Everyday People

Operators find sales-building opportunities in everyday operations

By Allison Perlik, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 8/15/2004

Sisters Irene Makris and Angela Mitchell haven’t kept their restaurant, Artist’s Café, a Chicago tradition for 43 years by sticking to the status quo. This summer, the fourth-generation owners of the casual-dining spot are taking advantage of their prime real estate along the city’s south Michigan Avenue thoroughfare to tout a new international menu.

Focusing on a different country each day with items that rotate weekly, the menu targets both regular customers and the scores of tourists and locals expected to visit Millennium Park, the city’s new, 24.5-acre park and entertainment complex located directly across the street.

Guests with pets in tow can be seated outside at Bliss' K-9 Café.

Makris and Mitchell’s approach combines two critical elements that are helping foodservice operations of all kinds meet the challenge of perpetually boosting sales: knowing one’s audience, and appealing directly to that audience with targeted strategies that go beyond short-lived promotions to become ingrained in the fabric of the business.

Delivering the Goods
Consider Erbert & Gerbert’s Subs & Clubs, a 26-unit sandwich chain based in Eau Claire, Wis. The company planted its roots near college campuses but now uses the late-night hours and local delivery policy that goes along with these locales to expand its audience to off-shift workers at manufacturing plants, factories, hospitals and other businesses.

To alert potential customers at such businesses of its delivery policy (no minimum order required and a fee of $.35 per sandwich) as well as its night-owl hours (many locations are open daily until 2:30 a.m. and some extend to 3:30 a.m.), franchisees and employees visit their workplaces, handing out menus and sometimes free samples. Once the word spreads, single sandwich orders give way to group deliveries, says Director of Marketing and Brand Development Michelle Ranum.

The appeal of delivery, especially for products beyond the traditional pizza, extends to other target customer groups as well.

54%
Percentage of restaurant operators reporting same-store sales gains between May 2003 and May 2004, according to the National Restaurant Association’s most recent Restaurant Performance Index.

Upscale-casual barbecue restaurant Zeke’s Smokehouse recently opened its second California location in the entertainment industry bastion of West Hollywood, Calif. Partner Leonard Schwartz, a former partner at Beverly Hills mainstay Maple Drive, is reaching out to that community using ads in movie-and-television trade publications as well as his own connections to contact potential diners directly and send them menus. Besides delivery, Zeke’s also has the capacity to cater parties and even special meals on movie sets using its portable smoker.

“A barbecue concept like this lends itself well to takeout, delivery and catering, and the entertainment industry does a lot of all that,” Schwartz says.

For Boca Raton, Fla.-based Rotelli Pizza & Pasta, delivering its full menu in addition to pizza builds business among the hotel guests the chain selectively targets. The company approaches hotel managers to get pizza-shaped discs with menus, prices and store phone numbers placed in rooms for easy guest access. Occasionally, the chain even provides pizza parties for hotel employees to maintain the relationships.

Like Erbert & Gerbert’s, Rotelli also makes sure area businesses and hospitals are aware of its delivery policy by visiting locations and handing out menus, says Chief Operating Officer Jeff Smith.

Above and Beyond
At some operations, these complementary business strategies are all part of an overall guest-focused approach that encourages repeat business and positive word of mouth.

Such is the case at the Hartford, Conn.-based Max Restaurant Group, which operates six restaurants in New England. Each location offers some type of “intermezzo” or “in-between” menu to provide customers a place to dine during off-peak hours, says Vice President Scott Smith. Typically, these menus feature signature and easily executable items, although the kitchens rarely turn down requests for other regular entrées.

Business may not be brisk in those mid-afternoon hours, but the real goal is accommodation.

“We don’t ever want to have to say no. It’s kind of an overall mindset we have to be there for the guests,” says Smith, who notes that the offering also helps build dinner business.

At Bliss restaurant in Philadelphia, Chef-owner Francesco Martorella found a more unusual way to serve his clientele. It all started when a friend came to dine on the outdoor patio and brought her dog. As a treat, the chef prepared tenderloin tips for the pet. He soon realized that such an offering might appeal to other city pet owners who work all day and often have little time to spend with their animals. Shortly thereafter, Bliss introduced its outdoor-dining K-9 Café menu, with limited offerings including gourmet dog biscuits, chicken and rice, chopped sirloin burgers or beef tenderloin tips over rice.

“It’s about taking care of the customers’ needs,” Martorella says. “We’re trying to be as much about service as we possibly can.”

Target Market
Reaching out to niche customer groups as a sales-building tool works for chains, fine-dining and noncommercial operations alike. Target audiences range from fitness fanatics to would-be chefs to singles on the go.

At Beacon, a white-tablecloth restaurant in New York, Chef-owner Waldy Malouf recently hit on an idea that taps into the country’s growing interest in chefs and restaurant operations. Beginning in mid-July, Malouf began inviting the public to join employees for the family meal and pre-shift meeting every Thursday. Guests pay $15 each to take part in the self-service dinner (typically including a salad, cold pasta dish, protein and dessert) and also take part in any scheduled wine or food tastings, discussion of the night’s specials and other orders of business.

California-based Zeke's (above) caters movie sets using its portable smoker while Rotelli Pizza & Pasts (below) targets hotel guests.

Not only does the offer bring in customers for the unused 4:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. daypart, but food and labor costs are low as well. Malouf believes the idea will draw multiple types of diners, such as culinary students, employees of other restaurants, bargain seekers and regular customers interested in seeing what goes on behind the scenes. A week before the inaugural event, Beacon already had eight reservations.

Meanwhile, the health-conscious-consumer market—an increasingly significant sector throughout foodservice—comprises several subsegments of its own. On college campuses especially, operators are finding growing demand for vegetarian and vegan fare.

Mary Keane, director of campus dining at the New York Institute of Technology in Central Islip, N.Y., says this is especially true among the university’s ethnic students. To build this population’s use of on-campus dining facilities, run by Huntington Station, N.Y.-based Whitsons Food Service Corp., in February Keane added an international food buffet featuring rotating ethnic cuisine that includes soy-based products and a daily grain bar.

“From what I’ve heard back from the students, they now feel [more part of campus. They can walk in and find something to eat,” she says.

Here, There and Everywhere
A different strategy for reaching out to specific groups involves taking advantage of unique locations. That’s why Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Inc. seeks to fill the needs of busy, single shoppers at its foodlife market concept in the city’s bustling Water Tower Place shopping and business center. The multi-station operation offers mainly ready-to-eat products ranging from deli items to fresh fruit. Prepared dishes include grilled salmon, vegetarian meatloaf, London broil and new potatoes. The concept also offers prepackaged ice cream, baked goods and 75 wines priced from $3.95 to $12.95.

“A lot of our portions are driven toward the single shopper,” says Chris Favero, foodlife vice president and partner, noting that customers can purchase cheese by the slice, bread by the roll and fruit by the piece. “Convenience is the overriding factor why people visit our market.”

For Greenwood Village, Colo.-based smoothie chain Maui Wowi Fresh Hawaiian Blends, location is precisely how the company plans to attract a niche audience to its new Maui Wowi eXtreme concept. The stores will locate exclusively inside health and fitness facilities and feature nutritional supplements and similar products more prominently than traditional sites do.

“A lot of people are working out, walking out the door and going to get a smoothie or a cup of coffee,” says President and CEO Michael Haith. Maui Wowi eXtreme can capture this audience and allow health clubs to provide added value to their members, he says. The company expects to have 25 units open by the end of the year.

Strategic Selling
These ideas from the following operators illustrate how knowing your customers can help keep business brisk.

With five locations in Colorado college towns, Fort Collins-based The Rio Grande Mexican Restaurants has created a mystique around its signature drink with the “Limit 3”margarita program. The restriction not only encourages responsible behavior, but it also attracts curious students and locals who wonder what could be in the potent cocktails, says Director of Marketing Christine Sullo.

Philadelphia’s Twenty Manning restaurant, which menus contemporary American dishes with an Asian flair, partners with a bed-and-breakfast around the corner to bring in out of towners visiting the bustling Rittenhouse Square location. Guests at the hotel can select a package that includes a gift certificate for dinner for two at the restaurant.

Foodservice employees at Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf, a Whitsons Food Service Corp. account in Mill Neck, N.Y., have en-rolled in an American Sign Language course to better communicate with their clients.