Promotions « Marketing premium food

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Marketing Your Premium Food as Zagat Rated

Zagat, the well-respected restaurant rating organization, has added fast-food to its survey results.

“It’s virtually impossible to live anywhere in America without having a fast food chain outlet in the neighborhood. We know that these chains play an important role in feeding our population. That’s the reason why we undertook this survey and why we believe the results are so important,” said Tim Zagat, CEO of Zagat Survey.

The survey dissected the fast-food chains into three categories: large (up to 5,000 U.S. outlets), mega (more than 5,000) and quick-refreshment (focusing on beverages, ice cream, etc.). The following restaurants took top honors in their categories:

Most popular large fast-food chains
1.    Panera Bread
2.    Chipotle
3.    Five Guys
4.    Chick-fil-A
5.    In-N-Out Burger

Most popular mega fast-food chains
1.    Subway
2.    McDonald’s
3.    Wendy’s
4.    Burger King
5.    Taco Bell

Most popular quick-refreshment chains
1.    Starbucks Coffee
2.    Dunkin’ Donuts
3.    Culver’s
4.    Ben & Jerry’s
5.    Dairy Queen

To view the full results, visit zagat.com/fastfood.

Seeing the “Zagat Rated” stickers and signs in restaurants throughout the country has always served as a verification that I was about to spend my money on a quality dining experience. Including the fast-food category switches things up a bit. Will every McDonald’s in the country now feature a Zagat Rated sticker?

Do you think including fast-food in the Zagat survey decreases the credibility of the survey or does it just make sense considering so much of what we consume comes from a fast-food chain?

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Labels: food trends, marketing premium food, Premium Food, restuarants, Stephan & Brady, zagat

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Stick It To ‘Em When Marketing Premium Food

The 2010 Wisconsin State Fair kicked off last week in Milwaukee and with it came a food extravaganza – funnel cakes, corn dogs and cotton candy, oh my!

From drive-thru cream puff stations to Crazy Grazin’ Day, the Wisconsin State Fair loves to celebrate food. However, fair food just isn’t fair food unless it’s being served on a stick. This year, the State Fair is offering 65 (!) food items on a stick – 21 of them new from last year.

sticfood

Some of the more common items include caramel apples, corn dogs, cotton candy and shish-kabobs. But, with 65 options, there are bound to be a few that make you scratch your head in wonder: spaghetti & meatballs, chocolate-covered bacon, deep-fried apple pie and more!

For a complete listing of food-on-a-stick items, visit the Wisconsin State Fair website.

Last year, the Taste of Home blog , powered by Yahoo!, provided readers with a breakdown of the best state fair food items on a stick:

Best Food-On-A-Stick: Cookie Dough
Messiest Food-On-A-Stick: Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly
Better than Ice Cream: Chocolate Covered Banana
Most Overrated Food-On-A-Stick: Cherry Pie and Chocolate Covered Bacon
Classic Food-On-A-Stick: Corn Dog

What’s the most outrageous food-on-a-stick that you’ve tried? Could any of your food products be served on a stick?

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Labels: Escape to Wisconsin, food trends, food-on-a-stick, marketing premium food, Premium Food, Stephan & Brady, Wisconsin State Fair

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Market Your Premium Food at a High School?

When it comes to national sports teams, we’re all familiar with corporate sponsorships – Miller Park, Coors Field, Pepsi Center and US Cellular Field are just several examples.

A few you might not be so familiar with include Schwanger Bros. Field, SmileMaker Dental Field and Discovery Federal Credit Union Gym. That’s because these are all high school facilities.

In an effort to help struggling school budgets across the country, districts are seeking financial help from corporations who are willing to pay for a little advertising exclusivity.

Market Street Sports Group of Lancaster, PA is a sports marketing firm that helps “form long-term relationships with sponsors that share our dedication to community.” In addition to athletic facilities, Market Street can negotiate “sponsorship opportunities” for almost anything with a physical presence on campus — libraries, administration buildings, cafeterias, conference rooms, guidance offices, nurse’s offices, art rooms, photo labs, band rooms and chorus spaces.

This new trend obviously creates some unease and raises ethical questions. Commercial Alert, a nonprofit activist group in Washington states,

“One after another, schools across America are dedicating themselves not to role models, but instead to corporations. Instead of promoting character and honor, they are pushing products and the self-indulgence of the commercial culture.” – MSNBC

Do you feel that letting advertisers claim exclusivity to high school and even elementary school campuses is a harmless way to add funding to school budgets? Or, does it allow too much commercialization in a space where our children are being educated?

Would you market your premium food to a high school this way?

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Labels: advertising, Grassroots Marketing, marketing premium food, Premium Food, Stephan & Brady

Friday, July 30, 2010

Dear Premium Food Marketer,

It goes without saying that we love cheese in Wisconsin. Our state provides some of the best there is, after all.

Luckily for us, the people at Formaticum have created a new way for all cheese lovers to embrace their inner fromager with their new Cheese Journal.

The Formaticum Cheese Journal is a book designed to help you remember your favorite cheeses. It features an introduction with helpful information about cheese, information on milk types, how to taste cheese and serving tips. There are 59 pages in the journal - enough space to remember 118 cheeses!

cheesejournal1

cheesejournal2

We know that the journals are available online and at Whole Foods stores, but would argue that in addition to Formaticum’s clever line of cheese paper and labels, they would provide specialty cheese shops a great way to market their premium food products.

What types of food accessories could you provide to foodies to make your product more special?

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Labels: cheese, marketing premium food, Packaging, Premium Food, Stephan & Brady, Wisconsin Cheese

Thursday, July 1, 2010

S&B Marketing Consultation: It’s Your Call

Want to add some punch to your lunch? Stephan & Brady is offering a free 30-minute consultation to help you deal with the tricky marketing issues or questions you just can’t seem to solve.

Through December 2010, we’ll bring one session every other month to our blog readers. Topics will vary from social and interactive media to public relations and design. While we’ll provide a topic for each session, we are open to discussing an issue that’s a hot button for you. We’re leaving the lines of communication open because It’s Your Call.

The best part? It really is free – no sales pitches, no gimmicks – just honest-to-goodness advice. The only thing we ask is that you leave a comment in this post letting us know why your company is the best candidate for the phone consultation. We’ll pick one winner at random from the responses. No need to enter more than once. You can provide a name and email and we’ll let you know you’ve won, or we’ll announce the winner based on their comment “handle,” in which case you’ll need to check back and email us with your info.

We’ll probably summarize the consultation into a blog post so everyone can benefit, but you can remain anonymous if you like.

Our first session will take place on Wednesday, August 4 over the lunch hour (or whatever timeframe best suits your needs). We’ll be taking submissions for this session today through July 23 and will select the first participant on July 28. Our first topic is “Does online advertising work for B2B?” But remember, if there is something else you’d really like to discuss, we’re open to that as well.

We’re excited to share our collective wisdom and look forward to stimulating conversation and interaction. Comment away, and good luck!

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Labels: advertising, Advertising Agency, marketing, PR, public relations, S&B, social media, Stephan & Brady, Stephan and Brady

Friday, June 25, 2010

Reward Tweeters to Market Premium Food

If you have a substantial number of followers on Twitter, you’re off to a good start. However, the point of Twitter is not to amass followers, but to have them engage with your brand. The most successful premium food marketers using Twitter provide value to their customers.

One way to engage your followers is to reward those with “Klout.” An analytics service that tracks users’ influence based on several factors including the quality of followers and tweets, Klout places Twitter users into categories ranging from Observer to Celebrity based on their score.

Starbucks and Virgin America are two companies that are using Klout scores to help market their brand to tweeters that meet the criteria of “influencer.” In March, Starbucks offered free samples of Pike’s Place Roast coffee to influential Twitter users who often tweeted about coffee. More recently, Virgin offered free round-trip airfare between Toronto and San Francisco or Los Angeles to influencers and were invited to a launch event to celebrate Virgin’s new presence in Toronto.

The most interesting thing about these promotions is that there are no strings attached. Influencers can choose to accept the free offer and are not obligated to do anything in return.

“If you accept the offer you are not required to do anything. We do not want to “buy” your tweets. You are receiving the product because you are influential and have authority on topics related to the product. This is a more targeted form of receiving a sample while shopping at the grocery store. You are welcome to tell the world you love the product, you hate the product or say nothing at all.

If you decide to talk about the product we will ask you to disclose that you received a sample. We will send you more information about this when we ship the product.” – Klout

What kind of offer could your brand provide Twitter influencers with Klout? Do you think these promotions will help the companies gain more of a presence on Twitter or will the recipients simply take the free gift and not advocate the brand?

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Labels: Klout, marketing premium food, marketing promotions, Premium Food, social media, Starbucks, Stephan & Brady, Twitter, Virgin America

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Channeling Table Manners to Market Premium Food

We’re all familiar with the adage “Waste not, want not,” but has one Australian restaurateur gone too far?

Fed up with the waste left by diners, Chef Yukako Ichikawa of Wafu – a restaurant that offers “guilty free Japanese cuisine” in the suburbs of Sydney – has ordered her customers to eat everything on their plates or pay a penalty and be banned from her eatery. Conversely, diners who eat all the food they have ordered will receive a 30% discount.

Wafu’s website clearly defines the Chef’s expectations of her diners:

Eat-in Policy

First, read our policies and mission statement on our front door or on our website. If you agree to our terms (namely, not wasting food and sharing meals as if you would at home) we will gladly welcome you to Wafu.

Takeaway Policy

When using your own storage containers for takeaway food, we give you a 30% discount and stamp your Wafu card towards the reward of a $20 voucher to be used for anything in the store!

Using our containers incurs a $3 fee for EACH container used to package your meal. Trying to order takeaway without your own containers or plates may also result in refusal of service.

The restaurant has gained plenty of media coverage due to its odd (at least by American standards) dining requirements, and has received generally mixed reviews for the policies. Patrons who ranked the restaurant on Eatability typically either gave it high marks for the food or heavily criticized the service, claiming that diners who did not meet the policies were told to leave.

“[I] ate here ages ago and loved it, but when I came back, I have never been treated so rudely, by the senior staff. She said a few different things quickly about reading her Policy, which I was accepting of, fair enough, was her restaurant, but she was rude and got defensive when I asked for clarification and basically said we should go because we are not suitable customers/suitable for the restaurant.”

Are Ichikawa’s policies commendable or will her personal beliefs hinder the restaurant’s success?

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Labels: dining policies, food trends, marketing premium food, Premium Food, Stephan & Brady, Wafu

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Marketing Premium Food on the Honor System

Using philanthropy to market your premium food can increase customer numbers and loyalty.

“Today 65 percent of Americans are willing to switch to a brand associated with a good cause if price and quality are relatively equal.” — Saving the World at Work by Tim Sanders

Panera Bread Co. is taking the philanthropic approach one stop further by launching a new nonprofit store located in St. Louis that allows customers to pay based on the honor system.

panera

Offering the same menu as its other 1,400 locations, customers are told to donate what they want for a meal. If the new model works and can sustain the cost of running the business, Panera will expand the concept around the country with the hope of having a similar location in every community where it operates.

Panera is using its nonprofit foundation (Operation Dough-Nation) to support the restaurant and any future locations. The foundation will pay the new restaurant’s bills, including staff salaries, rent and food costs. At the end of each month, the foundation will tally donations to see if they cover food costs. The Panera parent company won’t bear losses if the experiment fails. – AP

Do you think Panera’s approach is too bold or will they appeal to customers who wouldn’t typically consider the chain? Would you pay full price, donate more to pay for those in need or take advantage of the pay-what-you-can offering?

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Labels: marketing premium food, Panera, philanthropy, Premium Food, Stephan & Brady

Friday, May 21, 2010

Marketing Premium Food to Casual Diners

What foodservice industry segment has been most affected by economic woes? According to MSN Money, it is premium food marketers in the casual-dining segment.

Casual-dining restaurants are in foodservice limbo – when people are forced to be frugal, they’d rather spend less and eat at a fast food chain. People are trading down and the quick-service industry is benefitting. On the other end, upscale restaurants have seen a decline, but not to the scale of the casual market since their total volume is less.

MSN lists the following casual-dining chains as the 10 fastest-shrinking in the restaurant industry:

Black Angus Steakhouse

Casa Ole

Country Kitchen

Damon’s Grill

Carino’s Italian Grill

Western Sizzlin

Fazoli’s

Bertucci’s Brick Oven Pizzeria

Smitty’s

Pizza Inn

It’s situations like this that call for strengthened marketing efforts to maintain brand awareness and build on customer loyalty.

Finding the right “extra value proposition” that’s true to your brand or concept and one that your audience will respond well to is key. Take a look at your target customer and approach your marketing efforts with a clear understanding of what appeals to them. Is a frequent diner program a better option to reward their loyalty or do you want to build your customer base with a coupon that anyone can use? Does a reduced price menu section that features key components of your offerings present a better way to build traffic versus a “take $3 off any entrée” offer?

A strong marketing strategy may be what determines which casual-dining restaurants ride out the economic swing and which don’t.

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Labels: casual dining, marketing premium food, MSN, Premium Food, restaurant trends, Stephan & Brady

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Earth Day Promotions Grow for Premium Food Marketers

Any holiday is ripe for leverage by premium food marketers, including Earth Day. This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day and the tree hugging seems to be at an all-time high (hear Mother Nature’s sigh of relief?).

Here are a few examples of premium food brands encouraging Earth Day participation:

• The Kroger Co. is inviting customers to “Design a Reusable Shopping Bag” through its annual online contest. Beginning April 12 and running through May 21, customers can go online at www.kroger.com/green to submit their designs for Kroger’s reusable grocery bags. The grand-prize winner will receive a $1,000 Kroger gift card and could see their bag design in stores.

• Kenwood Vineyards is commemorating this year’s Earth Day with an innovative bottle necker that will be featured on their “Sonoma Series” Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel bottles, and are available in stores nationwide. Each necker includes a special “planet earth” insert of seed paper, which, when planted, will produce a mixture of wildflowers.

• Pizza Fusion, a pioneer in the natural and organic restaurant movement, launched an online video contest through the month of April, searching for the country’s most creative and earth-friendly pizza recipe. The winner will receive a trip for two to an organic and sustainable vineyard, a year’s worth of organic beverages from Honest Tea and Give Natural Spring Water, an “Eco-Design” bike from Trek Bikes as well as have their winning recipe posted online at www.Pizzafusion.com.

• Starbucks is offering free coffee to any customer that brings in their own reusable mug on Earth Day. The promotion is part of a larger effort on Starbucks’ part for all of its cups to be reusable or recyclable by 2015.

How are you leveraging Earth Day? If you aren’t, what are some ways your company could market its premium food using Earth Day messaging?

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Labels: Earth Day, Grassroots Marketing, Kenwood Vineyards, marketing premium food, Pizza Fusion, Premium Food, S&B, Starbucks, Stephan & Brady, The Kroger Co.

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