BK has sweet treats for Brits, pink slips for Yanks
First there was the Whopper Bar, a more adult riff on the conventional Home of the Whopper. It focused on Whoppers, Whoppers and more Whoppers—sometimes combined into one dish (the “pizza” consists of three Whopper patties arrayed in a single layer, like pepperoni slices, on an oversized bun).
Now Burger King has unveiled another potential addition to its fold, hold the pickles, hold the lettuce. The freestanding Dessert Bar will feature BK-brand ice cream and mini-pancakes, according to the first report in the U.S. media.
The prototype is in London, which could keep it a European phenomenon. But Whopper Bars are already sprouting overseas.
The chain’s home office should have probably crowed louder about the venture. The ballyhoo might’ve drawn attention away from the news that BK’s new owner, Brazil-based 3G, is canning more than 400 people, just in time for the holidays. Reports of The King sharing a limo with Scrooge at the Dessert Bar opening have yet to be confirmed.
Friendly’s tries new menu & look
The venerable New England chain is reportedly spending $2 million to give its 17 restaurants in Albany, NY, a facelift and new food options. Details weren’t provided in the slew of local coverage, but one report did describe the new menu as “lighter.” That could be a good thing, judging from TV news coverage like this. Virtually every customer (and many of the servers) appears to be considerably overweight.
Among the items being tested are chicken wings, a turkey platter, a grilled chipotle-flavored chicken, and several new sandwiches, including a Caprese grilled-chicken option that packs just 400 calories. Otherwise, the least fattening of the trial choices is the smaller wings order, at 740 calories for six. But the menu does note that a grilled-chicken or vegetarian patty can replace the beef in any burger.
‘WARNING: Unroll at your own risk’
A Michigan courtroom may soon be turning a spotlight on a little-noticed restaurant danger: The toilet paper dispensers in the restrooms. A state court has cleared the way for a woman to pursue a lawsuit against a Texas Roadhouse in Detroit some three years after she suffered alleged injuries from a dispenser that had been left open. The woman says the lid of the device fell on her hand, breaking it.
‘Good gig, eh?’
A recent survey found that more than one in five Canadians found their first job at a restaurant. Apparently our neighbors to the North have a warmer picture of the business than we do. Seventy percent reportedly said the nation’s eateries are an important part of the economy, and 75% of the respondents who worked in restaurants characterized the experience as helpful in developing life skills. The study was sponsored by Kraft’s Canadian operation, so we doubt there were any questions about the loyalty that Starbucks has personified.
The importance of exorcising
We all know the locations: No matter what type of restaurant you put there, it bombs, usually quickly. Clearly the setting is cursed.
Rather than tempt the fates by meekly following four failures into a site in New York’s Chelsea area, the latest outlet of New York Burger Co. sought some divine help. It brought in a priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist spiritualist to bless the operation and stave off the demons of empty tables. Linda Blair has yet to put in an appearance, but plenty of reporters have, providing the newcomer with tremendous free publicity.
Showing posts with label new menu item. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new menu item. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
New coffee to pop up at Jack in the Box
Burger King grabbed the headlines this week with its agreement to start serving Seattle’s Best Coffee, Starbucks’ secondary brand. But Jack in the Box hinted yesterday that more coffee news is percolating.
While the regional burger chain is experimenting with new flavors of shakes and smoothies, “We’re also looking at our coffee program,” CEO Linda Lang told stock analysts. “More news on that later.” She was responding to a query about how the burger brand might respond to initiatives like the one that had been disclosed by BK.
“Would you consider a branded product or do you need a branded product?” the questioner pressed.
“I don’t think you necessarily need a branded product,” responded Lang. But she wasn’t providing details. “we’ve looked at the different options and will be talking about that soon.”
During the conference call, Lang also acknowledged that Jack’s Southwest Chicken Bowl, introduced late in 2009, bowl wasn’t exactly a hit.
“That was not one [of] our stronger products,” she noted, according to a transcript of the call provided by SeekingAlpha.com.
Lang explained that the item, an extension of an older line of rice-based meals in a bowl, was priced at $4.29, and many franchisees charged “significantly” more than that. She suggested going above $4 in the current environment is not prudent, adding that Jack’s just-introduced grilled sandwiches have been much better received. The sandwiches are priced at $3.99.
That prompted more head scratching by Robert Derrington, the restaurant analyst who’d asked about coffee. “Given that your company generally is pretty sophisticated about testing products before you roll them out, did you know in advance that the Southwest Bowl wouldn’t do as well, and if so why did you proceed with it?” asked Derrington, who tracks restaurant stocks for Morgan, Keegan.
Lang countered that the bowl was a niche product, and noted that new products are always tested in “limited markets,” not in a full-blown dress rehearsal.
Other revelations concerned the relatively stronger performance of Qdoba, Jack in the Box’s secondary franchise chain. The smaller but more expensive brand posted a comp-store sales decline of 1.7% for the quarter ended Jan. 17, compared with an 11.1% freefall at company-operated Jack outlets.
“:We’ve seen reports of a boost in confidence among the more affluent segment of the population while consumer confidence among those with lower income levels have remained depressed,” said Lang. “We think this helps explain the divergence in sales trends at Qdoba verses Jack in the Box.” Qdoba has the better-heeled clientele, she suggested.
While the regional burger chain is experimenting with new flavors of shakes and smoothies, “We’re also looking at our coffee program,” CEO Linda Lang told stock analysts. “More news on that later.” She was responding to a query about how the burger brand might respond to initiatives like the one that had been disclosed by BK.
“Would you consider a branded product or do you need a branded product?” the questioner pressed.
“I don’t think you necessarily need a branded product,” responded Lang. But she wasn’t providing details. “we’ve looked at the different options and will be talking about that soon.”
During the conference call, Lang also acknowledged that Jack’s Southwest Chicken Bowl, introduced late in 2009, bowl wasn’t exactly a hit.
“That was not one [of] our stronger products,” she noted, according to a transcript of the call provided by SeekingAlpha.com.
Lang explained that the item, an extension of an older line of rice-based meals in a bowl, was priced at $4.29, and many franchisees charged “significantly” more than that. She suggested going above $4 in the current environment is not prudent, adding that Jack’s just-introduced grilled sandwiches have been much better received. The sandwiches are priced at $3.99.
That prompted more head scratching by Robert Derrington, the restaurant analyst who’d asked about coffee. “Given that your company generally is pretty sophisticated about testing products before you roll them out, did you know in advance that the Southwest Bowl wouldn’t do as well, and if so why did you proceed with it?” asked Derrington, who tracks restaurant stocks for Morgan, Keegan.
Lang countered that the bowl was a niche product, and noted that new products are always tested in “limited markets,” not in a full-blown dress rehearsal.
Other revelations concerned the relatively stronger performance of Qdoba, Jack in the Box’s secondary franchise chain. The smaller but more expensive brand posted a comp-store sales decline of 1.7% for the quarter ended Jan. 17, compared with an 11.1% freefall at company-operated Jack outlets.
“:We’ve seen reports of a boost in confidence among the more affluent segment of the population while consumer confidence among those with lower income levels have remained depressed,” said Lang. “We think this helps explain the divergence in sales trends at Qdoba verses Jack in the Box.” Qdoba has the better-heeled clientele, she suggested.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
My crystal ball has some static
Call me old-fashioned, but there’s something perverse about running Christmas commercials during World Series broadcasts. Marketers are so determined to get a jump on the all-important sales season that we can only hope they’re flogging gift ideas for this year’s holidays, not 2010’s.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that the year-end prognosticators are breaking out the tea leaves and animal entrails a bit earlier this year. It’s only Dec. 1, but at least seven lists of next year’s restaurant trends have already been divined and released by wise seers.
They vary greatly, to a degree I intend to explore here when the forecast tally climbs to 10, or probably sometime tomorrow morning. But suffice it to say we’re heading into a year where restaurants will simplify their menus, use more animal innards, and hawk fried chicken the way they ballyhooed sliders in 2009. Yes, fried chicken is widely expected to be the next pork belly, or the new bacon, depending on which forecast you read.
What surprises me on first flush is how few noted the two trends that will certainly be on my predictions list, which is on the to-do list right after “Finish leftover cranberry sauce.” Perhaps that’s because they’re not really great leaps from what was happening in ’09.
Chefs and restaurants at all price levels will continue to showcase burgers, to be sure. But, as a colleague from Restuarants & Institutions noted in a recent Twitter posting, tacos are replacing burgers as the low cost/high flavor item that’s being taken up by fine-dining chefs. Rick Bayless is featuring them at Xoco, Paul Kahan is showcasing his riff at Big Star, and today brought news that Traci Des Jardins will extend her early lead in the taqueria wave by opening a second Mijita in San Francisco.
The other prediction is more of a stretch, though there is some evidence to support my supposition. I think we’re going to see the opening next year of what, for lack of a better term, I’m calling whim restaurants—places were chefs can forego a set menu and instead indulge their creativity with whatever’s seasonably available and they feel like cooking. It’s sort of like being invited over to their home for dinner.
It’s exactly what Thomas Keller is doing to great effect at his Ad Hoc in the Napa Valley, or close to what Tom Colicchio has attempted with Tom: Tuesday Dinner, one of the more creative responses we saw last year to the economic freefall. When private-room bookings tanked at Colicchio’s Craft in New York City, the chef turned one of his function spaces in a restaurant-within-a-restaurant twice a month that he called Tom: Tuesday Dinner. The hook was that he’d plan the dinner and cook it himself while you watched, just as you might at the home of a friend. Except in considerably posh surroundings, with a polished staff waiting on you.
Tom: Tuesday Dinner was only open on two non-successive Tuesdays per month. Today Colicchio told Eater NY that he plans to open a restaurant next year that will use the same approach as the limited-time Tom: Tuesday. He suggested that the menu might not change nightly, a result of what he learned with Tuesday Dinner. He explained to Eater that he and his staff needed some time to master each dinner roster. Yet it was all for naught because then the menu would change. So they decided to stay with a menu for at least two successive Tuesday sessions, he recounted.
It remains to be seen if other chefs follow those two kitchen gods in developing concepts where they can indulge their creativity as the spirit moves them.
Fortunately, with probably a few dozen more forecasts to go, we may get an indication as to whether it will happen in 2010.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that the year-end prognosticators are breaking out the tea leaves and animal entrails a bit earlier this year. It’s only Dec. 1, but at least seven lists of next year’s restaurant trends have already been divined and released by wise seers.
They vary greatly, to a degree I intend to explore here when the forecast tally climbs to 10, or probably sometime tomorrow morning. But suffice it to say we’re heading into a year where restaurants will simplify their menus, use more animal innards, and hawk fried chicken the way they ballyhooed sliders in 2009. Yes, fried chicken is widely expected to be the next pork belly, or the new bacon, depending on which forecast you read.
What surprises me on first flush is how few noted the two trends that will certainly be on my predictions list, which is on the to-do list right after “Finish leftover cranberry sauce.” Perhaps that’s because they’re not really great leaps from what was happening in ’09.
Chefs and restaurants at all price levels will continue to showcase burgers, to be sure. But, as a colleague from Restuarants & Institutions noted in a recent Twitter posting, tacos are replacing burgers as the low cost/high flavor item that’s being taken up by fine-dining chefs. Rick Bayless is featuring them at Xoco, Paul Kahan is showcasing his riff at Big Star, and today brought news that Traci Des Jardins will extend her early lead in the taqueria wave by opening a second Mijita in San Francisco.
The other prediction is more of a stretch, though there is some evidence to support my supposition. I think we’re going to see the opening next year of what, for lack of a better term, I’m calling whim restaurants—places were chefs can forego a set menu and instead indulge their creativity with whatever’s seasonably available and they feel like cooking. It’s sort of like being invited over to their home for dinner.
It’s exactly what Thomas Keller is doing to great effect at his Ad Hoc in the Napa Valley, or close to what Tom Colicchio has attempted with Tom: Tuesday Dinner, one of the more creative responses we saw last year to the economic freefall. When private-room bookings tanked at Colicchio’s Craft in New York City, the chef turned one of his function spaces in a restaurant-within-a-restaurant twice a month that he called Tom: Tuesday Dinner. The hook was that he’d plan the dinner and cook it himself while you watched, just as you might at the home of a friend. Except in considerably posh surroundings, with a polished staff waiting on you.
Tom: Tuesday Dinner was only open on two non-successive Tuesdays per month. Today Colicchio told Eater NY that he plans to open a restaurant next year that will use the same approach as the limited-time Tom: Tuesday. He suggested that the menu might not change nightly, a result of what he learned with Tuesday Dinner. He explained to Eater that he and his staff needed some time to master each dinner roster. Yet it was all for naught because then the menu would change. So they decided to stay with a menu for at least two successive Tuesday sessions, he recounted.
It remains to be seen if other chefs follow those two kitchen gods in developing concepts where they can indulge their creativity as the spirit moves them.
Fortunately, with probably a few dozen more forecasts to go, we may get an indication as to whether it will happen in 2010.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Ripple or the real thing?
Every trend starts with a single proponent and builds from there, adapter by adapter. Unfortunately, the process is no different for fads and flashes. The challenge for opportunity-spotters is distinguishing between the two. What, for instance, are we to make of these recent ripples in the market?
The Amway marketing approach: T.G.I. Friday’s broke a campaign in late July called BYOB, or Bring Your Own Buddy. Recruit a pal to join you at the granddaddy of casual dining and they’ll each get $5 off their meal. Apparently you can steal one of their fries, or just bask in the glow of having done something nice for a friend.
It would’ve been nothing more than a one-off for the industry is Arby’s hadn’t begun a campaign this month called Friends and Family Feast. If a group of five visits a unit together, they get five roast beef sandwiches for $5, and all sides for a mere $1 each. The more, the thriftier.
As Wendy’s/Arby’s CEO Roland Smith explained, the program is intended to bolster frequency, apparently through peer pressure. The chain has qualified 50% of its patrons as “medium users” who might be coaxed to add another trip here or there. Getting them to visit just one more time a year can boost a store’s comp sales by 3%, according to Smith.
So is this patron-as-guest-recruiter approach a trend or a fad? My projection: It’ll be another marketing tactic, another arrow in the quiver that’s put in play from time to time because of its novelty. So my final answer: Neither.
New product mania: Back in the spring, Quiznos CEO Rick Schaden sent a scooter to every headquarters staffer, explaining that they had to move faster in adapting to market trends. He cited product development as an area of focus, but left unaddressed the matter of how.
Yesterday, Schaden detailed the process for making that happen. Or so he attests. It’s called Flex Plan, and it aims to match new items to patrons’ financial situation. “The key is to provide the right food at the right time for the right price,” he said.
If times are tough, Schaden explained, the chain’s R&D department will churn out bargain items like the $3 Toasty Bullet or $4 Toasty Torpedo. And when better times return, he continued, the focus will shift to indulgence items, like double-meat sandwiches.
And regardless of what’s coming down the pipeline, he says, the set-up will streamline the process, yielding fast, more efficient introductions.
While that system is being adopted chainwide, Wendy’s is already reaping the benefits from an R&D overhaul, according to CEO Smith. The chain has “developed a very strong new product pipeline,” he assured investors. “By the end of the year we will have tested at least 14 new products, which is more than Wendy’s has tested in a single year in quite a long time.”
Then there’s the hyperactivity of chains like Mimi’s, Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s, Jack in the Box, McDonald’s and Burger King. New products are flying into the market like a pack of third-graders being released for recess. Is this heightened R&D activity a wave that’ll be with us for awhile? You betcha. Definitely a trend.
Commence the shopping spree: In what should have been a routine earnings release, The Steak n Shake Co. revealed yesterday that it’s restructured itself into a holding company with assets consisting of a lone restaurant chain, the Steak ‘n’ Shake retro brand. Why a holding company with one business?
“The company may pursue investments in the form of acquisitions, joint ventures, and partnerships either related or unrelated to its ongoing business activities,” explained a passage of the earnings release that was probably penned by securities lawyers.
That development followed a report in Saturday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Roark Capital, the private-equity firm that owns McAlister’s Deli and a group of restaurant brands (Moe’s Southwest Grill, Schlotzsky’s, Carvel, Cinnabon) franchised by Focus Group. The story explained that Roark expects to complete as many deals in the current year as it consummated in the previous eight, with several set to close by November.
“We feel like we’re ready to start investing again,” Roark managing partner Neal Aronson told the AJC’s Joe Guy Collier.
Sandwiched between those two instances of check-book rattling was the announcement that Church’s fried-chicken chain had officially been sold, some three months after a deal was announced.
So is this the start of a buying trend? Are companies shopping for restaurant companies again?
After a virtual halt this year in restaurant deals, it certainly feels that way. But it’s all relative. For one thing, private-equity companies are usually the wheeler-dealers in such a spree. They buy, they sell.
This time around, many of them are stuck on the seller side of the table, trying to peddle the chains they amassed in better times. Foreign companies may be the new shoppers. But how active will they be?
My prediction: There’ll be a flurry of activity that feels like a cut-rate auction. But it’ll take awhile to see M&A come close to the level we saw before the Great Recession.
But what’s your assessment? I’d love to hear some discussion about which might be a fad and which might be the start of an actual trend.
The Amway marketing approach: T.G.I. Friday’s broke a campaign in late July called BYOB, or Bring Your Own Buddy. Recruit a pal to join you at the granddaddy of casual dining and they’ll each get $5 off their meal. Apparently you can steal one of their fries, or just bask in the glow of having done something nice for a friend.
It would’ve been nothing more than a one-off for the industry is Arby’s hadn’t begun a campaign this month called Friends and Family Feast. If a group of five visits a unit together, they get five roast beef sandwiches for $5, and all sides for a mere $1 each. The more, the thriftier.
As Wendy’s/Arby’s CEO Roland Smith explained, the program is intended to bolster frequency, apparently through peer pressure. The chain has qualified 50% of its patrons as “medium users” who might be coaxed to add another trip here or there. Getting them to visit just one more time a year can boost a store’s comp sales by 3%, according to Smith.
So is this patron-as-guest-recruiter approach a trend or a fad? My projection: It’ll be another marketing tactic, another arrow in the quiver that’s put in play from time to time because of its novelty. So my final answer: Neither.
New product mania: Back in the spring, Quiznos CEO Rick Schaden sent a scooter to every headquarters staffer, explaining that they had to move faster in adapting to market trends. He cited product development as an area of focus, but left unaddressed the matter of how.
Yesterday, Schaden detailed the process for making that happen. Or so he attests. It’s called Flex Plan, and it aims to match new items to patrons’ financial situation. “The key is to provide the right food at the right time for the right price,” he said.
If times are tough, Schaden explained, the chain’s R&D department will churn out bargain items like the $3 Toasty Bullet or $4 Toasty Torpedo. And when better times return, he continued, the focus will shift to indulgence items, like double-meat sandwiches.
And regardless of what’s coming down the pipeline, he says, the set-up will streamline the process, yielding fast, more efficient introductions.
While that system is being adopted chainwide, Wendy’s is already reaping the benefits from an R&D overhaul, according to CEO Smith. The chain has “developed a very strong new product pipeline,” he assured investors. “By the end of the year we will have tested at least 14 new products, which is more than Wendy’s has tested in a single year in quite a long time.”
Then there’s the hyperactivity of chains like Mimi’s, Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s, Jack in the Box, McDonald’s and Burger King. New products are flying into the market like a pack of third-graders being released for recess. Is this heightened R&D activity a wave that’ll be with us for awhile? You betcha. Definitely a trend.
Commence the shopping spree: In what should have been a routine earnings release, The Steak n Shake Co. revealed yesterday that it’s restructured itself into a holding company with assets consisting of a lone restaurant chain, the Steak ‘n’ Shake retro brand. Why a holding company with one business?
“The company may pursue investments in the form of acquisitions, joint ventures, and partnerships either related or unrelated to its ongoing business activities,” explained a passage of the earnings release that was probably penned by securities lawyers.
That development followed a report in Saturday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Roark Capital, the private-equity firm that owns McAlister’s Deli and a group of restaurant brands (Moe’s Southwest Grill, Schlotzsky’s, Carvel, Cinnabon) franchised by Focus Group. The story explained that Roark expects to complete as many deals in the current year as it consummated in the previous eight, with several set to close by November.
“We feel like we’re ready to start investing again,” Roark managing partner Neal Aronson told the AJC’s Joe Guy Collier.
Sandwiched between those two instances of check-book rattling was the announcement that Church’s fried-chicken chain had officially been sold, some three months after a deal was announced.
So is this the start of a buying trend? Are companies shopping for restaurant companies again?
After a virtual halt this year in restaurant deals, it certainly feels that way. But it’s all relative. For one thing, private-equity companies are usually the wheeler-dealers in such a spree. They buy, they sell.
This time around, many of them are stuck on the seller side of the table, trying to peddle the chains they amassed in better times. Foreign companies may be the new shoppers. But how active will they be?
My prediction: There’ll be a flurry of activity that feels like a cut-rate auction. But it’ll take awhile to see M&A come close to the level we saw before the Great Recession.
But what’s your assessment? I’d love to hear some discussion about which might be a fad and which might be the start of an actual trend.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Beverage wars give rise to healthy counter-attack
Fast-food chains are scrambling like frat boys at a kegger to grab more coffee and smoothie servings. So how are the intended victims protecting their cup counts? In one of the great ironies of the business, drink specialists are countering with promises of better fast food.
The Reuters news service carried an exclusive yesterday about Starbucks’ plan to replace its anemic food offerings with a new line-up of better-for-you choices. "Food has been the Achilles' heel of the company,” executive vice president of marketing Michelle Gass told reporter Lisa Baertlein. “That statement will be long buried after we launch this program."
The new selections will reportedly include salads, breakfast sandwiches made with egg whites, and a variety of baked goods sweetened with sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup, which nutrition scolds put in the same category as Communism, puppy kicking and bathroom-grout mold.
The baked products will also be produced without dyes or artificial flavorings. Preservatives will also be eliminated wherever possible, Starbucks said. The new array’s tagline will be “Real Food. Simply Delicious,” Gass told Reuters.
The news came to light a few days after Jamba Juice informed investors that it expects a new menu of “healthy on-the-go” food choices to generate as much as every fifth sales dollar (see below). Included are grab-and-go wraps, salads and sandwiches.
The meal-in-a-cup specialist is also encroaching on Starbucks’ turf a bit with new cold teas. Then again, Starbucks plans to extend its Vivanno smoothies line.
Friday, April 24, 2009
At a time of menu makeovers, BJ's resets the bar
It looks as if restaurant chains have been pumping espresso into their menu development staffs again. A current project requires me to study recent changes in the bills of fare for several dozen major concepts, and the turnover is astounding. An OSHA crackdown may be in the offing, because some test-kitchen crews are clearly being worked 'round the clock.
Next month could bring a new standard to beat. Yesterday the CEO of BJ’s Restaurants ticked off the changes that’ll be evident in the casual chain’s May menu—as “many as 25 to 27,” said Jerry Deitchle.
Included, he said, will be “10 to 12 new bar drink recipes,” an effort that complements BJ’s ongoing efforts to add more craft beers, upgrade its wine selection, and adopt a “more contemporary” non-alcoholic beverage program.
Other changes include the addition of two new full-size pizzas, a flatbread appetizer pizza, an “absolutely terrific” Thai shrimp lettuce wrap, a new version of Texas-style chicken-fried steak, an updated pot roast, a revamped an renamed Italian chopped salad, and new presentations of its crispy potato skins and meatloaf.
The overhaul was based on a what officials described as a gap analysis of what competitors didn’t offer.
“We didn’t look and say, gee, we need to have a $5.95 lunch bowl or some $5.95 lunch item or a $9 item that we could bring in there,” CFO Greg Levin told analysts during the conference call. It's not "a value perspective that maybe you’re seeing from of [our] peers."
Meanwhile, a store in Austin is testing BJ’s gamble that it can become “the premiere retailer of craft beer in casual dining,” in Deitchle’s words. He explained that BJ’s proprietary brews are “surrounded” by 24 craft beers on tap. The set-up increased the likelihood that patrons would order beer, and boosted the overall average check, he disclosed.
The extended array has already been rolled into at least 20 more stores, Deitchle indicated. “We’re still learning a bit from it,” he said, but “every economic and consumer indication has been very, very positive.”
At the same time, just to keep corporate chef Ray Martin busy, BJ’s is working on a new kids’ menu.
Deitchle mentioned that Martin would be rewarded for his work with a free nine-month cruise around the world. Actually, he didn’t say that, but I figured I’d plant the idea. I feel for you, Ray.
Next month could bring a new standard to beat. Yesterday the CEO of BJ’s Restaurants ticked off the changes that’ll be evident in the casual chain’s May menu—as “many as 25 to 27,” said Jerry Deitchle.
Included, he said, will be “10 to 12 new bar drink recipes,” an effort that complements BJ’s ongoing efforts to add more craft beers, upgrade its wine selection, and adopt a “more contemporary” non-alcoholic beverage program.
Other changes include the addition of two new full-size pizzas, a flatbread appetizer pizza, an “absolutely terrific” Thai shrimp lettuce wrap, a new version of Texas-style chicken-fried steak, an updated pot roast, a revamped an renamed Italian chopped salad, and new presentations of its crispy potato skins and meatloaf.
The overhaul was based on a what officials described as a gap analysis of what competitors didn’t offer.
“We didn’t look and say, gee, we need to have a $5.95 lunch bowl or some $5.95 lunch item or a $9 item that we could bring in there,” CFO Greg Levin told analysts during the conference call. It's not "a value perspective that maybe you’re seeing from of [our] peers."
Meanwhile, a store in Austin is testing BJ’s gamble that it can become “the premiere retailer of craft beer in casual dining,” in Deitchle’s words. He explained that BJ’s proprietary brews are “surrounded” by 24 craft beers on tap. The set-up increased the likelihood that patrons would order beer, and boosted the overall average check, he disclosed.
The extended array has already been rolled into at least 20 more stores, Deitchle indicated. “We’re still learning a bit from it,” he said, but “every economic and consumer indication has been very, very positive.”
At the same time, just to keep corporate chef Ray Martin busy, BJ’s is working on a new kids’ menu.
Deitchle mentioned that Martin would be rewarded for his work with a free nine-month cruise around the world. Actually, he didn’t say that, but I figured I’d plant the idea. I feel for you, Ray.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Arby's new swimsuit issue ad
Darren Rovell of CNBC spotted this ad from Arby's in the new edition of Sports Illustrated's annual swimsuit issue:
It's a teaser for a new "Roastburger." The copy suggests it'll be a premium choice, but provides no details as to what precisely differentiates it, or what it might cost. The headline taunts, "We're about to reveal something you'll really drool over."
Rovell confesses that he read the whole ad.
It's a teaser for a new "Roastburger." The copy suggests it'll be a premium choice, but provides no details as to what precisely differentiates it, or what it might cost. The headline taunts, "We're about to reveal something you'll really drool over."
Rovell confesses that he read the whole ad.
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