Nation's Restaurant News - January 5, 2009

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HAVING WORDS WITH

Scott Shaw

FOUNDER,
FISHBOWL INC.

Back in 2000, when technology stocks were crashing and dragging the American economy toward the last recession, Scott Shaw saw an opportunity in new media where others saw only risk. Shaw, who by then had spent 17 years with three separate foodservice startups, founded Fishbowl Inc., a firm that specializes in permission-based e-mail marketing for chain and independent restaurants.

“Fishbowl grew out of the e-mail marketing I had done at my own restaurants,” he says. “It was connecting me with my customers and extending the customer relationship beyond the four walls of the restaurant.”

E-mail marketing clearly worked, Shaw says, but there was no turnkey service for using such services until he spawned Fishbowl. Today, the Alexandria, Va.-based company has expanded its reach to be a one-stop shop for online ordering and reservation management as well.

keting and community programs.

How important has targeted marketing be-
come, especially during an economic crisis?

The restaurant industry is the last industry of any size that doesn’t know who its customers are. The consequence of that is that you’re extremely limited in the kind of marketing and customer relationship management you can do. When you solve that problem, by building a customer database, it opens doors to doing personalized, relevant messaging.

So are you somewhat optimistic for next year? The optimism I feel is that this is a new golden age of restaurant marketing. Fifty years ago, we were all independent operators, and we all knew our customers. Today with new marketing technology, it’s possible for even the largest of chains to reconnect with customers and do it at a fraction of the cost of mass media.

How about for independent operators?

Independents can use marketing technology to hold their own and stay connected to customers.

I think it’s become absolutely critical, because at this point there’s not a growing base of restaurantgoers.

You’ve got to stay connected to regular customers and work to keep your share of their dining dollar, or at least find other ways that you can serve them. For example, maybe the consumer who used to dine with you twice a month and spend $100 is now ordering takeout once a week through our online-ordering portal and spending $50. They’re still happy and perceive a value there, and you’re making the same $200 a month from them.

It’s got such a powerful impact that it’s not about chains or independents anymore. It’s about those who are using new tools and those who aren’t. It’s between engaged and nonengaged restaurants.

■ FAST FACTS

Restaurants have a huge reservoir of trust and affection, and that will migrate online if used responsibly.

HOMETOWN: Miami BIRTH DATE: Jan. 11, 1960 EDUCATION: bachelor’s degree, Yale University PERSONAL: married; two daughters

Does staying connected involve
messages other than just selling
food?

Knowing who your customers are and making it convenient for them to do business with you in other ways are the two themes of 2009. It could be a focus on online ordering, it could be casual dining accepting reservations, or it could be stronger local-store mar-

Staying connected is definitely a two-way street. Listening to guests when making menu or location decisions make them part of the brand and part of your success.

… We don’t believe it’s all about this one-way delivery of offers and promotions. That strategy misses the larger opportunity, which is to engage customers with a variety of communications. The buy words are interest and relevancy.

— Mark Brandau

MUFSO anniversary inspires reflection
on five rich decades of industry history

From Oct. 4-7 MUFSO 2009 will celebrate its golden anniversary, marking five decades of Multiunit Foodservice Operators conferences. The upcoming MUFSO in Dallas truly will be a celebration of this important industry event. But more important it will be a celebration of an industry that has come of age during those 50 years.

The first year MUFSO was held, 1959, a number of key events occurred. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation in January admitting Alaska as the 49th state, and then followed that up in August by admitting Hawaii as the 50th.

The year 1959 also was a notable one for the restaurant industry. It saw the debut of such great brands as Little Caesars, Round Table

Pizza, Taco Time and Bickford’s Pancake House. It also was the year that Restaurant Associates launched the Four Seasons in New York and

Danny’s Coffee Shop changed its name to Denny’s.

This industry has a big cast of characters representing the best of the best — entrepreneurs, visionaries, innovators, risk takers, good citizens. The men and women who built this industry into what it is today are high-energy, bright, dedicated and passionate and have many other wonderful

characteristics I haven’t even begun to mention. It ^{is, in} ^{fact, a} ^people ^{business, as} ^we ^all ^know.Today the industry represents $556 billion in MUFSO ^sales ^with ^more ^than ^945,000 ^points ^of ^distribu-tion. Fifty years ago that was not the case. Today it at 50 contains megachains that represent substantial

Wall Street investments and mom-and-pop operations that serve their communities year after year.

Things have not always been easy, as this recession reminds us. There has been high inflation, high interest rates, high energy costs and many issues that have negatively impacted the restaurant business. There have been substantial failures and spectacular successes. The good news is that this industry continues to survive and prosper, and we are witness to an abundance of creativity every year as new restaurants debut and address the changes in the marketplace.

Beginning with this introductory letter, Nation’s Restaurant News will feature an article in each issue leading up to MUFSO 2009 in October. We will review five decades of restaurant history, the people, the concepts, the failures, the successes. It will be a nostalgic trip for sure. Yet, at the same time, it ideally will serve as a learning experience. We have often shown that we can be an industry that learns from its history, from its missteps and successes.

This year I will have the great pleasure of serving as chairman of MUFSO and sharing the honor with my co-chairman, industry legend Norman Brinker. Together, we invite you to register for MUFSO 2009. This year’s conference will present a new and exciting program that will not only celebrate the past 50 years, but also will look into what the future might hold for this industry 50 years from now.