Episode description
Creating new in-restaurant dining experiences and balancing those with growing to-go-only concepts are the meat of this episode.
What is the secret of a successful restaurant chain? According to Tana Davila, the CMO at P.F. Chang's, it is about brand distinctiveness, unique technology approaches, and being able to adapt quickly and creatively in a pandemic.
Tana and her creative team of 30 people have reinvented P.F. Chang's due to a pandemic. They focused on To-Go concepts, delivery, e-commerce, creating a safe and effective restaurant space that customers would love to visit. And the fact that P.F. Chang's exists in 300 locations inside and outside the US proves its tremendous success and the ability to adapt under trying circumstances.
Key Insights & Quotes
• A brand has to be highly differentiated to succeed.
Hear from Tana about how embracing innovation can benefit a brand by providing unique guest experiences that can differentiate you from the myriad of competitors in the marketplace.
• There is a blurring of the lines between the traditional restaurant segments.
Tana believes that the pandemic has significantly changed the way guests see restaurants and brands, adding that operators should implement technology to keep pace with the customers' expectations.
"Coming out of the pandemic, our overall off-premises business has essentially doubled and continues to grow. It's changed the way we think about the brand, how we operate our restaurant, how we structure it. And it's also continued to fuel the pipeline of P.F. Chang's To-Go. So, we have launched an extension of the brand, and we did that before the pandemic.
The P.F. Chang's To-Go model allows us to scale and reach a lot more people that are interested in Asian food. It's takeout delivery catering only; it does not have seating. It's designed for To-Go occasions. We are not super highly penetrated today in an urban environment. So, To-Go allows us to go there."
Resources
• P.F. Chang's Expanding To-Go Model
• How to Solve Menu Mayhem Across All Order Channels (A free guide!)
• Restaurants in the New Roaring 20s
• 5 Best Practices for Marketing Your Online Order Channel
• Connect with Tana Davila on LinkedIn
Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands