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Whether you're a restaurant selling a seafood entrée or a tabletop manufacturer selling glassware...long-term, deep discounting as a means to grow sales is a dead-end road on a number of levels. True, it can stimulate short-term sales (i.e. Restaurant "Weeks") but deep discounting items that weren't designed to be sold at lower prices simply is not sustainable. Repeat after me....n-o-t s-u-s-t-a-i-n-a-b-l-e. Yet, we see both restaurateurs and manufacturers continue to attempt to do it. What happens? Restaurateurs find that menu items sold at discounted prices produce lower profit margins and the volume increases are simply not enough to overcome the profit erosion. Additionally, servers who sell the discounted food items receive tips at the lowered prices levels, so they lose earnings. Sound familiar, manufacturers? Tabletop companies that continually rely on discounts to secure orders cannot live on the lower margins with hopes of making it up on the re-orders. In today's tabletop world, customers switch tabletop products with much more frequency, limiting the opportunity to sell smaller re-orders at higher margin pricing levels. And, similarly to restaurant operators, those that are doing the selling, simply work just as hard (or harder) as ever, but now receive less compensation or commission and bonus. And finally, there's the whole issue of brand equity erosion when deep discounting becomes the norm rather than the exception. Although New York's legendary upscale restaurant Le Cirque utilizes Groupon's Reserve program, director and owner Marco Maccioni is quoted as saying "You have to balance your exposure (in these types of programs) because we're criticized for participating in these discount websites." Dilution of brand equity is certain when discounting is used as a long-term method of improving sales. Quality and value is built over a long period of time, built up through many touchpoints, experiences, and exposures to a multitude of brand attributes. Of course, the most easily manipulated of those attributes is price. Offering a deep discount is an easy way to push a customer to dine at your restaurant....or purchase your dinnerware...in the short term. However, there's very little brand benefit, particularly for a product category with a buying cycle measured sometimes in years, or at a minimum months....rather than in days such as fast moving consumer goods are. So, before you offer that next deep-discount....consider the overall impact on your brand equity, especially to loyal customers who like a restaurant or glassware product and would have paid the regular price. Long-term discounting is never a way to build equity into a brand. This is a repeat of an editorial we published in our most recent TabletopJournal BULLETIN newsletter. Due to the variety of reactions we received, we decided to include it here where it will be archived under our Branding topics. It is true...you are judged by the company you keep. Your mother was right. Same goes for brands and branding. That why we like who the Spanish company, Pordamsa, is keeping company.... non other than the world's best pastry chef - Jordi Roca from Girona's El Celler de Can Roca. Pordamsa describes Jordi Roca in its blog this way ..."Creativity, technique and a touch of madness. These are three of the many words that might be used to describe this chef and dessert magician, Jordi Roca. He’s one of the most popular names in Spanish gastronomy, but the echo of his work reaches far beyond." We'd have to agree and its easy to see why El Celler de Can Roca is one of most creative altars of great tabletop in the world today. And, Pordamsa plays a part in all this creativity. In addition to being created by a highly talented design team, all Pordamsa dinnerware is made from pure white porcelain, finely polished and stackable for the restaurant industry. Pordamsa porcelain is also oven (up to 300º/572F), microwave, dishwasher and freezer safe. To learm more about Pordamsa and its wide range of creative products for restaurant tabletops, go here: http://en.pordamsa.com/ There a lots of brands within the hospitality tabletop industry, but few with the prestige, heritage, design DNA, and overall brand personalities of the brands within the Rosenthal-Sambonet-Paderno portfolio. We recently were fortunate enough to sit with Rosenthal-Sambonet USA President Andrea Vianello to ask him about what its like these days to be managing high quality brands such as these within today's hospitality world. To learn what Andrea Vianello had to say, go here: http://www.tabletopjournal.com/people/rosenthal-sambonets-andrea-vianello-brand-nurturer-tabletop-innovator Eastern Tabletop has introduced a new sleek stainless steel bar serving tray that is very easy on the eye. The design is contemporary and is very light weight. The most important feature, is its durability, which allows for high volume usage again and again. Serve up your special cocktails to your guests for any special event ....and do it in style. The bottom line: these trays are pretty cool. But, then, Eastern Tabletop is getting quite the reputation as a source for innovative styling for its serving pieces and its buffetware, so we shouldn't be surprised. For more information .... on these and all the other cool tabletop and serving ideas from Eastern Tabletop, go here: http://www.easterntabletop.com/ On the strength of the launch of Bauscher’s new Purity porcelain, sales achieved from The World Cup event, and strong sales success in North America, BHS Tabletop AG (parent of the Bauscher, Schonwald, and Tafelstern brands) announced its optimism for 2014 and dividend results for fiscal 2013. In North America, the restructuring of Bauscher USA with a positive impact resulting in U.S. sales growth from 4.8MM to 11.6 MM USD. In addition to strong results, the company announced a series of investments totaling 5.1 million Euros from this past year, including new high-pressure casting equipment at Schonwald. The company has also upgraded IT systems and reinvested in improvements to become more energy self-sufficient. "We understand it is not only our job, the BHS stand out from the framework and results in the industry, but also the strategic development of the company over and over again. Our production is currently probably the most modern and flexible production of hard-paste porcelain worldwide. And we want to expand our technology leadership," said BHS Tabletop AG CEO Christian Strootmann. Strootmann expects 2014 to remain positive for the company as the first several months have started positive both in terms of new products and strategic directions taken by the company. To read the entire release, go here: BHS Tabletop AG Press Release June 2014 To learn more about BHS Tabletop AG and its Bauscher, Schonwald, and Tafelstern brands, go here: http://www.bhs-tabletop.de/ The Homer Laughlin China Co.®, a member of the HLC Family of Companies, has announced an exciting additional choice in their popular RE-21 foodservice-grade dinnerware line. RE-21 is widely known and well respected for its quality, strength and beauty by foodservice industry professionals across the country. The durability of this Ivory Body line has long been favored for even the most high-volume tabletop environments. Now, Homer Laughlin is pleased to be able to offer the visually appealing Arctic White glaze as an option for this popular line. This glaze offers an attractive, bright white hue, bringing a subtle, additional level of class and sophistication to any environment. “Our foodservice customers have been asking for strong, bright white dinnerware, and we have responded to their needs with the Arctic White glaze for RE-21,” says Gene Williamson, Vice President of Sales for the Foodservice Division of HLC Inc. “We’re confident our clients will be pleased with this option, which will deliver the versatility and quality they have come to rely on from Homer Laughlin.” The HLC Family of Companies prides itself on being the meeting place of craftsmanship and technology. As a Genuine Manufacturer™, their vast selection of dinnerware and accessories are designed and manufactured in the company’s own factory, furthering their goals to operate with a sharp focus on quality control, cost-efficiency and sustainability. RE-21 with Arctic White glaze can be customized with any desired color or pattern. As with all HLC products, the company’s customization options provide an attractive and impressive array of choices, and a consistency in production that sets them apart from other dinnerware companies. In addition to the many styles and colors shown on their website, HLC’s designers can work with customers on any custom design, incorporating restaurant, company or brand logos and colors. To learn more about RE-21 or any of the other fine HLC tabletop products, go here: http://www.hlcdinnerware.com/home
Action!
“The number one problem haunting big and, sadly, not so big business today is the failure to act. Only a strategy of constant, fast-paced experimentation with everything stands a chance in today’s turbulent marketplace.” - Tom Peters www.tompeters.com How great tabletop products find their way into the foodservice and hospitality marketplace is always an evolving subject of discussion, both within the U.S. market and abroad. One of the emerging trends in the non-foods category of foodservice in America is that of large, national sales and marketing organizations that can offer a manufacturer a consistent representation effort across the country. Recently, we were fortunate enough to have a great Q&A with Dan Rodenbush, EVP and General Manager of Acosta Cornerstone, one of America's leaders in representing tabletop and other non-food brands nationally. You can read Dan's thoughts on the selling and marketing of tabletop in America and more by going here: http://www.tabletopjournal.com/people/acosta-cornerstones-dan-rodenbush-talks-tabletop-sales-marketing-in-americas-hospitality-foodservice-world In setting the tone for a great guest dining experience, one of the easiest and nearly subliminal ways to positively impact that experience is to have table lighting that reinforces your restaurant brand message. Hollowick has been providing the hospitality industry great table lighting for over 40 years and has a complete line of flameless candles
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