Improving Your Brand Recognition

So what is the first thought that pops into your customers’ minds when they think of your restaurant? Do you want to improve upon that branding? Have you thought about what other successful restaurants are doing to improve their brand recognition? Here are just a few things that can help facilitate consistency and predictability for your menu items.

What is one of the worst things that could happen when a group sits down at one of your tables for dinner? Two of the guests order the same meal and they look nothing alike. That is brutal. What happens if one of their steaks is bigger than the other? What is the impression that the customer walks away with? Ever had anyone say to you that this meal tasted completely different from the same meal I ordered here last week? How do you recover from that? More importantly, how do you avoid getting into that predicament in the first place?

One of the ways to avoid this situation is to use portion steaks and meats. I know many of you are throwing your hands up saying things like “we have always cut our own meats” or “I use all of the meat. We use it for our soups, stews and our meat sauce” or even “it is cheaper to buy the commodity meats.” I am not going to argue with you – you are right on many levels…that is how you have always done it, that trimmings and waste can be used for that, and it may be cheaper to buy the commodities. IF YOU ARE ONLY LOOKING AT THE SHORT RUN!

Let’s take each of these responses individually.

“We have always cut our own steaks.”
I like the feeling of nostalgia that sentence engenders. It really brings a sense of down home and the way things were. If that is the business model that you are pursuing, then by all means, cut away. Steak cutting is an art. To do it right, you need a skilled craftsman and a lot of raw material. To get 20 consistently sized 8z Filet Mignons, you have to clean approximately 6 to 7 PSMO’s. My guess, though, is that you want a more efficient process. You want to adapt and stay ahead of the game. I bet you want to be in business in another 10 years. The industry has changed. Many of the big steak houses in and around Chicago are using portion steaks. Why? Because they want to make sure that the steak you order today looks and tastes exactly like the one you ordered last month. They are working at reinforcing the good experiences you had and are trying to turn them into their brand. They would rather pay a little more up front to insure that you have a repetitive dining experience – the first step towards brand recognition for their restaurant. That way they can reap the rewards and profits of your repeat business.

“I use all of the meat. We use it for our soups and our meat sauce.”
That is great. That seems to be efficient and economical. I thought that ultimately we were in this business to make a profit. I often hear many of you saying that you aren’t making enough. I have a hard time wrapping my head around how using psmo trimmings at about $10 a pound to put into your soup, sauce or pepper steak makes sense when you can pay a heck of a lot less for other meats that are better suited for those purposes. It doesn’t add up.

“It is cheaper to buy the commodity meats.”
Up front, in the short run, you are absolutely, undeniably correct. However, if you do not cut them correctly, excessive waste and poor yields will turn your short term savings into a long term loss. When is the last time you did a yield test and weighed the commodity case of meat before trimming, weighed the waste, steaks and usable trimmings to figure your TRUE COST of the product on your plate? It may sound funny but by spending “more” up front, you may be able to save money on the back end. If you want to MAKE money, you need to concentrate on service and the dining experience in your restaurant - YOUR BRAND. One of the keys to creating your own brand image is consistency. One of the best ways to insure consistency is to use portion steaks. You WILL pay more for them on your invoice. You WILL reap the rewards and increased profits for paying a little more on the invoice by giving your diners a repetitive dining experience. As an added benefit, you have better inventory control as you know exactly how many steaks you have in your building, at all times. You are never sure how many steaks are cut from a case of commodity product. Fresh cut steaks are 100% usable product.

These are just some of the reasons why successful restaurants are using portion steaks as an effective way to build their brand recognition by providing diners a consistent, predictable dining experience. We haven’t even discussed the benefits of inventory control, food cost management, decreased labor costs and decreased injury risk / healthcare bills. All of this needs to get factored into “potential savings” of buying commodity beef.

I know there are many examples of successful restaurants that haven’t embraced portion steaks that leap to mind, but the number is dwindling as competition increases and consumers have more and more choices available to them. The skilled labor that it takes to cut steaks correctly is reaching the age of retirement, the remaining people will command top dollar to cut custom steaks in a kitchen. You don’t need a skilled craftsmen and their higher wages to open a package containing a perfectly cut steak.

YOUR COMPETITION ISN’T JUST INCREASING, IT IS GETTING BETTER.

We all need to adapt to the changing industry environment so that we can stay afloat in these challenging times.

Check back next week as we will continue to explore other methods to help cultivate your brand recognition.

Thanks for stopping by!