April 13 – publishing #1 in casual dining
Investment standpoint – hired pr firm, rebranding,
Downside – casual dining is tanking (don’t want to be assoc with olive garden type restaurants
Just a cut above fast casual, polished casual is the terminology to use
Fish consulting – does the b2b pr – connect with to make sure we are streamlined
Intro
Crisis – animal activist group targeted chicken treatment – Gordon foods is chicken provider – the
supplier doesn’t touch melting pot. Has policies in place, goes through FDDA. Verified with franchisee
community.
Expectations – extension of marketing dept. only focusing on melting pot right now – become brand
advocates. Keep info short and sweet. All aspects of ad, marketing and pr. Demanding and fast paced.
Will call if need something.
Communication plan – assume intent is positive. Pick up the phone if there is an issue. Don’t put in
writing. Think about downstream and upsteam.
Focus on getting results and positively impact biz.
There’s a diff btw vendors and partners. We are going to be partners.
Need to do media training refresher for prez and ceos – talking points, interviews, expect the
unexpected, don’t understand today’s times (social media), prez does social media, ceo does not.
Blogging, leaders in the industry,
How do you be a handler aka what you need to do
Marketing Objectives
Increase guest counts
Restaurant industry needs to become a more data driven industry (know consumers well – like amazon
and zappos)
Each market is different (tampa is diff than sacramento), need to build trust with franchisees
PNO = perfect night out (not a term yet)
Major holidays – vday, mothers day, nye,
Minor – memorial day, etc
LTO – food and bev promotion. Event driven where food is secondary
Franchise engagement – need to be educating franchisees on consumer trends that impact biz, how are
we going to help them from a biz (not just marketing standpoint)
Melting has the most loyal customers in the industry; melting pot doesn’t have a comparable
competitor (aka nothing like chilis v applebees)
Trends
Need to be stealing market share by giving customers another reason to dine at melting pot – not just
an event, a celebration
Food trends, tech trends (pica 9)
Local trends – sourcing products (tampa brand has more seafood options), recipes are preapproved
before localizing
“polished casual” isn’t a widely used term yet. Each location would call it something diff – fine dining or
casual
Customer data – not all in one place – use for researching customers
“Think outside the pot”
Understanding who customers are, impact of sales, help franchisers understand customers
Build buzz around “fon-done” 2.0
Customizable tools
International franchisees – Canada, mexico, Jakarta Indonesia and dubai
RSC = restaurant support center (aka corporate)
Consultative v tactical – 1 LMC to 2 FBCs. Relationships are key
Tactical execution – creating case studies with implemented ideas (aka event for easter)
What are the results?
Make sure franchisees get the credit they deserve
Communication with franchisees – website called the source
Weekly dip – marketing focused stories
Add uproar team to the weekly dip
2016 plan will be ready for distr in april
Some franchisees have their own PR agencies that they work with. Our goal is to supplement what they
are working with
Front burner brands to send Uproar list of PR companies when available
4 times a year they do national pitching
Brand initiatives – international growth, “global inspiration, dklfj localization”
2.0 – fondone; create a playbook as stores begin 2.0. doing a soft launch in about 4-6 weeks.
Launch – local consumer ad tactics to drive traffic
Post launch – what worked what didn’t work. Measure results
Vday – bounceback by one get one free entrée
Fondone – entrée comes out completely cooked. Pot has dipping sauces around instead of cooking at
the table. Fondone is speeding up the dining process. 55-90 minutes from start to finish. Everything is
cooked for you and the meat is grilled. Doesn’t lose sight of who the melting pot is. Just a test for now.
Fondone is the perfect night out initiative.
40t anniversary – will be rolling out in September with a food and bev promotion. Do two LTOs a year –
summer and
Goal is to announce anniversary at fsp meeting in april. Roll out to consumers in april.
iPad POS – aloha. Internal initiative. If franchisees adopt. Will be able to get tons of data. Also will
reduce wait time. Vendor is CBS Northstar.
Patrick henry creative promotions – specialize in beverage promotions. Beverage director – not media
facing. Franchisee or lead bartender for tv segments
Localization
Works with St. Jude nationally. Also can work with local charities. Shows community that restaurants
aren’t just huge chain restaurants
Email marketing – having customized email marketing based on what customers profile
Birthday year – don’t market to kids;
Email marketing - costs 10-20 cents per send
Look at sales force social media platform (email marketing company)
ELT – Executive Leadership Team (look at website)
Grill Smith – not a franchise concept yet. Only in tampa area. Right now its not a model that could be a
franchise concept. Not a biz model that makes sense to replicate
PR agency has been on board from the past. PR prez and alisha was hired on board for in-house PR team
Fondue fanatics – separate site that doesn’t have the same platform. Fondue fanatics should be able to
live in the melting pot site
Local pr and social media support – work with franchisees to help with local media
Tips and tricks on twitter. Local marketing consultants are working with a lot of stores.
Time allocation – look at slide
Story angles – what is going to get CEO and prez in the forefront. Branding type articels to feature mary
ellen
Develop a roadmap and strategic plan for pitching. Brand, franchise, etc. what makes sense and what
will get the most traction
Develop story angles with at least one national story angle per month
Get detailed written plan of pitching calendar
Press release effectiveness –
Metrics and reporting
Montly report – needs to be in slide format. Meetings are the last thrus of every month.
Send master clip list every month with impressions included)
New reporting should compare to old reporting (but should be better)
Look at formula for restaurant brand for monthly reporting
Social media – want to get more content.
Look at front burner brands LinkedIn page – help.
Uproar to review LinkedIn and give suggestions (audit)
Be involved with social media strategy
Include more franchisees in social – have franchisee run pinterest board. Feature franchisees on fb page
in june. Featured franchisee of the month – “the big cheese”
Want social feeds on fondue fanatics website
Need a solid and defined social media strategy
National Cheese Fondue Day
Front Burner Brands to send Uproar NCFD deck
Promotion: running promo 4/6-4/9.
Sending out a nat’l press release on 3/17. Will send copy on Wednesday EOD
Prepitch before
SEO optimize press release
Boiler plate needs a refresh
Two release versions – one for newswire and one for pitching
Make sure we are outlining immediate next steps
Build national press list for pitch
FBB to send Uproar login to get hi-res images
Press will be more interested in NCFD. Broadcast won’t cover until actual day
Chef Jason – would be front facing for nat’l tv opp
High level nat’l – consumer trades,
FBB to send Uproar info on 2014 NCFD
Mark Conway – Orlando franchise owner (great)
Resurrect romance week – 6 months away from vday
Fondone blogger event – march 31st 7-9 – blogger event. Someone from uproar attend (on a tuesday)
#sipnshare #eatntweet
Action Items:
NCFD pitching
Boiler plate revamp
40th anniversary (summer food and bev promo) b2b angle – story of bob johnson – start prepitching
(sept. 12 is when fall promo is going to be)
Fwd MSNBC pitch
Send press kit
GrillSmith - TBD
Weekly call – Thursday?