Family and Casual Restaurant Chains Key Terms

Understand important concepts before buying or starting a family or casual restaurant chain

If you are looking to buy a franchise or start a family or casual restaurant chain, you need to understand marketing and trends. Know what foods are most popular and which family or casual chain restaurants draw the most customers. Do your homework before you invest any significant funds into a franchise or a start-up. Be sure the chain appeals to consumers and is branded properly for its main clientele.

 

Franchise

Although some family or casual restaurant chains are owned by one owner or corporation, most major restaurant chains offer franchise opportunities. Advantages of a franchise are that the parent company usually provides the business plan and advertising, establishes the brand, and buys supplies and uniforms in bulk.
Try: Franchising.com discusses the basics of franchising.

Fast-casual chains

A growing market has opened for fast-casual restaurant chains that, like fast-food fast-food restaurants, do not include table service, but they offer better quality food and more of a restaurant atmosphere for their diners. Prices are also higher than those charged by fast-food chains. This newer breed of chains fills the gap for customers who want a casual dining experience with faster service and no tipping.
Try: Foodservice Equipment & Supplies discusses the growing popularity of fast-casual restaurant chains.

Branding

Branding is key to a family or casual restaurant chain's sales. When customers travel to another state, or even sometimes to another country, and they enter a familiar family or casual restaurant chain, they know they can count on getting the same service and quality as well as many of the same menu items. By establishing a certain image in a customer's mind, chains can ensure that diners will trust their brand and continue to come into their restaurants.
Try: Zagat shares how one graphic designer helped to build a restaurant brand. AllBusiness.com presents the results of a study on chain restaurant branding.

Fixed-price menus

Family-style restaurants sometimes offer fixed-price menus, which can include a choice of several entrees and side dishes for one price. Often these are advertised to draw in more customers. Fixed-price menus can be good for restaurant chains as they can help limit costs because they can buy the menu items they're promoting in bulk.
Try: National Restaurant News discusses how restaurants are using fixed-price menus to gain more customers.

Reinventing

Faced with a declining customer base, many casual dining chains are seeking to reinvent themselves to change market position and attract new customers. This reinventing, or repositioning, can often change customer perceptions about the business and draw in a different clientele.
Try: USA TODAY highlights the ways some casual restaurant chains are reinventing themselves and their images to appeal to the public.

Outsourcing partnership

One trend in the family or casual restaurant chain industry is developing an outsourcing partnership. A family or casual restaurant chain partners with a hotel or opens in a mall or a store to increase both businesses. The hotel, store or mall benefits by having an in-house restaurant without the expensive overhead and staffing issues.
Try: Hotel Online delves into outsourcing partnerships and their benefits.

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