Archive for September, 2008
Restaurant Menu Theory Tested in Key West
Immediately after posting the article preceding this one about menus needing chicken noodle soup, I left for a business function in Key West, Florida. Arguably, there is no one mile stretch of pavement in the country that has more restaurants than Duval Street. You also won’t find any more basic marketing than all of these [...]
Restaurant Menu Marketing Needs Chicken Noodle Soup
When we were children and you lost your first ballgame, your old dog died or your first girl friend at the ripe old age of 12 started to hang around your best friend, the person who always comforted you was your mother. She would fix your favorite macaroni and cheese, Mickey Mouse pancakes or good [...]
Choosing the Right Restaurant Marketing Tools
Restaurants are bombarded today with people selling all kinds of marketing ideas. This year has been difficult for many restaurant segments with lower consumer spending, higher prices and stiff competition. Restaurateurs are inundated with all kinds of buzzwords, gimmicks, advertising proposals, magazine advertizing, website improvements, email marketing ideas, viral marketing schemes, mobile marketing, coupon promotions, [...]
Starbucks – A Total Disconnect
The world’s largest chain of coffee houses is getting a lot of publicity lately – most of it negative. Of course the closing of 600 plus stores started the ball rolling, but their problems started a long time before the economy went south.
In a recent interview, Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, outlined plans for a [...]
Restaurant’s Answer to Economic Woe’s Dangerous!
A recent article in the Detroit Free Press scares me. The subject was the economy and the struggle we restaurateurs are having with the perfect storm of negative conditions impacting the bottom line. The author states that food costs have gone up 18.4% in the last eighteen months, minimum wages have gone from $5.15 to [...]
