Focus On:  The Restaurant Industry
Promotional Products are Cookin'

     Nearly 50 years ago, the husband would arrive home from a long day at the office, walk through the front door, greet his wife and children and head toward the kitchen table to eat a hot meal and read the evening paper. All the while, his wife would tend to the housework and children, patiently waiting for his arrival with a sympathetic smile and a plate of warm food resting on the stove. Together, the family would dine at the kitchen table consuming the meal the mother spent the afternoon preparing.
     In today's reality, however, the Cleaver family is all but extinct and so are its dining habits. What was once regarded as a special occasion, to dine at a restaurant is now commonplace among millions of people and families throughout the United States. Studies from the National Restaurant Association have shown that nearly half of all adults are restaurant patrons on a typical day. This demonstrates the size of the restaurant industry and how the public has played a role in its growth.

Pushing the Industry Forward
     Social and economic trends have emerged to shape the restaurant industry. The most profound trend is the working woman. With a larger income, women view restaurants not only as an affordable way to dine, but also as a convenience for themselves and their family. Restaurants provide an alternative to the added stress of arriving home from the office and dropping everything to cook the family's evening meal.
     The increase in household incomes has created a desire and convenience for people to spend time dining away from home or ordering takeout meals. The association cites households with a pretax income of $30,000 or more spends a larger amount of time dining out.
     In short, the increase in working women has created a larger household income in which people can afford to eat away from home. The mere convenience of avoiding a night of cooking over the stove after a long day at the office is enticing to many women and their families. This trend is expected to remain long-term as people's lives continue on a fast-paced schedule. Whether it's driving a son or daughter to a school function or staying late at the office, sitting down at home for a meal with the entire family is hard to come by.
     From a promotional products perspective, understanding the driving forces behind the changes in the restaurant industry will enable eatery owners to properly target the audience they decide to pursue. The restaurant industry has two distinct audience segments: full- and limited-service operations. Both segments attract a certain clientele as well as various promotional products.

Full-Service vs. Limited-Service
     The full-service segment of the restaurant industry can be categorized as sit-down restaurants that cater to the customer with a sense of personal attention. For example, an Italian restaurant with a hostess, a choice of wines and Italian music playing softly in the background is a full-service experience. Many full-service restaurants are competing for customers, not only in the full-service market, but with the fast-food or limited-service segment of the industry as well.
     To compete against its market segment as well as other establishments, the full-service restaurant prides itself on customer appreciation. To survive, full-service restaurants must have a loyal customer following. This is accomplished by offering unique menu choices and a creative atmosphere that will entice the customer not only to return, but also to inform his or her acquaintances of the establishment. The biggest challenge for full-service operators is to attract customers, then maintain their loyalty.
     The 90s brought the theme restaurants. These include restaurants catering to music, movies, sports or environmental enthusiasts. Many theme establishments have the advertising and physical appearance to draw customers from all walks of life. Many are tourists who want an opportunity to view memorabilia and catch a glimpse of the creative interior that mirrors the establishment's theme.
     Most full-service restaurants, especially theme establishments, will include logoed merchandise as a method of advertising. Customers will find T-shirts and a host of other items with a restaurant's logo on them. These items play an important role in earning customer loyalty and promoting the name of the establishment. Distributors have an advantage servicing the restaurant industry because they simply need to walk inside an establishment to get a hint of its décor and customer base, thus receiving a better idea as to what promotional products would be most appealing to the customers.
     On the other end of the scale, limited-service restaurants cater to a much faster-paced clientele. With corporate downsizing, employees are working longer hours and having meals ordered at the workplace. Longer hours and lack of time have transformed family mealtime into "home meal replacement." Fast-food restaurants and delis offer convenient alternatives to people on the go. The drive-up window has replaced the dining room in many limited-service establishments.
     A trend within the limited-service segment is the emergence of carryout services within grocery stores, retail stores, bookstores and gasoline convenience stores. The National Restaurant Association states that nearly 30 percent of all retail establishments are eating and drinking places. Both the retail and bookstore markets are incorporating food services as a marketing tool to keep customers in the stores longer. The grocery stores already have used food to entice its customers to stay and shop; however, many customers will purchase a carryout meal to avoid preparing a meal when they get home.
     Gasoline convenience stores are growing tremendously because of the possibility for additional revenue from drivers traveling on a trip or returning home from work. Many are building in residential areas in order to be easily accessible to nearby residents.
     The limited-service segment opens many doors to food-on-the-go suppliers who are interested in testing unique products specifically designed for the customer on the move. With intense competition between limited-service establishments, owners must rely on creative ideas to separate themselves from the rest of the competition. For example, a product that fits in the automobile to serve as a reminder to visit a convenience store for gasoline and sandwiches is a marketing tool appropriate for people whose car has taken the place of the kitchen table.
     With thousands of restaurants to choose from, distributors must understand the establishment, its clientele and the competition to offer promotional products that will make a lasting impact. Whether it is full- or limited-service establishments, there are differences in the needs of restaurants within these segments. What works for the Italian restaurant may not work for the Mexican restaurant down the street. Promotional products are heavily based on customer demand or the usefulness of the product for the market's customers.

Full-Service Success
     Two full-service restaurants that have survived the times and made a lasting name for themselves both nationally and worldwide are Ithaca, New York-based Moosewood Restaurant and Driftwood, Texas-based The Salt Lick. Despite outside competition and slow seasons, both restaurants have retained customer loyalty by listening to the needs of its customers. With a combined 55 years in business, Moosewood Restaurant and The Salt Lick understand the importance of customer appreciation.
     The Moosewood Restaurant is a vegetarian restaurant established in 1973 at a time when people were asking themselves if they could eat just vegetables. Situated in the same spot in Ithaca, New York, the restaurant has undergone several design changes over the years. Ned Asta, a collective member for 20 years, says the restaurant's logo also has undergone several changes.
     "The first logo included a moose under a tree with the name Moosewood Restaurant underneath it," says Asta. "Later, Ithaca, New York was added to the logo to promote the location as well as the restaurant. Then 11 years ago, the restaurant was being featured in Bon Appetite magazine, so I designed the third logo. It featured three moose with a spectrum of blended colors behind them. The logo says Moosewood Restaurant on the top of the logo with Ithaca, New York on the bottom. The restaurant wanted to sell T-shirts in the back of the magazine, so the staff decided to take advantage of the situation by having a new logo designed."
     The real attraction to the restaurant, however, is Moosewood's cookbooks. The first book was published 24 years ago and more have appeared every couple of years. Each cookbook focuses on a specific food category. For example, the book due out this year is on soups and salads, last year's book focused on desserts and another is called Sundays At Moosewood that centers on the restaurant's ethnic day dishes that are served every Sunday.
     "I believe the cookbooks attract customers to the restaurant and also carry the restaurant," says Asta. "The attraction to the restaurant began with the original book that came out in 1973 when the idea of a vegetarian lifestyle emerged. The timing was very good, and the book became one of the bestsellers nationwide. The name of the first cookbook that came out simply was called The Moosewood Cookbook. The restaurant has followed up on the success of the book by publishing several more throughout the years. Every new book has the name Moosewood Restaurant on it with the original logo on the back."
     In Driftwood, Texas, The Salt Lick has a success story of its own. Established in 1969 by the late Thurman Roberts, The Salt Lick came into existence after friends encouraged Thurman and his wife Hisako to open their own restaurant incorporating the many barbecue recipes that had been handed down from generation to generation. Bridgett Duncan, office assistant at The Salt Lick, says the restaurant is a rustic, down home, good time family barbecue place.
     "The restaurant has changed significantly since its beginnings in 1969," says Duncan. "The Salt Lick started out as just an outdoor barbecue pit where people would come and get their food off the pit, go sit down someplace and eat it. Benches were then brought in for patrons to sit on. The area with the benches eventually became enclosed and is now known as our porch. The rest of the building was built inward, so there was not one main building. It wasn't too long after that when floors were added to replace the sawdust material. The Salt Lick is a place where people can come, let their hair down and have a good time."
     She says the restaurant has one of the few open pit barbecues left in central Texas. However, its international appeal is in the sauce. People from around the world have ordered The Salt Lick's Sauce Gift Pack and Salt Lick Sauce Half Case for its three famous barbecue sauces including Famous Secret Recipe BBQ, The Best Dry Rub and Lauren's Habanero BBQ Sauce.
     "Our sauce is world renowned with people calling from all over to have a bottle," says Duncan. "It's only available through the restaurant or our mail order catalog."

Full-Scale Merchandise
     What is interesting about the successes of the Moosewood Restaurant and The Salt Lick is the creative uses of cookbooks and barbecue sauce to promote the restaurant on a grand scale. While it may not have been apparent to the establishments at the time, the cookbooks and sauce were innovative promotional products that continue to generate revenue for the restaurants more than 20 years after their inception. Several years later, both establishments have incorporated common-day promotional items to promote themselves.
     Asta says the Moosewood Restaurant originally started with T-shirts it wanted to feature in an advertisement of a magazine the restaurant was appearing in. The T-shirts then evolved into white linen aprons with the logo on them and nightshirts with the slogan "I Dream of Moosewood." The restaurant eventually started offering baseball caps, mugs and bumper stickers with the slogan "Eat Your Vegetables"--Moosewood Restaurant.
     "One of the latest products we have are linen tote bags," says Asta. "People use them when they go to the market to put their vegetables in. We want good quality products that will last a long time. For that reason, all of our shirts, aprons and hats are made of cotton."
     As a marketing strategy last December, Asta created a merchandise window to promote Moosewood's logoed products. She says a large moose replica was positioned at a window in the restaurant's new bar café. With the help of snow, candy canes and a large moose, all the products were displayed so the public could see what merchandise was available inside the restaurant. The window display was successful in selling the restaurant's merchandise for Christmas.
     Asta says while the merchandise is popular for customers, the complimentary brochure and postcards are equally attractive. The black and white postcards feature the slogan "I Lick My Plate Clean at Moosewood Restaurant." The brochure is appealing to customers because it includes a history about the restaurant, where it is located, what the restaurant caters to, who works there as well as pictures of all the cookbooks the restaurant has published.
     "After the cookbooks came out, people started saying that we were famous and asked if we had any matchbooks or something they could take with them," says Asta. "We came up with the idea of free postcards and those were well received. The T-shirts are our biggest sellers because the tourist market is June through September, so travelers will purchase T-shirts or order them over the phone when they arrive home. The restaurant also created a 10- and 25-year anniversary shirt."
     Similar to Moosewood Restaurant, The Salt Lick started offering promotional merchandise because of customer demand. Duncan says the establishment offers a variety of T-shirts, baseball caps, sweatshirts and cups. The caps and a few T-shirts include a logo with the slogan "Ultimate Barbecue Cuisine." Many customers will take a complimentary mail order catalog that features all the merchandise and sauce available through the restaurant as well as a menu that describes how The Salt Lick was established.
     "The restaurant started offering merchandise because we wanted to cater to the customer," says Duncan. "Customers wanted to have our sauce at home, so that was one of the first things we started. The T-shirts arrived after people wanted something as a memory of the restaurant. The response from our merchandise has been absolutely incredible. It seems like everybody wants to wear The Salt Lick T-shirt with pride."
     Duncan adds that the restaurant has not expanded into other products because it is not as concerned with the marketing aspect as it is with making good barbecue. The products that are available are what customers have demanded.

Logoed Trends
     The concern of full-service restaurants is strictly focused on the customer. Meeting the customer's needs may be the difference between a one-time customer and somebody who frequents the restaurant for the rest of their lives. Restaurant guests who purchase logoed merchandise and wear it in public not only are doing it because they like the apparel, but because they are proud to advertise the name of the establishment.
     Asta says on her travels across the country, many restaurants are selling T-shirts because it is free advertising when customers wear the items in public. She recounts a time when, standing in line at a movie theater, a woman in front of her was wearing a Moosewood T-shirt with the logo she had designed. After telling the woman that she designed the logo on the shirt, the woman insisted that Asta sign her shirt. She said that she was in town on vacation and bought several T-shirts to take back to the state of Washington.
     "I'm concerned with the physical aspect of the restaurant and how that is projected to the customer," says Asta. "As far as anybody's logo goes, if they're going to put it on napkins, hats, aprons or shirts, the logo should be handsome and tasteful so that people will want to wear it. I also believe that less expensive items such as pens and pencils are appealing to customers as well. Many customers simply want a souvenir to remind them of their experience. Whatever the item is, however, it should be affordable to the public."
     A trend that is emerging with regards to marketing promotional products is the creation of a website that people can access to order logoed merchandise. With restaurants such as Moosewood and The Salt Lick that have an international appeal, websites are an affordable method of reaching loyal customers to keep them updated on restaurant happenings and newly released products that are available.
     "The website was another outlet that customers wanted in order to have access about the restaurant and its products over the computer," says Duncan. "For customer ease, we included our product catalog on the Web so that customers could shop our mail order catalog from home."
     Distributors will find that full-service restaurants expect the same attention to detail and concern for them as they give their own customers. Full-service operators demand quality, trust and a feeling of camaraderie from distributors they work with. Restaurant operators cannot afford to lose customer loyalty over a cheap promotional product that fails to instill the same quality the customer expects out of the establishment.

Limited Time, Limited-Service
     People often find themselves with several things to do and not enough time to do them. It is for this segment of the population that limited-service restaurants were created. Whether it is a fast-food chain, coffeehouse or stop-and-go, the limited-service establishment is providing customers with a demanding convenience. The National Restaurant Association indicates that one out of five takeout food consumers is a daily user. Those customers represent half of all takeout occasions.
     While a limited-service establishment may not have all the personal touches of a full-service restaurant, there is a loyalty among limited-service customers that promotional products can reach. With intense competition emerging between limited-service establishments, it is becoming increasingly important to maintain a loyal customer base. An important method of accomplishing that is incorporating promotional products into the customers' orders.
     For fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King, children have enjoyed kid's meals that include plastic toys depicting the establishment's mascots. Coffeehouses have used creative ideas such as cooking a muffin in a logoed coffee mug that the customer keeps for refills during repeat visits. Other limited-service establishments include logoed T-shirts, matchbooks, coasters, magnets and buttons. Many of these items are complimentary to the customer as a reminder of the establishment.
     The limited-service market has many opportunities for promotional products. The National Restaurant Association notes that in an average month 78 percent of U.S. households use some form of carryout or delivery. It is obvious that the limited-service market has a large audience that can be reached via promotional products. For example, ast-food restaurants have been offering logoed glasses and toys to customers for many years. Promotional products are an inexpensive medium that limited-service establishments can utilize to promote their name and logo to the public.
     The full-service market is custom-oriented; therefore, it is essential that distributors create a promotion that leaves a sense of appreciation in the customer. Full-service establishments want and need customers to return and a well-crafted promotional product could be the difference between a high turnover or a loyal customer base.
     The limited-service market works in a similar manner. Although limited service establishments need customers, the focus is to create name and logo recognition to a mass audience. With millions of people who enjoy hamburgers, limited-service operators must separate themselves from the rest of the competition that sells hamburgers. To accomplish this, promotional products with a relatively low cost and function can create long-term exposure to a large audience.