CHICAGO Sales results from the past few years show that casual-dining brands have fallen out of favor with restaurant consumers, but some chains, such as California Pizza Kitchen and Texas Roadhouse, have managed to maintain positive buzz and even inspire guests to recommend them to friends.
Anew study called the Recommendation Index, developed by marketing firms Zocalo Group and MARC Research, indicates that attentive, friendly service has the most power to generate goodwill, and subsequent recommendations among consumers. Price and value, however, were not forgotten.
Zocalo and MARC studied the casual-dining segment and identified the most recommended restaurants by surveying more than 1,000 casual-dining customers, and then analyzing the positive and negative conversations and recommendations occurring online via blogs, message boards and social-media sites. They were then ranked on scores that represented the relationship of the number of positive recommendations to the number of negative recommendations and criticisms.
The top 10 casual-dining brands in terms of Recommendation Index score were:
1. California Pizza Kitchen
2. Texas Roadhouse
3. Outback Steakhouse
4. Applebee’s
5. Cheesecake Factory
6. Red Robin
7. Red Lobster
8. Olive Garden
9. Chili's Grill & Bar
10. T.G.I. Friday’s
Among the most cited indicator terms for a recommendation were “fast,” “friendly,” “variety,” “reasonable,” “value” and “love,” said Rand and Merrill Dubrow, president and chief executive of MARC.
“Price” also was cited often for restaurants in the top 10 list, Dubrow said, indicating that while service was a major driver and differentiator of favorable opinion regarding casual dining, it doesn’t discount the effect of price altogether.
“I think they go hand in hand,” Dubrow said. “With the economy the way it is, everybody’s looking for a better deal and a better meal.”
Studying what drives recommendations should become more important for restaurant brands, Dubrow said, not only because social-media and other online tools make word-of-mouth easier to spread, but also because more consumers are attuned to friends’ opinions than ever before.
“The growth certainly has come from Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook,” he said. “It’s so easy to have an application on your cell phone that puts something out there for all your friends to read, and that leads to more discussions. When you’re with your friends, you’re probably recommending more, because everybody knows what you’re doing all the time.
“If I’m connected to you, that’s permission-based, and you’re a trusted advisor. I think the recommendation from you on a social network is huge.”
Chicago-based Zocalo Group plans to release Recommendation Index rankings every quarter.
Contact Mark Brandau at [email protected].