Restaurant Trends in Atlanta - Flexibility is the Key

April 6, 2009 - PRLog -- According to statistics released by the Federal Reserve, Personal  
Savings in 2008 were nearly 5 times greater than in 2005.  As a  
percentage of income, this figure doubled again in January and  
February 2009.

At a recent food service seminar, the CFO of a major international food conglomerate stood in a room with hundreds of  restaurant owners and in a brilliant presentation challenged that if a restaurant was not making money today, it is its own fault, and  could not blame the economy.

Dollars are still going out in record numbers.  What has changed is  
where are these dollars going?

In the past several years there has been a shift in the way many  
people are dining out.

10 years ago, if my parents went out to eat, they went to a nice  
restaurant, ordered apps, entrees, deserts and wine with the meal.  
You did not share entrees, or worse yet, split an entree.  The format  
of dining out was set and you did not ask for anything special, or heaven  
forbid asking for a substitution.

I will skip the lengthy transition and fast forward to today's  
consumer. (however, I love to talk about it, so call me if you want to  
hear more...)

What has changed:

Let's take Joe for example (not his real name).  Joe was reared by  
parents who both worked.  With both parents working, Joe was on his  
own for meals most of the time.  This involved Fast Food, or Microwave  
food.  Joe never learned how to cook.  Now Joe is married to Sue  
(also, not her real name) Sue also has never learned to cook, being  
brought up with the convenience of fast food, microwave dinners and  
everyone's favorite, a 99 cent box of macaroni and cheese.

Joe and Sue are fresh out of college and at 23 years old, they eat out  
almost 5 times each week.  Joe and Sue will go into a restaurant on a  
special occasion and drink coctails before dinner, maybe a bottle of  
wine with dinner, and a beer or another coctail after dinner.

Joe wants to go into a restaurant and order two appetizers, which he  
splits with Sue, one entree, which he shares with Sue.  On Tuesday,  
Joe wants to be able to go into his favorite restaurant wearing jeans  
and a t-shirt (ok, its a hundred dollar t shirt) and sit at the bar  
and have a beer and a hamburger and be left alone.  Saturday is Sue's  
Birthday, and they will dress up, go to the same restaurant and order  
wine, apps entrees and dessert- in the same restaurant.  Next week,  
for Granny's birthday, they want to go to the same restaurant for a  
nice birthday party with Granny with a table of 10 (separate checks  
(you better be ready)) and orders will run the gamut from 1 beer for  
"seat 1" apps, entrees, desserts and wine for "seats 2 and 3" and  
everyone else will order things ranging from glasses of wine to five  
course meals.

Flexibility is the key.

I was invited to dinner at a restaurant with some friends.  After  
meeting there and watching everyone have some apps, drinks and wine, i  
noticed that no one was eating a "traditional meal" (whatever  
"traditional" really means)
This was a first for me.  It was decided that we would go to a  
neighborhood watering hole for the rest of the evening.  The checks  
were delivered.  The check average was still nice, and the server  
smiled and received great tips.  Everyone was happy.  I was fascinated.

Years ago when I was working the floor, It was unheard of to go to a  
restaurant and "mix and match"..   Back then, no one had the nerve to  
ask the chef to split up orders of food (or you just brought an empty  
plate and maybe charged a "split charge"...  Chefs ruled, and no one  
questioned their authority.

A new wave over the past few years (and I did this in my last  
restaurant) was that all of the servers had the authority to say "YES"  
to any special requests if they knew that we had the wherewithall to  
make it happen.  There was a grocery store nearby, and we even  
accomodated extra special requests if we could send a utility person  
to the store.

Fast forward to today..

1. Thousands of choices of wines.  (who can know all about them..)  
Many of today's diners, instead of "choosing a wine" which the server  
kept bringing bottles to the table during the course of a meal, pick a  
bottle to have "with the meal".

2. Coctails, craft beers and glasses of wine will be served before,  
during and after the meal.  It is much more bearable to pay 5 dollars  
for 4 coctails than 35.00 for a bottle of wine.  If they want the  
wine, it will more likely be a glass.

3. Flexibility in ordering.  Apps as entrees, entrees shared and split  
among the table, people who join the table and only order drinks and  
no food, coctails and glasses of wine during the meal (even if a  
bottle is present).  Patterns in ordering food seem to no longer  
exist.  With the advent of today's POS systems, you can (and had  
better) split all checks, and be ready to split individual items  
between guests.

Guests demand flexibility and choice.  The sucessful restaurants have  
learned to increase the perception of value, and give people a choice  
to eat whatever they want (they have been doing this in Europe  
forever)..  In Spain, most menus offer a Racion (full portion) or as  
Tapas (to share).  Dining in the US has become THE entertainment for  
many people.  Not dinner before a show or movie, many times the night  
in a restaurant IS the "Night Out"

The art of entertaining at home has dwindled with a newer generation  
of people who did not learn how to cook and entertain.  If you cater  
to this market of young professionals or a "hip" crowd, the  
restaurants that are doing well, are either "Value Focused" or an  
extension of their own home, a place to do what you want, how you want  
it, and when you want it.

Are you going to be a success in your new venture?  Make sure you  
throw out your pre-conceived notions of what people want, and go visit  
some of the restaurants that have a line out the door.  You can bet  
that they have opened a restaurant that gives the people what they  
want, instead of giving them what the restaurant owner feels the need  
to give them.

There are institutions that have been in business for a long time, and  
there will always be anomolies, however this is the future of the  
restaurant business.

I am stuck in the generation between my parents, and young  
professionals of today.  I will always remember my mom afraid to  
differ from the "Norm" (whatever she believed that was) and still feel  
a twinge of something when sit down at a table of 10 friends and order  
a beverage, calamari app, and dessert, because that is what I want at  
that particular moment..

Todays consumers demand Value.  With everything most people do today,  
they will be consious of value.

Do you encourage this freedom of choice and present a "perceived" value?

Perception is Reality.  Restaurant owners who step back and understand  
their customers "perception" will almost always be successful.

My last thought: Isn't this the way it should have always been?

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