Restaurant-management professor Chris Muller offers his takes on key issues and the latest news concerning the foodservice industry. en-us http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491.html?nid=4143 Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. Subject to its Terms of Use November 10, 2009 http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/570050057.html?nid=4143 A number of really revealing news articles hit the listserv system last Thursday and Friday. I imagine many of you read them after seeing the teaser headlines in your email updates. I was struck by two in particular. One, with a by-line from the Oct. 21 Sacramento Bee, reported on a new Zagat … http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/280048628.html?nid=4143 It’s Labor Day Weekend, there is a raging debate about Health Care in the nation, and my thoughts are consumed with the people who I used to employ and what health insurance meant to them. I’ve owned, with partners, two restaurants over the past 30 years.&n… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1120048112.html?nid=4143 You know what? I’m getting really cranky in my old age. I just read a story about actress Renee Zellweger opening a Mexican diner, Blue Parrot, in East Hampton, N.Y. Here's the part of the story that I find so disturbing: "It's… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1590046759.html?nid=4143 What makes a restaurant concept a brand? First and foremost, it’s the customers. A restaurant brand’s value is resident in the customer’s mind, never in the Board Room. What a company does to create consumer brand value is, of course, highly important in … http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1150045715.html?nid=4143 On the eve of the upcoming release of the new movie, Julie and Julia, I thought I might post a different kind of blog, and tell a story about my encounters with the legendary Julia Child. During the late spring of 1978 I was a waiter in the new Thompson's Chowder House restaurant in… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1030045103.html?nid=4143 Remember the idea that all restaurant marketing should be local marketing? And all local marketing should reinforce your two main consumer goals—frequency and loyalty? Well, if you are not living in a time warp or in total denial, you have noticed that today, every second… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/710043471.html?nid=4143 By now you will have heard about Domino’s, the “disgusting employee” viral video and the way that Twitter played a crucial part in the rapid spread of the message. If not visit R & I’s story at http://www.chainleader.com/article/CA6652042.html?nid=3458&… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1640041764.html?nid=4143 A group of announcements from around the business world has caused me to think about how fast our restaurant environment is changing, and how slow our industry is to respond. There are great opportunities popping up in new places, we just need to discover them. I will list some of… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1540040954.html?nid=4143 Last March I took some shots at Starbucks. Looking back, it was clear they deserved them. Now again, this week Starbucks is back in the news with the introduction of another new product, Via, an “instant, soluble” coffee product, to be sold in 3-pack or 12-pack portio… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1400040540.html?nid=4143 In the developed nations around the world a new generation, now almost universally called “The Millennials,” is positioned to take over as the driver of demand for restaurants. The timing of this shift in cultural dominance from one generation to another, at a time of real… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/990038699.html?nid=4143 Here is something to consider, let’s call it the paradox of a bad economy. You will not only have to play “Defense” during 2009, you will have to play “Offense” as well. While some, including me, have predicted that 10% or more of the exis… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/990038099.html?nid=4143 In tough times like we are seeing today, it is more important than ever to consider branding as a source of competitive advantage. Branding is basically a combination of consumer psychology and applied micro-economics. All businesses need to connect with the psyche of our core customer… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/160037016.html?nid=4143 Restaurants matter. To the macro-economy, to a local neighborhood economy, and to the micro-economy of just one customer making one purchase—restaurants matter across all levels of social enterprise. Millions of people are actively involved in making sure that the single purchase… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1160035316.html?nid=4143 As if times weren’t bleak enough, last week USAToday ran an article on the problems facing the Casual Theme Restaurant segment. It was a description of the attempts industry leaders are making to overcome the tough economy while offering consumer views of the success (or failure) of the… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/610034261.html?nid=4143 No matter what you think of the national discussion on the credit crisis, it is time to react to the realities of the market so that your business will survive through 2009. In my blog on Monday I described the highly likely negative outcomes of this debate on your business … http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/930034093.html?nid=4143 September 29 was the day that the credit crisis became every American’s crisis. It is also the day that the restaurant on Main Street became extinct. Here is what will happen to restaurants because Congress did not pass the recovery bill on Monday. First, let&rsquo… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1990033599.html?nid=4143 Restaurant operators have been betrayed by our friends in government over the past decade. If you didn’t believe it before, you certainly have to after the roller coaster week that we just lived through. Remember when you used to hear that the restaurant business was too risky a… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/570032857.html?nid=4143 Where is the innovation in our industry? It's out in the markets, happening quietly at the "mom and pop" or the "small team of friends" level. One unit at a time, in small stores and empty spaces left behind by the tired outlets of companies which could no longer compe… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/530030653.html?nid=4143 Let's face it, business stinks. The "Value Chain" forged by our customers and our enterprises has been broken. When customers find value in a restaurant offering, they reward the establishment with their frequency and loyalty. Basically they return more often and they spend… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1650029165.html?nid=4143 Why, in a time of economic downturn, with the housing collapse and high gasoline prices mauling the restaurant business, would it matter for operators to be focused on the concepts of authenticity and wellness? Why? Because in times of stress and uncertainty, consumers seek products and ser… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1880028188.html?nid=4143 Today it’s tomatoes and salmonella. A while back it was spinach and E. coli. Add gasoline at $4 a gallon, and simply defining what “Going Green” means suddenly has taken on new significance. Green isn’t just about turning lights down and using recycled takeout containers; it&… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1840027184.html?nid=4143 Since the 1950s, supermarkets have been selling groceries, meat, vegetables and other staples in a raw or semi-finished form at low prices. To use these products, customers need to have both the knowledge to convert them into a cooked, edible form and the time to do it. Doesn’t eve… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1820026382.html?nid=4143 In my last posting I wrote that there are five compelling trends for the industry to learn, and that the Baby Boom Generation is becoming irrelevant as a market force. Let me start with the first of the trends below, and see how the two suggestions fit together. The Five Trends I believe are … http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1530025353.html?nid=4143 I’m proud to have recently been invited to be a keynote speaker at the 75th anniversary meeting of the Foodservice Packaging Institute. FPI President John Burke assembled a world-class group of speakers and the conversations after each of the sessions were forward thinking and remarkably candi… http://www.rimag.com/blog/910000491/post/1510025351.html?nid=4143 In a remarkably balanced, yin-and-yang kind of way, two restaurant icons have addressed the issue of brand renewal over the past week. Both can be described as mature concepts. They have fully developed business models in the U.S. where they are suffering unit sales declines. …