Greetings!
As the date for the November elections circle inexorably closer there seems to be a palpable sense of uncertainty about the future of the business world in general and the foodservice industry in particular. It’s important to remember, however, that this is no reason to stop, “wait and see” which party takes the election-we must keep moving forward.
Your competitors aren’t. In fact, recent data from the NPD Group revealed that 1,000 new independent restaurants opened over the past year (versus nearly 2,000 chain locations), a sure sign of optimism no matter who is going to be the next tenant in the White House.
This month, we have an article on a subject that’s always important: the “mathematical” formulas that make any single restaurant a success or failure. Our new associate J. Clyde Gilfillan of JCG3 Development Inc. takes us through the equations that add up to success.
We’re also taking a look at where the concept of sustainability is netting out, at a time when local sourcing and environmental responsibility have already become givens for many operators, with the move toward transparency, animal welfare and more.
And for a food trend piece, check out the carnivorous pleasures of salumi and charcuterie-these delicious cured-meat products are showing up on more and more menus all over the country.
To your success,
Dean and Danny
Fast Food and Fast Casual: The Lines They Are a-Blurrin’
by Joan Lang
Recent efforts by Sbarro management to revitalize the aging mall-based concept into the country’s “pre-eminent” Italian fast-casual brand raises an interesting question: What exactly differentiates traditional QSRs from their newer—and more newsworthy—fast-casual competition? And how can fast-casuals continue to stay ahead when so many fast food brands are upgrading? After all, you can offer more variety and customization, which is one of the hallmarks of the fast casual niche, by simply offering more sauces and condiments.
In many ways the line between fast food and fast casual is a dotted one, but the positioning has been integral to the enviable success of concepts ranging from the well-established Chipotle and Panera Bread to the legions of nascent “better burger” chains like 25 Burgers and Shake Shack .
Both QSRs and fast-casual concepts offer speedy self-service and lower-end prices, but the prototypical fast casual concept features some if not all of the following upgrades to the experience:
- Better food quality, including more variety, ethic flavors and authenticity
- Menu prices and average checks that are 10-20% higher than those of QSRs
- More customized options, such as build-your-own burgers
- Fresh and/or made-to order menu items
- Display cooking or food prep
- Healthier menu alternatives, including vegetarian and gluten-free
- Emphasis on dine-in and take-out, rather than drive-thru
- Upgraded, less “plastic” décor (i.e., freestanding chairs) and building facilities
- A commitment to sustainability, through such efforts as green design, local or “ethical” sourcing, and/or corporate social responsibility programs
- High-tech amenities such as free wi-fi and online ordering
- Beer and wine service where applicable
- Customer appeal beyond the “heavy user” core of young adult males
It’s a field that’s about to get very crowded. This is the niche where every player seems to want a presence, especially since the Great Recession, when even affluent customers began spending more money at self-service venues. Not surprisingly QSRs have been upgrading like crazy lately in order to get into it. Even “cheap treats” like donuts are getting an upgrade.
- Wendy’s is headed more upscale, with a more contemporary new logo and an attractive “urban” prototype , as well as new menu items like the Bacon Portabella Melt.
- Taco Bell’s growing “Cantina Bell” menu notably takes the chain in the direction of Chipotle, with Lorena Garcia designed burritos and bowls.
- Subway is testing a larger and more laidback Subway Café concept, which features not only an upgraded environment but also smoothies, cappuccino and a falafel sandwich.
- Starbucks is working on a Starbucks Evenings concept that includes small plates and wine and beer—the better for becoming a more sophisticated late-night desitination.
- Quiznos is replacing its recession-era $4 “Torpedoes” with a line of $8 prime rib sandwiches (prime rib and hollandaise steak sauce, for instance) and all-natural chicken sandwiches.
Last but not least, it’s working, as the perception of QSR quality by casual-dining regulars improves.
For information on how to upgrade your QSR concept, or protect your fast casual from encroaching competition, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.
Live Fire Lights up Menus
Food prepared over an open fire never really went away, of course—it’s the original form of cooking, after all—but surging demand for all things rustic and authentic has inspired a revival in “live fire” menu concepts.
As a cooking method, fire has a lot going for it. There’s flavor, first and foremost, which can be manipulated not only with traditional methods such as marinades for meat and fresh herbs for vegetables, but also through the use of different fuels, such as applewood, mesquite and even vine cuttings. There are also the different effects produced by direct heat and indirect heat or smoking.
And then there’s the marketing value of an open fire. A restaurant that cooks with one smells heavenly—sometimes even from the street—but the backstory is fantastic, too. The sight of chefs taming the flames holds an atavistic appeal that’s hard to beat for drama.
A mini-boom of live fire restaurants in the late 1990s, led by such trendsetting restaurants as Fore Street in Portland, Maine, and Beacon in New York City (both of which are still going strong) first introduced food lovers to wood-fired grills and rotisseries.
In the intervening years, interest has intensified in such authentic cooking methods as pit-smoked regional barbecue and brick-oven pizza and breads. Now it seems like every chef wants some live fire of his or her own to cook with, including a wood fueled stone oven and an open wood grill.
• At Barrio 47, a Mediterranean restaurant in New York City, the batterie includes a custom-made wood-fired brick oven that produces flatbreads, steaks and slowly roasted meats like short ribs. Now chef Franco Barrio has inaugurated a Tuesday night Farm to Fire dinner series that draws attention to both the restaurant’s sourcing philosophies and its cooking style. The series will run the gamut from veal chop to oxtail cazuela, and finish with suckling pig
• Lakeside, David Walzog’s new seafood restaurant at the Wynn Las Vegas, features an entire menu section devoted to wood-oven roasted lobster and shellfish, along with mesquite smoked prime rib and premium steaks.
• At Embers Fire & Smoke, a new restaurant that just opened in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst the menu is arranged not by appetizers, entrees and dessert but rather by “fire” and “smoke.” For example, the fire section includes a brined, spice-rubbed chicken roasted on the wood fire, served with mashed potatoes and a Parmigiano-Reggiano broth with white wine, garlic, and shallots. Smoked items include traditional beef brisket and ribs, as well as trout and a stuffed entrée potato, roasted then smoked and served with brisket, pulled pork, cheddar, onion strings, and barbecue sauce.
• In Washington, DC, “Top Chef” Mike Isabella has opened Graffiato, where the wood oven turns out not only a variety of creative pizzas but also proteins ranging from seared scallops and charred octopus to crispy lamb and pork ribs
• Even in regulation-conscious Southern California, there’s wood oven smoke rising: Florent Marneau uses his wood-fired oven at Marche Moderne in Costa Mesa to turn out the likes of tarte flambée (a thin-crusted Alsatian tart topped with ham, caramelized onion, crème fraîche and Gruyere); roasted marrow served with toast, sauce Bordelaise, truffle butter and grilled asparagus; calamari with caper emulsion, lemon, parsley and garlic croutons; and roasted sea bass with tarragon-clam sauce, chanterelle mushrooms and crushed fingerling potatoes.
For more information on food trends and cooking techniques to liven up your menu, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.
Uncommon Cures for the Slow Night
Most restaurants have a slow period, depending upon their location. Perhaps it’s a daypart or day of the week, like Saturday lunch or Tuesday night. Perhaps it’s during a season when the usual customers are doing something else, like paying their taxes or headed south for the winter. Or perhaps it’s due to an external event beyond their control, like playoff games or construction on the street outside.
Fortunately, there are ways to cope that go beyond the inevitable—and possibly brand-damaging—strategy of couponing. In fact, the best business builders provide a bonus, such as bringing in a new type of clientele or allowing the kitchen to test new menu items. For example:
1. Although most of its lunch menu is streamlined for the business crowd, Big Jones, which specializes in “heirloom Southern cuisine” in Chicago, courts a more leisurely lunch crowd with its new “Boarding House Lunch ca 1933.” Served family-style for all party members, the $16-per-person feast includes biscuits and cornbread, and fried chicken with sides. Dessert is extra, but includes such choices as buttermilk pie and Warm Coriander Oat Cake.
2. Dear Mom restaurant in San Francisco puts a spin on the more typical Industry Night promotion by featuring a “bartender’s brunch” (also open to other late risers) that lasts until 5 p.m. The menu features handover-curing foods like a Fog Cutter egg sandwich and roasted Brussels with lardo, fried egg, and lemon-horseradish crème fraîche—often prepared by guest chefs so the Dear Mom crew can sleep in, too.
3. In Los Angeles, AOC’s “Flights & Bites on Monday Nights” comprises a well-publicized schedule of a particular type of wine (i.e., Portuguese Dry Wines or Nebbiolo), priced at $12 and paired with $10 small plates of complementary cuisine.
4. Restaurants in Denver do an annual Ballpark Plates food festival in August, where $25-$30 tickets allow the buyer to sample from 21 different menus in the Ballpark Neighborhood.
5. Concord Cheese Shop in Concord, MA, has a Friday Night Dinner Club promo which comprises a three-course takeout meal designed to promote romance and relaxation for customers at the end of a hectic week. The selection includes a seasonal appetizer, main course and dessert, plus a complementary bottle of wine, for $75 for two.
6. Among the many nightly Happy Hour promos (a “Case of the Mondays” $5 cocktails, “Champagne Tuesdays”) designed to build early evening business at Lemaire in Richmond, Va., is the Friday night “His and Her Night,” featuring $5 Cosmos and Manhattans for the end of the work week.
7. Yusho, a yakitori restaurant in Chicago (yakitori is a concept where the bill can add up quickly), has recently begun serving Dinner on Sunday night, with a simple menu of five new noodle dishes, plus soft-serve and a housemade soda or draft cocktail for the new customer-inducing price of $20.
8. The newly renovated Five Crowns restaurant features an elaborate $100 per person specially created, multi-course Friday Night Chef’s Supper series which also allows new chef Greg Harrison to test new menu items.
9. To fill more of its 400 seats during late-night hours, Red Door in Chicago implemented a new 10 p.m.-2 a.m. tamale menu, priced at $3 per tamale, with such fillings as bulgogi pork and kimchi, corned beef and cabbage, buffalo chicken, and duck a l’orange—most of which is extra production from the regular dinner menu.
10. The 7-8 p.m. weekend prime time window can be the bane of a restaurant’s existence; Manhattan’s Le Cirque is one of several restaurants using airline-type “load factor” variable pricing to encourage customers to dine at less busy times. Meals are discounted or subsidized by reservation time or night through Gilt City coupons and other tools, and the restaurant fills more tables.
11. Sel de la Terre, a French restaurant in Boston, has instituted a Late Night Seoul Kitchen noodle bar menu that offers lower prices and more casual dining, with Korean fried chicken, steamed buns and noodle soups, all appealing to younger diners, industry types, and other late-nighters.
12. Wednesday night is Date Night at Tao in Brunswick, ME, with a choice of four different prix fixe menu options, priced $40 for 2 to $60 for 2, for a series of 6-8 courses. Most of these are items off the regular menu, which simplifies matters for the kitchen but still offers customers an interesting meal at a good price.
Tip of the Month
For more information on fast food versus fast casual, check out the article “Fast Food vs. Fast Casual: What Consumers are Seeking” from a recent American Express Market Briefing.