Bob Evans Readies Prototype with 'Eat-in Kitchen'
The new unit is part of the family-dining restaurant chain's repositioning effort that includes appetizers, wireless connectivity and flat-screen TVs.
By David Farkas, Senior Editor -- Chain Leader, 4/22/2009 9:05:00 AM
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| A Bob Evans restaurant featuring the current look of restyled units. A new prototype in Xenia, Ohio, will include a common table and flat-screen TV inside an "eat-in kitchen." |
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| Appetizers are a part of Bob Evans' repositioning efforts, Officials are hoping the new dishes, which are being rolled in May, will give the family restaurant concept more of a three-daypart feel. |
Bob Evans is changing format, again. Since late 2005, the family-dining restaurant chain has been in repositioning mode in an attempt build frequency of visits among light and moderate users. Research shows that they tend to be young families and young adults.
This spring, for instance, all 570 units will offer wireless connectivity. In May, the chain introduces appetizers like quesadillas and fried cheese bites for the first time in its history. This summer, it will add another update with an "eat-in kitchen," scheduled to debut inside a brand new prototype in Xenia, Ohio, in August.
Vice President of Marketing Mary Cusick insists the new area--which will feature a flat-screen television, a common table, counter and tile floor--is part and parcel with the chain's "home of the home-style" tagline.
Just Like Home
"An eat-in kitchen is often the hub of home," she says. "Someone is doing homework at the table on a computer, so we have WiFi. Where do people gather around when there is a big sporting or weather event? In front of the TV. That experience is very concentrated around [this] part of the restaurant."
About one-fourth of the 146-seat dining room will be devoted to the space, which also includes a tile floor. "It is first area of the restaurant you enter from the lobby. It's a higher-energy space and reminiscent of an eat-in kitchen at home," Cusick says.
The company has a long history in Xenia, a town about 40 miles southwest of Bob Evans' Columbus, Ohio, headquarters. Bob Evans' first pork processing plant was opened here in 1953. It has operated a restaurant in the city (population 27,300) for 21 years. Officials picked the city because the restaurant was scheduled for remodeling in 2009, although the prototype will be built a few miles away from the original eatery.
In addition to the eat-in kitchen, the new restaurant will include redesigned carryout and curbside services. Customers will also pay servers instead of cashiers. Currently "server banking" is in test in a downtown Columbus restaurant. "We think it takes us more to a three-daypart experience rather than a coffee-shop environment," Cusick says.
Sales Slip a Little
The brand repositioning is showing signs of life. Same-store sales for the company's third quarter (ended February 10) slipped just 1.3 percent among the 545 units open for 18 months or longer. Menu prices, however, climbed 3.3 percent during the same period. Total sales for the quarter decreased 2.3 percent, from $367.6 million a year ago to $359.2 million.
Cusick believes the Xenia prototype and the new appetizers will make a difference in the long-run. "When you package up all the things we are doing, the brand is making nice progress in this economic environment. We are going to come out on the other side in a really good place," she says.
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