“Aging” may be a desirable term when applied to steaks, but at least some of the steakhouses that serve them are combating the notion that their concepts are past their prime.
As they compete to expand geographically and broaden their customer bases, many high-end steakhouse chains are promoting new amenities especially to attract such nontraditional steakhouse users as women, young professionals, and health-conscious diners.
Among the tactics being employed are the promotions of bars as social gathering places that offer moderately priced menus, the broadening of dining room menus beyond their core steak entrées, the pairing of appetizers with specially chosen wines by the glass and even the introduction of children’s menus.
Such operators as Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, The Palm, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Morton’s The Steakhouse, Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse and Sam & Harry’s are seeking out new customers while being careful to preserve their traditions.
Updating their bars and bar menus is a trend for most of those operators. Morton’s, for example, has given its bars their own identity with the name Bar 12-21. Most offer after-work specials from a “Small Bites” menu of miniature cheeseburgers, oysters and other items. So far, about 18 of Morton’s 75 restaurants have deployed the Bar 12-21 format.
“It’s a more energetic environment that’s more open to the restaurant and feeds into the dining room,” Morton’s spokesman Roger Drake said. “It’s appealing to the emerging business people who may not have experienced Morton’s before, but all our guests have enjoyed it.”
Annual bar sales have increased between $100,000 and $200,000 in Morton’s remodeled 12-21 bars, he indicated.
Morton’s plan calls for the chain to retrofit between eight and 10 of its existing restaurants with the Bar 12-21 package each year until all are completed and to make the format part of all new locations, Drake said.
Morton’s also is wrapping up a national promotion called Women of Spirit that honors local community leaders and features female winemakers at special wine dinners. A portion of the proceeds is being donated to local American Red Cross chapters.
Young adults between 21 and 34 are the fastest-growing customer segment of Ruth’s Chris’ customers, said Kevin Boyer, its vice president of beverage. He credits more flexible menu options and the new design of the chain’s larger bar and lounge area, dubbed the “luxury lounge,” for that growth.
Boyer said smaller portions of regular menu items sell especially well in the lounge, although the full dining room menu also is available there. Almost all of the 109 Ruth’s Chris locations now boast the clubby lounges.
Boyer said he has found that premium cocktails with fresh juices are especially popular with the younger crowd, as are craft-brewed beers and special wines. Younger customers “are not afraid of high-end Scotches, either,” and are willing to try new things, he added.
The bar business also is growing at Fleming’s 51 locations, said Skip Fox, president of the division of OSI Restaurant Partners. The contemporary designs of the chain’s bars, and the patios in locations that have them, have moved the chain away from the stereotypically masculine steakhouse look, he indicated.
“Our positioning has always attracted both traditional customers plus younger professionals who have graduated from casual dining,” Fox said. “It’s a more contemporary positioning with a little more energy that’s less stuffy.”
To extend its appeal to a younger, less-affluent crowd, Fleming’s will feature a “flights and bites” promotion this fall in its bars that will match three appetizers with three wines for less than $20.
“That will bring in some new people who haven’t tried the restaurant before,” Fox said.
Contemporary, newly designed units of Hyde Park Steakhouse, a nine-unit chain based in Beachwood, Ohio, are raking in nearly twice as much revenue as older, smaller models of the chain, said co-owner Rick Hauck.
“We are seeing a better mix of women and men than before,” he said.
The newer, 200-seat restaurants sport bolder colors and artwork and more colorful draperies and upholstery than in the older, 160-seat spots. Lounges in the new Hyde Park outlets also have softer, living-room-style seating and lamps.
The chain’s dinner menus include smaller portions, and small-plates menus in the bar are selling well, Hauck said. A new program of having disc jockeys in the bars after 10 p.m. on weekends is expected to generate more late-night business.
Even The Palm, whose New York City flagship has been feeding steak lovers since 1926, has modernized the bars in 11 of its 28 restaurants. The chain also has retooled its menus to reach out to women, younger business people and even children, with a special Palm Summer Kids Menu for the under-14 set that features the young actress Abigail Breslin of the movie “No Reservations.”
“We’re revamping our bars and cocktails and have partnerships with beverage companies to train our mixologists,” said Randy Goldman, the Palm’s director of national and neighborhood marketing. Recorded music in the bars is another new twist, he said.
The Palm’s latest outreach effort to women was this summer’s partnership with Dress for Success, a charity aimed at helping disadvantaged women succeed in careers. The restaurants were donating 10 percent of sales of five new entrée salads and specific wines to the organization.
While working to increase their appeal to new customers, steakhouses also are being careful to hold on to their core clientele. But corporate chef John Koltisko of the three-unit Sam & Harry’s chain, based in Washington, D.C., observes that opportunities are arising to both court newcomers and traditional patrons.
“The market is growing for healthy lifestyles, and our seafood sales have reflected that,” Koltisko said. “On the other hand, the folks that are not interested in healthful dining are continuing to request our larger traditional steaks.”
What’s more, he added, “sales of our heaviest and creamiest side dishes are selling much more than they ever have.”