
And the whole room should be speckled with enough food stains to make the cleaning staff throw in their scrub rags. Restaurants companies are in the business of selling food and beverage, yet menu issues are seen as trifling matters beneath the dignity of a board. Leave that to some senior citizens you lure in from the mall for a focus group.
You’ll find plenty of distribution experts serving as restaurant-company directors (including two in the past week’s wave of new appointees). But except for Steve Ells of Chipotle and Kerry Kramp at Sizzler, are there any true menu specialists, any trained chefs or R&D pros, currently serving on the board of a public restaurant company? Directors in whites are rarer than good Martin Short movies. And that’s just wrong.
Indeed, there’s a lot that’s wrong with restaurant boards. This season has brought more changes in composition than the industry has seen in years. The incoming class includes such standouts as Lloyd Hill, the longtime CEO and director of Applebee’s (now at Red Robin’s table); Mo Siegel, founder of the Celestial Seasonings tea company, now advising the Spicy Pickle chain; and Thomas Lynch, who’s returning to a seat on Panera’s board after proving during a Kona Grill conference call that he’ll speak up when he sees something that troubles him about the management of a company.
Still, the industry has a lot of work to do. Insiders say there’s the lingering tendency to keep someone in a board seat because he’s been with the company from its inception and deserves to be recognized as an elder statesman. Never mind that he made shakes or managed the prototype unit, flexing skills that have little to do with directing a big public company.
That situation is certainly far less common today, a testament to how far the industry has come. But it still has a ways to go, and that’s a movement that can’t be tabled.
Dear Pietro, as I like to think of my design muse,
Like a pack of other restaurant companies, we recently recast our board to silence the jackals who’ve been yipping that our directors are too chummy with management. Just because they’re shareholders, these whiners figure they can tell us what to do. As I was griping to the board during our weekly poker game, the outsiders have no idea how to run a restaurant business, particularly one as tight-knit as ours.
But we did what they wanted—this is proxy season, after all. Like Panera Bread, Red Robin, Spicy Pickle, Noble Roman's (and soon Denny’s), to name a few, we tried to put more fiber in our board by seating some fresh blood.
So now we have plenty of newbies to haze on our quarterly fishing trips. But I was thinking we should dazzle the big-name additions by upgrading the board table itself. No more Ikea for us, my man!
But I don’t know what’s “in” with the big-bonus crowd this year. Cherry or teak? Modern or Art Deco? Reclining chairs or beanbags? And what about the ice buckets?
Please, tell me how to upgrade our board in a meaningful way. Help us deliver the professionalism that investors are badgering us to deliver.
--Designing exec
Dear Designing,
Since dueling is no longer in vogue, I can only aim a pistol at your reasoning.
For one thing, why do you even want a table or boardroom? Why aren’t the directors gathering in a restaurant, at a secluded table that would otherwise be hosting guests guests? Why not take a look at the business from the perspective of customers and employees?
And why would you want a table that could star in a Pledge commercial? A tabletop should reflect the work that’s done on it. Yours should look rougher than Keith Richards face.
Coffee rings would attest that this was the scene of late-night marathons to hammer out tough decisions, not the setting for some quick rubber-stamping between tee times. A bloodstain here or there would suggest that many an Armani had been torn in the bare-knuckled brawls over strategic direction. It’d reassure shareholders that the chairs—purposely weighted to prevent throwing—were inhabited by independent thinkers, not human bobble-head dolls that perpetually nod yes.
And the whole room should be speckled with enough food stains to make the cleaning staff throw in their scrub rags. Restaurants companies are in the business of selling food and beverage, yet menu issues are seen as trifling matters beneath the dignity of a board. Leave that to some senior citizens you lure in from the mall for a focus group.
You’ll find plenty of distribution experts serving as restaurant-company directors (including two in the past week’s wave of new appointees). But except for Steve Ells of Chipotle and Kerry Kramp at Sizzler, are there any true menu specialists, any trained chefs or R&D pros, currently serving on the board of a public restaurant company? Directors in whites are rarer than good Martin Short movies. And that’s just wrong.
Indeed, there’s a lot that’s wrong with restaurant boards. This season has brought more changes in composition than the industry has seen in years. The incoming class includes such standouts as Lloyd Hill, the longtime CEO and director of Applebee’s (now at Red Robin’s table); Mo Siegel, founder of the Celestial Seasonings tea company, now advising the Spicy Pickle chain; and Thomas Lynch, who’s returning to a seat on Panera’s board after proving during a Kona Grill conference call that he’ll speak up when he sees something that troubles him about the management of a company.
Still, the industry has a lot of work to do. Insiders say there’s the lingering tendency to keep someone in a board seat because he’s been with the company from its inception and deserves to be recognized as an elder statesman. Never mind that he made shakes or managed the prototype unit, flexing skills that have little to do with directing a big public company.
That situation is certainly far less common today, a testament to how far the industry has come. But it still has a ways to go, and that’s a movement that can’t be tabled.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Talk about your hot seats
They’re dead men walking—three longtime CEOs, all with unusual backgrounds for a restaurant official, all having served for considerable stretches in the corner office.
Each still has his job for the time being, with no indication they’re backing off the charge of captaining chains through the Great Recession. Yet for Dennis Mullen of Red Robin, Nelson Marchioli of Denny’s, and Andrew Puzder of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, it’s just a matter of time until they’re sitting with an HR representative, going over their exit packages and stock options.
Each is the victim of a peculiar time warp. Two pronounced trends of the pre-Recession industry have popped back up like spring crocuses to undermine their tenure. Private equity firms are back on the prowl for restaurant bargains, and, suddenly, activist investors are barking orders again to the management of publicly owned chains, as Mullen and Marchioli can readily attest.
In Mullen’s case, the dissatisfied shareholders already have goaded his company to form the committee that will select the next CEO. Meanwhile, the company is publicly saying that it expects Mullen to continue serving as chief of the casual-dining chain until his contract expires in December—of 2012.
It’s like the warden coming to size up a condemned man’s bunk while the gallows is still being built, then asking if the guy can put in a few hours on the license-plate line the morning of his hanging.
But that’s hardly the only weirdness to the situations. On Feb. 26, CKE Restaurants announced that it’d agreed to be acquired by Thomas H. Lee Partners, the private-equity company that also owns a big stake in Dunkin’ Donuts. The announcement was immediately followed by speculation that the buyer would give Puzder the heave-ho because of the weak recent performance of CKE, particularly its Carl’s chain.
On the very same day, Puzder was named the 2010 winner of the Silver Plate Award for the quick-service sector. One of the industry’s most celebrated honor, the Silver Plate recognizes the executive who’s done the most outstanding job within his or her respective market segment. In short, Puzder was being named the best in his field on the same day the internet buzzed with certainty that he was about to feel a silvery axe.
Meanwhile, as one of nine Silver Plate winners, Puzder could still be named the industry’s operator of the year, the winner of the Gold Plate Award, in May. The voting for that honor was conducted earlier in February. So he could get a pink slip and a Gold Plate almost simultaneously.
Interestingly, all three of the marked executives hail from decidedly non-traditional backgrounds for restaurant chain leaders. Puzder, for instance, was a lawyer who came to the business after the holding company that owned Carl’s Jr. went out and added Hardee’s to its portfolio. Involvement on the legal side led to broader executive responsibilities and ultimately a top-level executive post.
Mullen started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the nation’s largest accounting firms. He also logged time with Boston Chicken, serving as its CFO, as well as the brands that now constitute Eateries Inc. He’s been CEO of Red Robin for four-and-a-half years.
Marchioli is the only restaurant CEO to my knowledge who climbed to that post through purchasing and quality assurance, the nitty-gritty operations that are critical to a company’s viability, but seldom get any appreciation from outsiders. He was a bug hunter.
He may find himself grappling with a different sort of nuisance, at least from his standpoint. Two investment groups have demanded that they be given three seats on Denny’s board. In making that demand, the stakeholders provided a list of complaints about the company’s management, including its breakfast giveaway.
That program has been one of Marchioli’s most publicized undertakings. Some might say it’s one of the things he’ll be remembered for.
Each still has his job for the time being, with no indication they’re backing off the charge of captaining chains through the Great Recession. Yet for Dennis Mullen of Red Robin, Nelson Marchioli of Denny’s, and Andrew Puzder of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, it’s just a matter of time until they’re sitting with an HR representative, going over their exit packages and stock options.
Each is the victim of a peculiar time warp. Two pronounced trends of the pre-Recession industry have popped back up like spring crocuses to undermine their tenure. Private equity firms are back on the prowl for restaurant bargains, and, suddenly, activist investors are barking orders again to the management of publicly owned chains, as Mullen and Marchioli can readily attest.
In Mullen’s case, the dissatisfied shareholders already have goaded his company to form the committee that will select the next CEO. Meanwhile, the company is publicly saying that it expects Mullen to continue serving as chief of the casual-dining chain until his contract expires in December—of 2012.
It’s like the warden coming to size up a condemned man’s bunk while the gallows is still being built, then asking if the guy can put in a few hours on the license-plate line the morning of his hanging.
But that’s hardly the only weirdness to the situations. On Feb. 26, CKE Restaurants announced that it’d agreed to be acquired by Thomas H. Lee Partners, the private-equity company that also owns a big stake in Dunkin’ Donuts. The announcement was immediately followed by speculation that the buyer would give Puzder the heave-ho because of the weak recent performance of CKE, particularly its Carl’s chain.
On the very same day, Puzder was named the 2010 winner of the Silver Plate Award for the quick-service sector. One of the industry’s most celebrated honor, the Silver Plate recognizes the executive who’s done the most outstanding job within his or her respective market segment. In short, Puzder was being named the best in his field on the same day the internet buzzed with certainty that he was about to feel a silvery axe.
Meanwhile, as one of nine Silver Plate winners, Puzder could still be named the industry’s operator of the year, the winner of the Gold Plate Award, in May. The voting for that honor was conducted earlier in February. So he could get a pink slip and a Gold Plate almost simultaneously.
Interestingly, all three of the marked executives hail from decidedly non-traditional backgrounds for restaurant chain leaders. Puzder, for instance, was a lawyer who came to the business after the holding company that owned Carl’s Jr. went out and added Hardee’s to its portfolio. Involvement on the legal side led to broader executive responsibilities and ultimately a top-level executive post.
Mullen started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the nation’s largest accounting firms. He also logged time with Boston Chicken, serving as its CFO, as well as the brands that now constitute Eateries Inc. He’s been CEO of Red Robin for four-and-a-half years.
Marchioli is the only restaurant CEO to my knowledge who climbed to that post through purchasing and quality assurance, the nitty-gritty operations that are critical to a company’s viability, but seldom get any appreciation from outsiders. He was a bug hunter.
He may find himself grappling with a different sort of nuisance, at least from his standpoint. Two investment groups have demanded that they be given three seats on Denny’s board. In making that demand, the stakeholders provided a list of complaints about the company’s management, including its breakfast giveaway.
That program has been one of Marchioli’s most publicized undertakings. Some might say it’s one of the things he’ll be remembered for.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tweet this
Social-media and other online marketing may be all the rage for restaurant chains right now. But when Red Robin wanted to generate some buzz for a limited-time promotional product, it decided the Old Media approach of a coupon drop would work just fine. And it bet right.
Coupons were sent to 5,000 households within a three-mile radius of participating company-run restaurants, chief marketing officer Susan Lintonsmith explained to financial analysts during a call. The call was held in late May, but a transcript wasn’t released by the financial site SeekingAlpha.com until this morning.
The coupons entitled the recipient to a $3 discount on Red Robins’ Burning Love Burger, a spiced-up sandwich served with Jalapeno Coins, a side made from the spicy peppers. The item was touted as a limited-time item. Translation: Get it while you can.
About 8% of the recipients used the coupon, “Which is significantly higher than what is typical for these type of mailings,” Lintonsmith said. She noted that the targeted mailing was complemented with online advertising, including banner ads and videos.
The acceptance prompted Red Robin to add the Burning Love as a permanent offering last month.
The mall-based chain switched its promotional focus to sliders last month. The key marketing components were 15-second cable spots—and another coupon drop.
Coupons were sent to 5,000 households within a three-mile radius of participating company-run restaurants, chief marketing officer Susan Lintonsmith explained to financial analysts during a call. The call was held in late May, but a transcript wasn’t released by the financial site SeekingAlpha.com until this morning.
The coupons entitled the recipient to a $3 discount on Red Robins’ Burning Love Burger, a spiced-up sandwich served with Jalapeno Coins, a side made from the spicy peppers. The item was touted as a limited-time item. Translation: Get it while you can.
About 8% of the recipients used the coupon, “Which is significantly higher than what is typical for these type of mailings,” Lintonsmith said. She noted that the targeted mailing was complemented with online advertising, including banner ads and videos.
The acceptance prompted Red Robin to add the Burning Love as a permanent offering last month.
The mall-based chain switched its promotional focus to sliders last month. The key marketing components were 15-second cable spots—and another coupon drop.
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