Wednesday, April 30, 2008

How will you handle the “Perfect Storm?” It’s headed your way. Immigration policies, rising food costs, limited supplies of rice, wheat, flour, unemployment, rising gas prices, and of course guests that are cutting back on their restaurant visits. Where will restaurants be 5 years from now? How many will survive? A lot of the chains won’t make it. They’ll end up closing non-profitable units. The indy’s have the greatest chance of making it through the storm if they implement “community marketing”—making an impact on their community in every way possible and converting their email list into communities of like-minded guests.

Posted by jcohen in • Restaurant Marketing
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Saturday, April 26, 2008

Pizza Fusion serves up organic pizza—gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan toppings and extending to the stores’ recycled blue jeans insulation, potato starch utensils and countertops made out of recycled glass soda bottles from other Pizza Fusion stores. For the complete story, click on: Organic Pizza.

Posted by jcohen in • Restaurant Marketing
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Friday, April 25, 2008

People are looking for that charbroil taste in their burgers, especially in the summertime. With too many restaurants serving greasy patties, serving flame cooked burgers inside can deliver that outdoor flavor. In fact, burgers look better when they’re charbroiled ... they’ve got those grill marks that only come from a steel cooking surface over an open flame. 

Increase your burger and even chicken sales by offering charbroiled products ... and charge a premium for them. For more on how to do this and the equipment you’ll need, check out this great restaurant equipment web site.

Posted by jcohen in • Restaurant Marketing
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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Just got back from a strategy session that turned into a vendor presentation for a hotel in Chicago. Why is it so difficult to understand that:
1. You don’t market hotel roooms the same way you market a chain of restaurants
2. You must start off with a goal then develop the goal into a plan

Nevertheless, for a great family experience, visit Key Lime Cove Hotel in the northern suburbs of Chicago. It’s a true blast. It’s like going to a tropical island without having to fly there. A great 48 hour escape.

Posted by jcohen in • Restaurant Marketing
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Monday, April 07, 2008

Great post from Simplenomics—

I went to pick up our lunches and the hostess was, how shall we put this …. stupid ? An idiot ? Worthless ? I asked her if I could pick up a couple of sandwiches to go and she said she would try to find someone to take my order, but ” … they all are real good at hiding out in their places and I have trouble finding them, but when I hide, they find me. “

About 15 minutes into my ordeal, a mother and son came in. The boy looked to be 14 to 16. The hostess with the leastess says to the young man, ” Why ain’t you in school ? “ Not Hi, not welcome to XXX, not anything that you’d expect from a hostess.

The young man said, ” I’m homeschooled. ”

So The Brain says, ” Oh, that means you get to play hooky and eat lunch. “

I myself went to a public school and ate lunch every day, so I don’t know where she went or if she actually went.

So here’s the questions I have:

Will that mother and son ever eat there again ?
Will the management ever find out that she’s a complete and finely tuned utter fool ?
Can she and will she affect the repeat business ?

Posted by jcohen in • Restaurant Marketing
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