| Industry Trends |
back to home |
|
| Carryout Service National chains are feeding on a trend |
|
BY GREGORY J. GILLIGAN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Sunday, April 25, 2004 |
|
| Kent Stigall has become a carryout-dining devotee. |
|
| Two years ago, the Chesterfield County resident never would have thought about picking up meals from casual-dining restaurants on a regular basis. |
|
| But after trying the service, Stigall and his family are hooked. |
|
| "This is so easy," Stigall said. "It adds a new twist to dining." |
|
| The process is painless, he said. Stigall calls to place an order, drives to the restaurant, parks in a special spot, and within minutes, an employee delivers meals to him to take home. |
|
| "Once you do it a few times, it makes sense," Stigall said. |
|
| A growing number of casual-dining chains, such as Ruby Tuesday, Applebee's, Chili's Grill & Bar and Outback Steakhouse, have responded to the demands of time-starved consumers who want to take home restaurant-quality meals. |
|
| "It's a dream to be able to call in an order, go pick it up, and you never have to leave your car," said Tammie Vaughan, who uses the carryout service at the Chili's restaurant near the Short Pump Town Center about twice a week for lunch and about once every two weeks for dinner. |
|
| "It is much better than sitting in a long line at a fast-food place and then eating bad food," said Vaughan, who is the property manager at The Madison at Spring Oak apartment complex across from the Short Pump mall. |
|
| Takeout food has become serious business for many chains as well as thousands of independent and regional restaurant operators. |
|
| Many restaurants offer separate carryout counters and entrances. They have parking places and employees devoted to carryout. Some even use a certain amount of their advertising to promote carryout dining. |
|
| For good reason: Carryout has become a rapidly growing part of overall sales for many casual-dining chains, accounting for as much as 10 percent of revenue at some restaurants. The National Restaurant Association said carryout meals represent a larger portion of total sales at most of the country's casual-dining restaurants than they did two years ago. |
|
| In recent months, restaurants have begun aggressive marketing programs to capture more of the food dollar by making consumers aware that carryout dining is an option. |
|
| "This is a long-term trend and not some short-term fad," said Dennis Lombardi, executive vice president at Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based restaurant-consulting firm. |
|
| "People are too busy and too frazzled to cook," he said. "As long as consumers are pressed for time, they are going to pay happily a premium for things that are simpler and more convenient, and carryout food is certainly one of them." |
|
| Carryout meals from casual-dining chains have become important in an era of health-conscious consumers looking for ways to replace fast-food meals, he said. |
|
| Takeout food also is a lifestyle and family issue, said Louis Adams, a spokesman for Brinker International Inc., which operates more than 1,450 restaurants under names such as Chili's, Maggiano's Little Italy and Romano's Macaroni Grill. |
|
| "People still want the experience of sitting down at home with the family and eating a meal together," Adams said. "They don't mind picking up the food to go, but they don't just want any kind of food" - they want restaurant-quality food. |
|
| Carryout meals are not new. |
|
| Many restaurants, particularly locally owned ones, have offered takeout service in some form for decades. Pizza parlors and Chinese restaurants, for example, are famous for their takeout. |
|
| But now takeout has become a way for many casual-dining chains to increase sales and boost profits, industry experts say. |
|
| The chains have made changes to make the concept much more efficient and user-friendly, experts said. Patrons do not have to hunt someone down at the restaurant to place an order or to go to the bar to pick up their meals. |
|
| "Local restaurants have offered takeout, and now others are going after that business," said Joe Driebe, who bought the Joe's Inn at Bon Air with business partner Roy Badgley in 2001. |
|
| "The national chains have figured out that there is a big segment of people who like carryout, and they are trying to get a piece of the pie," Driebe said. |
|
| The Joe's Inn at Bon Air recognized the need for carryout service about six years ago. The former owners added a separate entrance, called Joe's Out, to handle takeout orders. |
|
| That decision has paid off, Driebe said. Sales from takeout meals have increased considerably in the past couple of years, and the percentage increases are far outpacing inside dining sales, he said. |
|
| "Joe's Out is just booming," he said. |
|
| Carryout dining also has taken off at Ruby Tuesday Inc., which added its version of "To Go" dining in August. |
|
| For the fiscal quarter that ended March 2, about 6 percent of sales came from takeout orders at 331 company-owned restaurants not in malls. The Maryville, Tenn.-based chain expects curbside dining to represent 10 percent of overall sales eventually. |
|
| "We are very pleased with where it is in a short period of time and expect it will grow," spokesman Perrin Anderson said. "We have received a lot of positive responses from our guests." |
|
| Casual-dining chains say they are not building carryout sales at the expense of revenue from patrons eating inside. Rather, most companies say, takeout service adds incremental sales to their business. |
|
| "The jury is still out, but it is definitely becoming more and more a vital part of our business," said Adams from Brinker International. |
|
| "You are picking up customers who you would have missed if you didn't offer the service," he said. "If a person wants to eat at home, they will find somewhere to get their food. They are looking for good food, and who makes it easy and convenient for me." |
|
| For Brinker, takeout meals represents one of the fastest-growing segments at Chili's, Maggiano's and Macaroni Grill restaurants, ringing up 6 percent to 10 percent of total sales depending on the brand. That figure was less than 5 percent four years ago, Adams said. |
|
| But there are some concerns, said Lombardi, the restaurant consultant. |
|
| Even though carryout sales have increased, restaurant chains have little chance to entice patrons to add a salad, a glass of wine or a dessert, all of which carry higher profit margins, he said. That eventually could hurt the bottom line. He said restaurants must learn to train employees working the carryout counter to sell those additional items. |
|
| Chains also have been slow to offer formal carryout programs and have had to overcome some challenges, Lombardi said. |
|
| Some of the food prepared at casual-dining chains and some of the packaging used in the past simply did not travel well, he said. A thick hamburger with french fries from a casual-dining chain, for instance, often does not taste the same by the time it gets home. |
|
| "You just won't have the same experience," he said. |
|
| Driebe of Joe's Inn at Bon Air said he suggests other side dishes instead of french fries. "Fries just don't' travel well, and there are other things that will hold up better." |
|
| Ruby Tuesday recognizes some of those issues. The chain is switching from foam-plastic to black-plastic containers because the new ones retain heat better, said Anderson, the chain's spokesman. Besides, he said, the black containers look better and allow for a more fitting food presentation. |
|
| The proliferation of cellular phones, particularly among younger consumers, helped motivate chains to offer carryout service and make the process easier, Lombardi said. "Some people even have the phone numbers of their favorite restaurant chains stored in their cell phones so calling them is easier." |
|
| Ruby Tuesday has a printer-friendly version of its menu on its Web site. Anderson said many customers keep printouts in their cars so they can call the restaurant on the way home. |
|
| Mark Saurs, who lives in western Henrico County, calls the Chili's restaurant near Short Pump Town Center and some other nearby casual-dining restaurants about once a week. Carryout food is a convenience and time issue for him. |
|
| "When my wife gets home, she is in no more of a mood to go out to eat after working all day and then working out at the gym than she is to cook," Saurs said. |
|
| The solution, he said, is to swing by and pick up meals and have them ready for when his wife gets home. |
|
| "That way I don't have to cook either," Saurs said. |
|
| Stigall, the Chesterfield resident who got hooked on carryout meals two years ago, said he has noticed that his friends are doing the same. |
|
| Twice in recent months, friends have invited his family to their homes for dinner. Rather than cook a meal or pick up a pizza, the group places an order at Ruby Tuesday or Applebee's. |
|
| "That way everybody gets what they want and nobody has to fix dinner," Stigall said. "You have dinner without any major effort." |
|
| Contact Gregory J. Gilligan at (804) 649-6379 or ggilligan@timesdispatch.com |
|
This story can be found at:
http://www.discoverrichmond.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031775085997 |
|
