Saturday, September 26, 2009

Restaurant brand value 54 years in the making or is this new.


This week Sarah Lockyer wrote a piece in Nation’s Restaurant News about a study conducted in June of this year by The NPD Group. The piece did not mention “kids eat free” but is obviously the new state of the industry bandwagon marketing train that chain restaurants all have tried to board is: KIDS EAT FREE! Boring and outdated is what it truly is in addition to an industry embarrassment. The only thing innovative was watching how each chain spun the promo to investors telling them how little they would lose!
The Grocerant niche is growing because quality ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat food is showing up in unexpected places, packaged and bundled for today’s consumer. Many restaurants clinging to past success or utilizing copy cat marketing techniques are losing customers too Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores and Mobile food Trucks. Recycling C-level executives that were successful during the hay-day of the restaurant industry by mimicking or following the niche leader will not work this time around.
Positioning drives sales! Let me quote directly from Sarah’s piece “When NPD asked consumers who have cut back on restaurant visits what would entice them to visit restaurants more often, they listed discounts, something free, more dollar menu items, choice of price offerings, and other cost management options. According to the study, most consumers wanted a price discount on a regular menu item over free items or 99-cent offerings.”
Most customers wanted price discount on a regular menu item! Pricing is one of the fundamental positions in the minds eye of the consumer. Lacking innovative new products then the consumer is fee to establish for the industry a new price paradigm. The price value service equilibrium is being reset by the consumer. Free is fleeting, positioning to win and innovation will sustain you going forward.

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