What Is it About Burgers? (Part I)

The buzz on burgers seems to be at a fever pitch these days. After splitting a perfect burger with a friend at Bandera a couple of weeks ago, followed by a Happy Hour visit for Fleming’s cheeseburger, I was talking with an industry menu maven who noted that, right now, the “downscaling of fine dining” is a perfect opportunity for struggling upscale players to provide value by offering great burgers, and that even fast-food players are doing a “superb job.” Read More »

What’s the Deal?

On a recent business trip to Newport Beach, I made time to see my old hairdresser Eddie. I hadn’t seen him since I moved away four years ago, but it was as though it had been four weeks, not four years. That day, all he could talk about was restaurants and the economy: Read More »

The Comfort of Consistency

There is something irresistible about consistency. Think about it. The experience you expect is the experience you get every time.It’s not unlike when my nephew was little. He watched the movie American Tail over and over and over again. Never got tired of it. It was almost like the chewed-up stuffed panda bear (AKA “Pandie”) he used to drag around behind him. Read More »

Tradeoffs

I’m in Southern California this week and drove by one of my old haunts: Coco’s. I noticed it because they had a new sign with big puffy yellow letters, as opposed to the big puffy white letters the last time I drove by. Ironically, this exact location was one where we experimented with different exterior color combinations when I was the Marketing Vice President of Coco’s years ago. After we painted it, sales were up 10%. Unfortunately, the color combination didn’t look as good as we wanted, so we repainted it with a different color combination a month later. Sales were up another 10%. Read More »

Critical Mass

It’s finally happened. After decades of talking about the need for healthy solutions, demand has reached critical mass and restaurants are beginning to really meet the challenge. Read More »

ASAP

I stopped the other night on my way home for curbside carryout from one of my favorite casual restaurants…nothing better on a snowy night than curbside comfort food! I had stopped several weeks earlier for the exact same order (double broccoli…no potatoes) and there had been a mistake in my order. To avoid having the same mistake happen again, I mentioned this when I placed my order, figuring that it may have been a problem transcribing the order that could be avoided if I stated it more clearly.

California Cuisine

I love traveling. (I especially love it when a consulting project takes me to Southern California in the winter.) But the thing I really love is the unique regional cuisine I get to experience when I travel. Read More »

Consumer Confidence

I love the Ellen DeGeneres line, “A disturbing new study finds that studies are disturbing.” How true is that? Read More »

Top Ten Things I Learned at MEG, Part II

The NRA Marketing Executives Group (MEG) Conference in Las Vegas was a great place to learn, to network and to be inspired. Here is part two of the Top Ten Things I Really Learned in Vegas. Read More »

Top 10, More or Less

I’ve been feeling a “Top Ten List” coming on, so, just for fun…here goes.

My Top Ten “Quick Tips” for Restaurateurs

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