6/1/13
Casual dining restaurants-regardless of whether they serve lobster, Kung Pao chicken, or hamburgers-are all built on three factors: food, service, and atmosphere.
But this simplicity can be deceptive when it comes to the guest experience. It takes more than just good food, adequate service, and a friendly atmosphere to attract guests in today’s challenging and competitive market conditions. “We know casual dining is not necessarily the bright shiny star that it used to be and that there’s pressure,” says Brinker International’s Wyman Roberts. “There’s pressure from fast casual, there’s pressure from casual plus. And so the question isn’t ‘is it viable?’ It’s ‘who’s going to win at this game?'”
Casual chains also face tough competition from mom-and-pop diners. “So one of the things I always have to remind people of is that casual dining is 75% independents,” says Dine Equity’s Julia Stewart. “It’s made up of 25% chains. So the reality is stealing market share comes largely from independents. And they’re everywhere you look. And so our opportunity in terms of stealing share and differentiating ourselves comes as much from independents as it does from the brands.”
Casual dining chains eye women as the essential component to drive traffic to their locations. Women may solicit others’ opinions in selecting where to dine, but they make the ultimate decision. “Men usually go where women want to go to make them happy,” says Darren Tristano of Technomic market research.
Full-service casual dining restaurants generate $201.5 billion in sales each year, according to the National Restaurant Association. While many of the tactics and enhancements are arguably gender-neutral, there’s little question that most current innovations are women-focused. “The marketing of lighter and healthier items is meant for women. Women are wine-oriented, so when you see half-off wine promotions, you know that it’s meant for women,” says Tristano. Chains also realize that women are more receptive to their efforts. “Men, particularly when it comes to alcohol, want to go to the place where they know their favorite beer is served. They are in the comfort zone and aren’t going to change [their dining location]. Women are also more impulsive in deciding where to eat,” says Tristano. While men prioritize atmosphere, making sure the game is available, women equally care about food, service, and atmosphere.
Menu
Women don’t want heavy, calorie-laden dishes. “The object is not to have a menu of 1,000 items, but rather items that the consumer wants and needs,” says Stewart.
Olive Garden is introducing small plates and more flavorful dishes. “One of the biggest needs at Olive Garden beyond affordability is the opportunity to have experience that’s a little lighter and a little fresher,” says Darden’s Andrew Madsen. “And that’s why we introduced the lighter Italian fare section recently, and we’ve seen a very good response to that core menu section.”
Applebee’s recently expanded its menu with fewer than 550 calories, including Napa Chicken & Portobellos and Roasted Garlic Sirloin.
Red Lobster is expanding beyond seafood. “We need to make the brand more relevant for non-seafood occasions,” says Madsen. “So we’re still going to be fundamentally a seafood restaurant, but in a party of 3 or a party of 4, there’s always somebody that doesn’t want seafood. And right now, the veto vote for Red Lobster is higher than it should be. So we haven’t given groups a reason to come to Red Lobster when there’s someone in the group that doesn’t necessarily want seafood. The percent of guests that are ordering a seafood item versus a non-seafood item at Red Lobster is something like 90%-10%, roughly. When we look at Longhorn, as an example, the percent of guests ordering beef versus non-beef is more like 65-35.”
Meanwhile, Chili’s is limiting its menu options. “The first thing I did when I was made president of Chili’s was I knew that we needed to upgrade the menu and change it, so we put a huge initiative in place,” says Wyman Roberts. “We called it a menu revolution. We rolled it out. It was an absolute failure. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever done in my career. Not because it wasn’t the right thing to do but it was way too much. It overwhelmed the operators. It overwhelmed our guests, and it didn’t
succeed.”
Not all restaurants are focused on attracting women, most notably Outback Steakhouse and TGI Fridays. Both chains focus more on reaching men by highlighting their sauce-laden dishes, sports packages, and alcoholic cocktails. One recently introduced menu item at the Outback Steakhouse is unlikely to be female-inspired: one meal that includes lobster, sirloin steak, and macaroni and cheese.
Atmosphere
Nearly half of women (47%) select a casual dining restaurant based on location, according to Technomic. This desire for convenience is leading many chains to open up smaller-sized locations in nontraditional settings, including airports and urban areas. Attracting the lunch crowd is also a key priority. As such, Red Lobster is experimenting with a program that gets diners out in under 30 minutes, with meals priced under $10.
Ruby Tuesday in recent years positioned itself toward a higher end of the category, which it now admits was a mistake, says Ruby Tuesday’s James Buettgen. “In our pursuit of a more upscale brand positioning we may have unintentionally overshot the runway. Said differently, we believe the biggest strategic opportunity for us is to migrate the Ruby Tuesday brand toward a more casual and approachable positioning and experience that is appealing to a broader guest demographic and suitable for a wider range of dining occasions, whether it be a fun night out for dinner and drinks with friends, connecting with family, date night, or celebrating a special occasion.”
Red Robin is upgrading itself to accommodate a more diverse guest demographic. “Our current decor package is over 10 years old,” says Red Robin’s Stuart Brown. “It probably skews a little bit too kid friendly from family friendly and so we’ll tone down some of the kids’ cues without isolating the guest. We’re not taking the balloons away, which is key to attracting kids to our restaurants. But we’re going to put balloons now in a balloon corral so they’re still there but they’re not in your face when you walk into the restaurant if you don’t want to see those things. And we also want to be sure that we’re creating different customized environments within the restaurant, because the same user can come into the restaurant on different occasions and want to have a different experience.”
Chili’s remodeled its restaurants to feature accented lighting fixtures (something males are less likely to notice) and upgraded its plateware.
Service
Women eat at casual dining restaurants for a variety of reasons, including when they just don’t want to cook. Yet, regardless of their reasons for the visit, they all expect quality service. This includes high-quality meal ingredients and customized options. Although affordability remains a key priority, women don’t base their dining selections solely on money matters. To them, the overall experience, including whether they are able to personalize their menu items, are just as important.
CONTACTS AND CONNECTIONS: Technomic, Darren Tristano, EVP, 300 S. Riverside Plz., Chicago, IL 60606; 312-506-3850; dtristano@technomic.com; www.technomic.com.
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