Restaurant Leadership Complacency is not a Solution to Drive Sales

Our Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson while reading about restaurant business complacency found this on Quotabulary.com  and he thinks you will like it. “Complacency is a rigid illusion nursed by those who embrace mediocrity as a way of their life. A dangerous disguise, it also deprives people of opportunities and brings growth to a standstill”.  Is your restaurant brand stuck?

So, back in the day (2009), Domino’s awoke from a long period of brand protectionism practices, self-imposed rules that contributed to stifling sales growth, product quality, and a loss of customer relevance i.e. complacency.  Domino’s was the first major retail brand to discard it core product for and completely new one since the failed rebranding of Coco Cola. It was a huge risk.  Guess what Domino’s won. Today, Domino’s is described as a ‘Tech’ company selling pizza. That my friends is not complacency.

Domino’s did what I call Ground Branding.  It is not back to the basic’s, it is a macro step, not a micro step, it’s a step into the future of brand marketing, positioning essential for legacy brands they want continued consumer relevance.

Ground Branding means repositioning a product or a company focusing on the core foundation of the legacy product or companies’ value with a dramatic shift in contemporized customer relevance.  Simply put incremental steps are not enough today. 

In Seth Godin's book Purple Cow where an entrepreneur wants to recapture some of the magic that the brand at one time had. Godin suggests that the key to success is finding a way to stand out and be remarkable, like a purple cow in a field of regular cows. That’s what Domino’s did and the company has never looked back.

Rebuilding customer relevance is important if a brand somehow grows out of touch.  In the case of Domino’s one macro ground branding move contributed driving customer relevance and sales momentum that continues today.

According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Domino’s chose to resetting the Price, Value, Service equilibrium within pizza space with technology.  While Johnson was the first to reveal, reevaluated, and re-engineer the Price, Value, Service equilibrium and here is that new formula:  Price + Quality + Social + Portability = Value.  Domino’s has shown everyone how to look outside the box to drive relevance.

The challenged for any food retail within the Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared grocerant niche is the ability to see and understand the customers focus at its core evolve, not your brands core. Success does leave clues and companies leading the charge in 2020 will be leaders within their niche for years to come.

Food retailers that do not evolve be warned that the rest of will be reading headlines that C-level change is coming or came at your company. Without bold new leaders many legacy retail food brands may simply become non relevant. In the event that they are more about their brand than the consumer they will simply fall to the way side. Do you need outside eyes to help drive top line sale and bottom-line profits?

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions Five P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information