WHEAT RIDGE COLO. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
“We wanted to create a focal point, an area where something is always going on,” said Ken Keymer, chief executive of Vicorp Inc., Denver-based parent of the 264-unit Village Inn family-dining brand. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
Dubbed the flying saucer, the circular area includes counter seating, an espresso machine, the host stand, a cashier station and glass display cases for pies and new grab-and-go items, such as muffins and coffee cakes. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
Like 146-unit sister concept Bakers Square, which is being updated to include premium coffees and faster service, the 50-year-old Village Inn chain has begun a remodeling and modernization. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
Vicorp is joining other family-dining companies that are tweaking their service models and changing decors to be more competitive, not just against others in the segment, but also against fast-casual, quick-service, casual-dining and coffeehouse rivals. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
“Family dining is the older segment of the dining industry; many of these locations go back to the 1950s and ‘60s,” said Samuel Borgese, chief executive of Catalina Restaurant Group, the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company that owns or franchises 225 Coco’s Bakery Restaurant and Carrows restaurants in the West and Southwest. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
“The driver for all family dining is their buildings are aging and need to be replaced, and the other driver is they need to be more responsive to today’s consumer population,” Borgese said. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
Catalina remodeled a Coco’s restaurant in Mission Viejo, Calif., last fall. In addition to an updated exterior, the interior was given a contemporary motif complete with a fireplace and outdoor patio. The kitchen was upgraded with state-of-the-art technology and will serve as a test kitchen for new menu items. Like other family-dining restaurants, Coco’s is adding a quick-service component to broaden its appeal. The Mission Viejo restaurant has an espresso bar, a “to-go” entrance with separate parking and cash registers for customers to make take-out orders. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
“Sales have exceeded our expectations,” Borgese said. “We saw over 7,000 guests during our first week of operation.” —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
In tests, Spartanburg, S.C.-based Denny’s Inc. recently added a fast-casual store-within-a-store format to three existing restaurants in Dallas. Vicorp, too, added a fast-casual component to a Bakers Square in Roseville, Minn., and plans to do the same in a Village Inn in Denver this month. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
The idea behind store-within-store concepts is to give customers the choice of sitting in the traditional full-service area, or of ordering from a counter worker and either taking their food to go or dining in a limited-service area. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
“For years now, [family-dining operators] have been watching their lunch business eroding thanks to fast-casual, and their breakfast business—their mainstay—eroding as a result of a lot of different options out there, including restaurants like Starbucks and some of the QSRs that are more breakfast-focused,” said restaurant consultant Dennis Lombardi of WD Partners in Columbus, Ohio. “They have no choice but to aggressively expand their dayparts.” —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
Village Inn has not had a major remodel for the past 15 or 20 years, said Jeff Guido, president of the division. Its concept had become stagnant in the past few years, added Keymer, who was on Vicorp’s board of directors until he took over as CEO early last year. A former AFC Enterprises CEO, Keymer’s career includes stints at Sonic, Noodles & Company and Perkins. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
“One of the big issues in a company this age is you get tied down a bit,” Keymer said. “We realized the food is not the only thing. It’s a big part of it, but what we needed was to change the environment.” —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
Village Inn’s new look is playfully retro, with brighter colors, a wood-laminate floor entry, quirky sayings on the walls, flat-screen TVs and serpentine booths. About 40 items have been added to the menu and the new look was designed to give customers the option to linger over a meal, eat quickly and leave, or take orders to go. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
“We added more fresh ingredients and higher flavor profiles to bring a little bit different demographic in here and be more contemporary,” said Mark Hampton, Vicorp’s culinary vice president. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
Among Village Inn’s new items are burgers with half-pound patties of hand-formed Angus beef, mashed potatoes made from scratch, 16-ounce T-bone steaks, bananas Foster pancakes and BLTs with a half-pound of bacon. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
The remodeling program comes in the wake of Vicorp’s hiring of the Piper Jaffray investment banking firm in January for restructuring advice. Privately held Vicorp is burdened by a heavy debt load and big interest payments. Its third-quarter earnings were $5.58 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, but its interest expense was $6.65 million. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
“We engaged Piper Jaffray to restructure our capital, and that can go from one end to the other—either new financing or, at the other end of the spectrum, is bankruptcy,” Keymer said. “But that’s not our focus.” —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
Vicorp already has expressed optimism over an increase in customer traffic at the revamped Bakers Square in the Minneapolis area, Keymer said. —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
“Village Inn was the most successful family restaurant when it opened,” he said. “One of the things that is really exciting is to see us on the cutting edge again and doing things that are truly different.” —A flying saucer has landed in the middle of a Village Inn restaurant in this north Denver suburb, just as planned.
