The Art of the Menu by Ann Elliott
26th February 2016
What do customers see when they look at a menu? What draws their eye: the prices, the specials, the cocktails? Designing a successful menu is much more than just listing what is on offer, and at Elliotts we have witnessed first-hand the difference a quality menu can make – both in terms of branding and potential earnings. Our latest menu project for a hotel chain delivered a 23% increase in profitability without amending any dish or altering any specification.
READ MORE
The Reinvigoration of Café Rouge by James Spragg
26th February 2016
I remember reading an article about restaurant brand management in these pages by Tony Hughes. He noted a certain pattern of behaviour for operators who come in new to a brand they’ve inherited – paraphrasing, he said they cannot help but criticise anything and everything, and then some. I totally agree. Hughes’ words were ringing in my ears as I sat down to write this article, after Propel asked me to pen my thoughts on the transformation programme at Café Rouge. So let me just start by saying this is, and always was, a fantastic brand. There were some very specific reasons as to why it had perhaps lost its way in recent times, which I plan to touch on, before giving a flavour of what we’ve done in the past 12 months, and what we intend to do next.
READ MORE