The restaurant industry is changing. This time I'm not just talking about the quick-service segment. I'm talking about the industry as a whole. Fine dining, casual dining, quick service, heck, cafeteria dining--the economy has changed it all.
Anyone who watches the industry knows that fine dining is going through a bit of a crisis. Value-conscious consumers are looking elsewhere on Saturday nights out on the town and often that means trading down to casual dining or fast casuals. But yesterday at the annual conference of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, I was presented with another observation.
Full service is too stuffy. Plain and simple.
Young chefs (usually those under 35) are finding themselves bored with the fine-dining scene. Customers want value and chefs don't want to feel like they're working somewhere their parents would hang out.
As a result, they're striking out on their own and opening quick-service brands. Sure, there's no white table clothes, but that's the point. People go out to eat for the experience, the social aspect. Even if they're just standing in line at Flip Burger, a Top Chef concept, they're getting an experience. Consumers are over being seated in decadent restaurants. The recession has turned the dining scene upside down, and quick serves stand a good chance of being the new "it" restaurants.
By offering value, chef-driven menus, and a bustling atmosphere, quick serves have inadvertently stepped into the spotlight.
Move over fine dining; quick-service is coming into its own.
Starbucks new instant coffee concept Via, released last month nationwide, seems to be creating a lot of buzz, but not necessarily over the product. Rather the criticism is aimed mostly toward the Starbucks brand image and what essentially amounts to critics citing further evidence that Starbucks has sold out to mainstream America. Do you agree with the following complaints?1. Starbucks has made a name for themselves as being an environmentally sensitive company. The introduction of Via (which comes in single serving plastic packets which are not bio-degradable) seems to reject Starbucks' green reputation.
2. Starbucks has always been about kicking back in a clique coffee shop atmosphere sipping on your favorite cup of java. Endearing fans lament that Starbucks coffee is more than just coffee. It's about taking time out of your day to relax, decompress and enjoy your beverage. Conversely, Via is an instant coffee that can be brewed anywhere people can find a cup of hot water. Huh?
3. A single serving of Starbucks Via costs just under $1. In a time when so many people are cutting back on extras, who is going to pay a buck for a single cup of instant coffee? Does the quality of Starbucks Via product justify the expense without the experience?
I find it somewhat daring for Starbucks to be releasing this product, especially while the upheaval caused by attempting to rebrand their stores to be "local" is still smoldering. Is Starbucks pushing their luck on this? Will Via be the big comeback Starbucks is counting on, or will it flop the same way New Coke did in 1985? It's obviously still early in the game. So far, critics are having a heyday with Via, but as we well know, it's the consumer who has the last word.
For more than a year, we have watched, read and experienced the challenges of driving consumers to our brands, finding money to open new concepts and identifying qualified franchisees. There are signs that point to a consistent recovery incline happening as we speak. We are certainly seeing it in our Planet Smoothie and Shane's Rib Shack concepts.
Sourcing money is a different challenge, but with the stock market's impressive run, investors are returning to the game. However, they remain few and far between and so we believe dollars exist for those brands with compelling stories, differentiated products and a vision to scale beyond the four walls of their business. Let's reserve that topic for another blog entry.
That leaves us with finding good franchisees. By good we mean experienced, reasonably well capitalized and eager to be engaged in the business. If not the latter, then they better be married to an impressive GM. Today, I believe to find good franchisees, one must explore multi-concept, multi-unit, retired military, entrepreneur and what we call buddy-share (three or more colleagues investing). I also believe it takes multiple versions of franchising: traditional vs operating partner that lends itself to varying degrees of financial commitment and profitability. Once you have defined your strategy for who, then you must address the question how do you find these candidates.
Without handing over the golden goose, I can tell you it's an involved recipe of PR, Social Media, Market Tours and overall brand visibility that enables you to show up on the radar of good franchisees while not burning too much time sorting through the bad and the ugly.
Another aspect of the campaign is the slogan, "You Know When it's Real." I think this could be an effective strategy - people can generally relate to the concept of real vs. fake. Using a little bit of humor to highlight their fresh ingredients is not much different than the concept that brought us the "Where's the Beef" ads in the nineties. In an effective campaign, humor can be used to capture the audience's attention while drilling home the point of fresh ingredients.
So will this be a leg up for Wendy's? I mean, this isn't a new concept since they've never used frozen beef patties. What's different this time? Wendy's CEO, Ken Calwell, has said that the key to the freshness concept is using the word "real." Wendy's has spent a significant amount of time researching this and they are banking on the term because they think it will resonate with people. I agree. And with so many failed marketing campaigns, I think it's time they get "real".
Owen goes on to explain that there are three reasons the brand is attractive to such high-level partners. According to him, Qdoba is good for franchisees who have already built out their market with their other brands, who are looking to transition from the hard-hit casual-dining segment, and who are interested in an all-around good brand.
But, dare I remind everyone, there's a recession going on. I keep hearing that qualified (read: financed) franchisees are as hard to find as Balloon Boy. Are there even multi-concept franchisees out there that are looking to expand?
In interview after interview, I'm hearing that corporate is ready to pounce on a market but execs can't find any solid franchisees to take the reins. Banks aren't lending, the SBA is struggling, and few existing franchisees are in the market to take on another concept.
Qdoba, of course, isn't the only brand woo-ing these types of franchisees. Most brands would love to have more multi-concept partners on their teams, and some are finding them. But just like a good man, great franchisees aren't just cruising Match.com waiting to be picked up.
Where can brands find these types of people? Is it all about who you know? Or are there even big, stable, experienced franchisees even out there to be had? Tell me what you're seeing.
While some consumers think Colonel Sander's wacky plea to the UN is quite funny, others will undoubtedly think the stunt is far from humorous as well as inappropriately timed, considering the global recession, wars in the Middle East, and UN Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen just over a month away.
My thought is that YUM! Brands' screwball marketing campaign, as silly as it is, be met with serious commitment to corporate responsibility on a global level. Perhaps in their plea to the UN, they should have also promised to adhere to the UN Global Compact's Ten Principles for Corporate Sustainability. At least that way we all know that for them, responsibility comes first, even if the approach is tongue-in-cheek.
OK, which one of these doesn't belong?
If you guessed the KFC publicity stunt, I'd say you're 100 percent correct. KFC has a history of these types of antics. I remember in 2007, the company asked for the pope's blessing of its then-new KFC Fish Snacker. Did KFC ever get a response? Who knows. But the buzz was great. We covered it on our Web site, and I specifically remember telling parishoners about it that Lenten season.
Yesterday's stunt with the U.N. is really no better or worse. What it is, is unoriginal.
The motive behind the U.N. request is the company's "Grilled Nation"--the 60 million people who have tried the chicken brand's newest grilled menu item. On Monday, Oct. 26, the company is celebrating "UNFry Day" by giving away a piece of free grilled chicken to customers across the country.
If the goal is to get as many people through the door to try the product, why involve an international governing body? The pope stunt was unique, but this latest publicity attempt makes the company's marketing efforts seem unoriginal and (dare I say) annoying.
The international community is waging two major wars, battling a global recession, and trying to keep nuclear proliferation to a minimum. Does the U.N. really need KFC knocking on its door asking to sit in on talks? I think not.
It's not that the company is incapable of launching a smart marketing campaign. Just last year, it had a great one. If any of the 2008 presidential candidates mentioned world hunger in a presidential debate, the company offered to donate $20,000 to hunger relief efforts. Now, that's edgy.
All this, of course, is just my opinion. What do you think of KFC's new marketing effort? Is it time the company stops wasting people's time or is it publicity pay dirt? What other brands have you seen use these kind of tactics? Do they really work?
Either way, we're already talking about it. So I guess the joke's on us ...
Overall, I think this is a great idea. As you can tell, an 888 calorie lunch is a little over the top, but this restaurant was not afraid to put it out there. Instead of waiting for legislation to make QSRs advertise calories and other not so glamorous nutritional information on their best selling menu items, why not just tell the consumer up front what they're getting. Could this be one proactive solution to this problem of impending doom? I think so. By spelling it out for consumers, QSRs put the ball back in the consumers' court and in the process empower them to make decisions they can live with. I believe consumers will respect this decision and thank them for giving this gift of power.

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