| Innovation key to recovery, MUFSO ’09 attendees say Top execs find creative tactics help defer recession’s impact
By ALAN
J.
LIDDLE
DALLAS
(Oct.
19,
2009 )
—Industry executives gathered here to share best practices during the 50th Annual Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators conference made it clear they are relying on innovation to fuel their own economic recovery. Throughout educational sessions and during roundtables, panels and private conversations, the industry’s entrepreneurial spirit was evident as operators discussed the many creative ways they are working to drive traffic, rein in costs and improve operations even as the recession’s impact lingers. “The industry has shown extraordinary innovation in responding to the times,” Nation’s Restaurant News publisher Tom Larranaga said while welcoming approximately 400 foodservice operators and 200 exhibitor representatives to the NRN-produced MUFSO event at the Hilton Anatole hotel from Oct. 4-6. In addition to numerous education sessions and keynote speeches by William C. Taylor of Fast Company magazine, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of “The Black Swan,” and Frances X. Frei from Harvard Business School, this year’s MUFSO was marked by a tribute to the late Norman Brinker, who was co-chairman of the event prior to his death in June at age 78. Also part of the event were recognition of the pioneering efforts in the casual-dining segment by Richard Melman of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. of Chicago; the celebration of 2009 Operator of the Year Jim Greco of 290-unit Bruegger’s Bagels of Burlington, Vt., along with other Golden Chain award honorees; and the “Taste of What’s Hot: Hot Concepts! Celebration” and “MUFSO Golden Anniversary Celebration.” Highlighting some recent industry innovations, NRN’s Larranaga noted that “people are coming to restaurants less often, so many chains have pursued licensing deals with grocery sellers, enabling them to capture a share of the dine-at-home market, with branded, packaged goods.” Other operators, he said, “literally put their restaurants on wheels or resorted to a new, temporary unit known as a pop-up restaurant” because “if their customers aren’t going to come into the restaurant, they are going to go where their customers work, live and play.” “People are dining out less often, so we’re always asking what can we create that is fun and exciting that people can’t make at home or can’t make at home easily,” said Mark Chmiel, executive vice president and chief marketing and innovation officer for Denny’s Corp. of Spartanburg, S.C. Chmiel, who was part of a MUFSO panel titled “Promotions that Add Value and Grow Customer Traffic and Brand Loyalty,” cited as an example the 1,544-unit chain’s new Pancake Puppies, or bite-size fried pancake balls. Kevin Reddy, president, chairman and chief executive of 210-unit, Broomfield, Colo.-based Noodles & Company, sat on the “Find New Opportunities in Tough Times” panel. Noodles & Company, he said, has done just that by developing a line of take-and-bake pastas designed to attract new convenience-foods seekers and give regulars a reason to spend more money with the fast-casual chain. Innovation in personnel practices was a common theme. Daniel J. Kim, chief executive of Dallas-based Hot Concepts! award winner Red Mango Inc., said the “certified swirler” training program used by the chain’s 60 locations is “kind of like the ‘Genius Bar’ concept at the Apple Store, which is really about making each staff member a product expert.” Harry Bond, chairman of Monical’s Pizza Corp. of Bradley, Ill., said the 63-unit namesake chain overseen by his company maintained positive same-store sales through 15 of the past 20 months and is enjoying higher profits, in part, by trying to deliver extraordinary service. The latest manifestation of that effort involves rewarding employees who receive “tomato” certificates from satisfied guests who are asked to hand them out as warranted by Monical’s officials who pull the patrons’ names from the chain’s marketing database. Bond said guest satisfaction is up, employee turnover is down and franchisees are more engaged because the traffic-building effort does not rely on discounting. Several MUFSO speakers attested to the power of social-networking websites and Internet blogs. Among them were Carl Howard, chief executive of 260-unit, Lexington, Ky.-based Fazoli’s, and Tom Ryan, founder of Smashburger Master LLC of Denver, a 2009 Hot Concepts! award winner and franchisor of the growing Smashburger chain of more than two dozen restaurants. Apart from monitoring social-networking sites for indications of dissatisfaction among individual customers or groups, Ryan and Howard said their organizations also court online bloggers with receptions, free meals or other trial inducements when entering a market or launching a promotion. | 
