Post #329749 by Bongo Bungalow on Sun, Sep 2, 2007 4:50 PM

Yeah... doesn't make sense does it?

Ok, so I'll 'fess up... brand management of restaurants happens to be what I do for a living. You build equity in a brand by having all elements support your vision of what it should be, and if that is something guests will buy into, you've got a profitable brand. You manage that brand by making sure that operations does all the big and little things that support the brand and you make sure that all marketing elements are also in line with the brand.

When your guests see the brand as you do, you have proper positioning. You brand position is what you "own" in the mind of your guests. You want in their heads, the same vision as you have for your brand.

A brand that has been around as long as Trader Vic's has equity. For decades people have know that Trader Vic's represents... what?... Tropical drinks, a place to escape, a place for groups to party, good exotic food, and a tropical, island, Polynesian, casual decor. Have I got that about right? Tiki too?

So, you build one in Las Vegas, and you compete with all the other restaurants and night clubs. There's hundreds of them, right? But you're Trader Vic's, you've got something no one else has. So you build your's restaurant to capitalize on your uniqueness. You can have evolved the brand, in fact, you must have relevance to today's clientèle and evolution is sometimes essential of this, but you can not leave the foundation of your positioning.

If Trader Vic's goes for 2007 contemporary music, service, decor, menu, drinks... then what do they have? Absolutely nothing!

Personally, I find the properties in LV to be over the top with themes. To compete there, for the tourist dollars, I would want my restaurant to be over the top too. (The only example not to, would be extreme fine dining. And even there, in that town, it would be expected that the painting in the foyer be an authentic Degas, Monet or Picaso.) So if I was doing a Trader Vic's, man, I think I'd have Tiki statues 40 feet tall, decor that absolutely transports you to the islands, a waterfall that fell 20 stories and outrigger canoes circling the restaurant!

My two cents.

Edit: But I should add, I don't know what the good folks at T.V. know about their restaurants. They may very well know what their doing.

BB

[ Edited by: Bongo Bungalow 2007-09-02 18:45 ]