Growth through P = Place
Feb 20th, 2011 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Brand, MarketingThanks Lane.
From Crain’s Chicago Business Today
Manny’s Restaurant Growth Strategy Manny’s new move video.
“Low” risk way to grow. Famous brand growth. Getting more people to Try the product.
Will it work as well as “Home Run Pizza”?
For truly iconic brands, this should be a no-brainer. This diversifies your offering, especially in a time when people are visiting restaurants less. The only possible downside would be that it may dilute your brand, however, that is a risk that you take. Due to the unique nature and location of the restaurant, the presence of the home version shouldn’t detract from the restaurant. Now when Chilis/Applebees comes out with home meals similar to their restaurant offerings, they are in danger of cannibalizing their own business.
I definitely think it will work. Busy people are always looking for ways to save time, especially if they need quick meals. Name recognition is so important because if you are at the grocery store looking for something quick, the only way you want to try something new is if you know the product by reputation or by having visited the restaurant, ie PF Changs, White Castle, etc. I’ve found at our house, even if the product isn’t quite as good as the restaurant, we still buy it. For example, we buy the PF Changs and TGI Friday’s products, and sometimes add additional ingredients, usually more meat/seafood and rice to make the quick meal. So we still buy, even though we might not like the product as well as the restaurant. Even though I love to cook, when time is limited, I will buy prepackaged restaurant food.
I like the ambition this Manny’s restaurant is showing. They already seem to be dominating the Chicago deli market, why not expand into grocery stores? It’s well worth the investment since they already have a loyal customer base. They won’t have to convince consumers to give the product a first shot since so many people are familiar with their brand. Following through on a quality product is still another thing, though. It sounds like they are developing good partnerships that will help create a product that will agree with the reputation of Manny’s brand. Overall, I think it’s an awesome idea and well worth the risk.
Points in this article touch on the importance of brand and the role it plays in ATR (awareness, trial, repeat).
In the clip Darren Tristano states that consumers are brand loyal and consumers seeing the Manny’s name on the package in the grocery store will help the trial of the product. Consumers will purchase it to at least give it a try. If the quality of the product is good, then consumers will repeat. I agree with what is stated in the clip, maintaining the quality is going to be important. If consumers don’t think the quality is there, they aren’t going to purchase it again and this venture could backfire.
This is a smart move and an easy way to bring in more revenue. At the grocery store you want your product to catch the customer’s eye and a great way to do that is if they recognize the brand name. If nothing else people will be intrigued if they like the restaurant and will probably be willing to give the grocery store version a try. Even if the product is not any better tasting than the grocery store brand sitting next to it there will be a perception that it must be better because of the name on the box and people will probably buy it…..at least once.
I think this is a great idea, not only is it going to sell because of the “Manny’s ” brand, but it will also work to help the brand grow. A local (Milwaukee) example that i know has worked is Saz’s. In my opinion Saz’s has some of the best Mozzarella Sticks. Not to long ago they began selling their mozzy sticks (frozen) in grocery stores. This has to help their sales because now people that enjoy a restaurant’s product can still enjoy the food regaurdless of whether or not they can make it to the establishment, and in turn the restaurant is making money they may of otherwise not.