Storyboard: Fatz Cafe's Hometown Advantage

Fatz Cafe’s new ad campaign shows Middle America what Southern food and service is all about.

By Margaret Littman, Contributing Editor -- Chain Leader, 5/1/2005

Comparing laundry and chicken tenders doesn’t seem particularly appetizing. But that’s just the analogy Joe Gilman uses when describing the thinking behind Fatz Cafe’s new branding initiative.

“We wanted the campaign to be as comfortable as your favorite blue jeans,” says Gilman, creative director at Erwin-Penland, Fatz’s Greenville, S.C.-based ad agency.

Erwin-Penland developed a new TV ad campaign, with radio, PR and Internet tie-ins, to help solidify the brand’s image as a hometown casual-dining joint.

The campaign is an “evolution” from the advertising of the last three years, says Steve Bruce, vice president of operations for Cafe Enterprises, Fatz Cafe’s parent company. The agency developed it in less than two months based on feedback from restaurant operators and customers, rather than focus groups.

It was “identified, not created,” Bruce explains. “We focus on using our advertising message to identify who we are, what we do, our philosophies and style. We do not create false images, and we make a concerted effort to keep it real. What you see is what you get.”

Hometown Heroes
What consumers “get” with the new TV ads is 30 seconds of scenes from the market where they eat and live, Greenville and Columbia, S.C. Each spot underscores Fatz Cafe’s core values. The food-focused spot highlights the chain’s large portions, while another emphasizes friendly service.

A new song, “Our Hometown Fatz Cafe,” written by Greg Barnhill, who has worked for Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood and Amy Grant, delivers the message, rather than actors. Each of the spots, including “Hometown Service” and “Hometown Food,” have the same music, with tweaked lyrics.

The idea was to show life in Middle America—not just the South—that reflects how viewers see themselves. The chain’s target audience is 18- to-49-year-old men and women. Thirty-one percent are blue collar, and 41 percent, white collar.

Seeking Regularity
Each commercial ends with the tagline, “Where everyone’s a regular.” Yet there’s nothing regular about Fatz Cafe’s fourth consecutive year of same-store sales increases. Total revenues increased by an impressive 30 percent in 2004, thanks to expansion into new markets, while same-store sales between 2002 and 2004 increased 6.9 percent.

The objective of the new campaign was to continue to increase traffic, and therefore sales, with a broad branding initiative rather than focusing on improving specific metrics as would be the case with a limited-time offer campaign. The first spots aired for two weeks at the end of January. The company then took the spots off the air for two weeks, so the chain could evaluate the results.

Although branding campaigns don’t tend to have the same immediate impact as more focused advertising, sales increased 3.9 percent when the spots aired, despite bad weather during that time. After that analysis, the spots hit the air again.

In markets where Fatz Cafe has a significant number of restaurants such as Green-ville, the commercials aired on network stations. In smaller, new markets, Erwin-Penland opted for cable TV, with eight new markets for 2005. New this year as well is prime-time TV.

Most of Fatz Cafe’s ad budget, just under $1 million for 2005, went to media buys in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. Just $72,000 was set aside for production costs for TV and radio, an increase of about 35 percent in TV ad spending for 2005 and a 28 percent increase for radio. Part of that production budget was spent on recording 21 different versions of Barnhill’s song, with both 30-second and 60-second versions. An extended version of the song plays on Fatz Cafe’s Web site, www.fatzcafe.com.

Packing a Punch
Fatz Cafe doesn’t discount its menu or use loyalty programs. The company is outspent on advertising by larger competitors such as Applebee’s, O’Charley’s and Ruby Tuesday. So developing a campaign that could pack some immediate punch was crucial, particularly as the chain makes its way into new markets.

There is currently one unit under construction and five others in negotiations. Eventually Fatz plans to expand outside of the South and is looking at 30 percent annual growth.

“What these spots talk about is that while other companies are out there building buildings, what Joe’s team did is tell a story about how we’re part of the community,” says Caroline Gross, marketing director for Cafe Enterprises.

“Hometown Food—Greenville” Length: 30 seconds
1. Voice-over: It’s the people and the place that we can count on.	2. It’s the friends andthe flavor thatwe’ve come to know.
3. This is our hometown, Fatz Cafe.	4. This is our hometown, Fatz Cafe.
5.	6. This is our hometown, Fatz Cafe.
7.	8. Tagline: Where everyone’s a regular.