The Stages of Changes
Häagen-Dazs, Port of Subs,
and Saladworks are each at a
different stage of revamping their brands. We talked to them about the
challenges they’re encountering and the goals they’ve embraced. By Wendy Cuthbert
Evolution is necessary. That’s generally the
thinking behind any quick-serve chain makeover. As Kristin Cronhardt, vice
president of marketing for Port of Subs, puts it, “Customers like
seeing you spend money on your stores and updating the look and feel of
them.” Besides, there’s a risk in not doing so, she says.
“If you don’t refresh your brand and update your look and feel,
you’re going to die as a concept.”
While every revamp—from a fairly modest updating
of menus to more ambitious décor revitalizations—involves its
own set of challenges, there are some ordeals shared by most chains that
go through this process.
STAGE 1—THE BEGINNING
Dreyer’s Revamps
Häagen-Dazs Shops
WHO: Craig Whitney,
director of marketing for Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream foodservice
division.
WHAT: Häagen-Dazs, a
former Dreyer’s competitor, was bought by the Oakland,
California-based company two years ago. Dreyer’s spruced up the brand
with more contemporary packaging and a new media program. In February 2004,
the company purchased the franchise rights to the Häagen-Dazs shops.
GOAL: To bring the
shops, which were always owned by a separate entity from the retail ice
cream marketing group, in line with the overall identity of the brand.
WHEN: The company expects
to spend the first two quarters of the year tweaking its prototype store.
After that, all new stores will feature the new design.
NUMBER OF UNITS: 220
COST: TBD
Made like no other,” is the tagline for
Häagen-Dazs’s new look under Dreyer’s ownership. “It
goes back to the roots of the brand and is all about the quality of the
product and the simplicity and purity of the ingredients used in the
product,” says Craig Whitney, director of marketing for
Dreyer’s foodservice division.
When Dreyer’s purchased the franchise rights to
all Häagen-Dazs shops in February 2004, it set out to do two things:
“We wanted to make sure we were aligning the brand and marketing
message in the shops with that of the brand in other retail outlets,”
Whitney says. “And we also wanted to revitalize the shop look in
conjunction with the revitalization of the Häagen-Dazs
brand.”
The first thing Dreyer’s did was centralize all
marketing activity in the company with the Häagen-Dazs brand group.
“There’s a lot of cooperation and communication going on
between our two groups,” Whitney says.
The primary task at hand
was to align customer perception with the overall brand by integrating the
new identity—purity, simplicity—into the shops themselves. About a
year ago, Dreyer’s hired a design firm and commissioned a redesign
that combines the brand’s traditional color scheme—gold,
burgundy, black, and white—with simple and elegant building
materials. The idea was to avoid anything ostentatious or shiny and instead
present a subdued and simple-looking space. “We used the whole
concept of the spa look as the directional component of this,” Whitney
says.
The prototype shop opened
in December 2005 in San Francisco. It features a gelato-style dipping cabinet
angled so customers can see the product. “It’s putting the product on stage,”
Whitney says. The store’s two main cabinets are separated by what the
company calls a “Sweet Spot,” a station where staff can
construct the menu’s value-added products—like milkshakes and
sundaes—in front of the customer.
Research and common sense
indicate that turning away from the customer when preparing items doesn’t exactly build
relationships—and, for these higher margin items, maintaining eye
contact is key. “We’re estimating that 75–80 percent of
every menu item in a shop can be put together right there in front of the
consumer in this prep area,” Whitney says.
Meanwhile, a flat-panel monitor,
featuring television spots, hangs on the side wall of the new shop. The opposite
wall sports large-scale renditions of brand messages. “Once you step inside this
location, you’re getting wrapped around an environment that is
hitting you with brand images and messages,” Whitney explains.
For mall locations, the plan is to push the counter
back a few feet from the lease line to give the customer the feel of
walking into a shop.
Whitney is confident that
the new shop’s design
will improve the bottom line. “A newer and more attractive design
will attract folks in the front door,” he says.
The company also plans to change the mix of products
sold and has high hopes that the impact of the new Sweet Spot merchandising
element will sway people toward specialty desserts and milkshakes over
cups and cones.
“There’s nothing wrong with cups and
cones—that’s our bread and butter,” Whitney says,
“but there’s also a lot of great desserts that are made in the
Häagen-Dazs shops. We’re trying to adjust the design and bring
a merchandising element to the design so that we can entice the purchase
of those higher ticket items.”
While Whitney is optimistic
that this new design is better for business, it’s not necessarily going
to be an easy task to get franchisees aboard. But Whitney remains confident
that the benefits to being more closely aligned with the mother ship will
be obvious.
“We’re going to have a whole lot of early
adopters, based on it being a great look and they love it,” he says.
“They won’t turn a blind eye to the economics, but
they’ll see the vision.”
But others might need some
convincing, especially since the shops just underwent a facelift in 2000. Make no mistake,
it wasn’t an insignificant change. Back then, every chain was
eyeballing the successful Starbucks design, and Häagen-Dazs went the
route of integrating lighter wood elements into its shops.
The Häagen-Dazs franchise agreement stipulates
that franchisees have to remodel only once every decade. “For the
most part, we’re going to be dealing with folks who aren’t
obligated to do this,” Whitney says. “That’s why
it’s really important that we provide a can’t-miss design and a
can’t-miss economic model.”
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