The Ten-Minute Manager’s Guide to . . . Targeting New Demographics
The Ten-Minute Manager’s Guide to . . . Targeting New Demographics
By Lisa Bertagnoli, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions, 3/1/2007
NO RESTAURANT CAN IGNORE its core customers—the gender, age or income group most responsible for keeping it in business. Yet operators also must build new business, and there is no better way to do that than by courting other demographic groups. Expanding an operation’s appeal not only improves revenue, it also can refresh a concept’s personality.
With established restaurants, looking younger is better: A youthful crowd beefs up bar and late-night business, and is more likely to bring their friends along for drinks and appetizers. In addition to building traffic, drawing new crowds is a way to redefine the operation in the eyes of the public.
Christopher Roman, general manager at 11-year-old Rain in New York City, calls the restaurant "an institution. We’re looking for ways to reintroduce it to the community."
A Toast to Coupons
Rain, an 11-year-old Asian- menu restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, usually attracts an older, affluent clientele. To draw younger patrons, the operation has been distributing drink coupons to potential customers and to area health clubs via e-mail.
The restaurant has sent three e-mail “blasts” since last March, with each message including a $20 drink coupon. The offer goes to a list of about 500 recipients, of which 35 to 55 redeem the coupons, says Christopher Roman, general manager.
The majority of customers who use the coupons are in their 20s and 30s, and their presence has boosted late-night and bar business.
“Younger people come to the bar and have an appetizer, while older people sit down and order dinner,” Roman explains.
The restaurant also offers drink coupons at two neighborhood gyms, to new members as well as to personal trainers, who use the coupons as perks and rewards for clients. Four months into the program, “we’re very pleased with it,” Roman says.
Women in the Wings
Target customers for Wing Zone, an Atlanta-based quick-service chain, are 18- to 49-year-old males. But a new menu of Buffalo-style shrimp, boneless wings, salads and desserts has helped make the concept more attractive to women.
The 100-unit chain added Buffalo shrimp (10 for $6.99) to the menu two years ago as a limited-time offer, then added boneless wings (10 for $6.99) and Brownie Bite and Bananas Foster Bite desserts (l., $3.99 each) a year later, says David Kaiser, vice president of operations. “It’s opened two huge markets: working women and kids.” Female-friendly salads—buffalo shrimp, grilled chicken and fried chicken ($7.99 each)—have since joined the menu.
Wing Zone introduced the new items with a coupon offering a free Brownie Bite or Banana Bite with purchase of 30 wings. The coupon, in freestanding Sunday newspaper inserts, hit the target market. “Many women go through the Sunday papers looking for dining opportunities and savings,” Kaiser says.
The Advantages of Youth
It’s easy for diners to figure their bills after 8:30 p.m. at Park Avenue Cafe, as long as they know how old they are. The New York City restaurant’s Pay Your Age promotion, introduced in August 2006, invites late-evening customers to do just that for a three-course (appetizer, entrée and dessert) prix-fixe meal.
Actually, diners ages 26 to 64 pay their age. The price is $25 for those 25 and under, and $65 for those 65 and older. The age-based meal deal does not include beverages, but the restaurant—part of the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group—offers a special menu of value-priced cocktails and wines by the bottle or glass.
Guests choose from executive chefs Lucas Billheimer and Kevin Lasko’s regular menu, which includes entrées such as pan-roasted duck breast with leg confit, served with arugula noodles, peach fritters and spicy mustard. Pastry Chef Richard Leach’s recent offerings include warm apple strudel with buttermilk-date panna cotta and chai-tea sabayon.
Late-Lunch Early Birds
At the two Petit Robert Bistros in Boston, dinner entrées range from $13.50 to $19.75. To make sure such rates don’t discourage patronage, Chef-owner Jacky Robert leaves the less-expensive lunch menu in place until 5 p.m.
Lunch selections include Crispy Poached Eggs with Bacon and Frisée Salad (top, r.) for $7.75; Burger Hot Dog on a baguette with cheese (below, r.), $6; and Salad Niçoise, $7.95.
The extended lunch draws university students and “older people who like to eat earlier” to the upscale restaurants, says Robert. The biggest lunch rush is after 4 p.m., and the restaurant serves lunch late every day, including weekends and holidays. “It’s an early-bird special without the name,” he says.
Fancy Family-Friendly
An upscale two-level restaurant with an expansive bar can unwittingly send a message: Children allowed, but not necessarily welcome.
Sage Grille, a 100-seat restaurant in Highwood, Ill., counteracts that perception by offering a three-course menu for kids. Selections include a starter of chicken-noodle soup or a house salad, an entrée of chicken breast with mashed potatoes ($8), spaghetti ($7) or a PB&J on brioche toast ($6), with fruit, ice cream or cookies for dessert. Coloring books and crayons underscore the kid-friendly approach.
The restaurant has offered the menu since it opened last March, says Mark Melzer, general manager and wine director. Even so, “it took a couple of months for people to kind of get it,” he says of the children’s menu. Now, families account for about 20% of the clientele.
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