Forty years ago, during a discounting binge not unlike the market’s current fit of dealmaking, the CEO of Shoney’s was pressed by shareholders for his take on all the price-cutting.
It’s a huge mistake, retorted the executive, Mitch Boyd, a longtime veteran of the then-thriving family-dining chain.
Any fool can slash prices, he explained. Hell, if the objective is pulling consumers through the door, just start giving the food away. The art is amping up value in ways that are meaningful to customers but don’t cheapen the brand or wipe out margins.
Four decades later, the approach still has adherents both within and outside of the restaurant business. Operations as different as Walt Disney World and Applebee’s have bet a well-conceived bargain can scream value and still leave the finance department smiling.
Here are three unconventional ways they’re striving to draw bargain hunters.
Bring your own popcorn bucket
Consumers who balk at today’s restaurant prices might hyperventilate after learning what movie theaters are charging for a seat. In New York City, a visit to some cinemas will cost you $28 a person just to enter. Even in the burbs, the ticket for an evening show can run into the high teens, and that’s not counting the fee for an advance purchase online.
The CineMark theater chain is hoping to woo the price-sensitive by offering an unusual deal at the concession stands of its 306 theaters. Two Sundays from now, the price for an extra-large serving of popcorn will drop across the system to $5. You don’t even have to stay for the movie. The catch is that you have to bring your own container, which can be anything from a soup kettle to a detached sink. Any vessel of up to 400 ounces will be filled to the brim for a sawbuck.
The hope is that patrons will stay for the flicks. What’s more, they’ll be encouraged to post pictures of their popcorn vats and post them on social media, spreading the word.
And if a patron can’t come up with a suitable container, CineMark is eager to oblige. It’s selling a line of decorative popcorn buckets on its website, including a tin mini-coffin that ties into the current horror flick "Nosferatu." It’s priced at $39.99, but think of what the user will save on popcorn.
Pitchers of beer make a comeback
The high profitability of draft beer means the price can be cut dramatically without a complete sacrifice of margins. Several casual-dining chains are working that math to their advantage by bringing back the old standby of pitchers.
Veteran beer drinkers know that pitchers offer the best value for a buck because of the volume. Still, the new generation of pitchers aren’t the buckets with a pour spout we’d order for a few dollars during bygone decades. Those containers typically contained 48 or 60 ounces and were meant to be split among several drinkers.
The versions available this football season at Greene Turtle are known as “personal pitchers.”
Still, they pack 32 ounces of suds. At a price of $5 for mass-market brands, or $8 for a pitcher of craft brew, they’re still a head-turning bargain.
To avert an across-the-board trade down, the deals are only available on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, or the days NFL football games are normally aired.
Greene Turtle isn’t the only grill and bar chain featuring personal pitchers. Applebee’s recently offered the serving size for a limited time, albeit at $10 each.
Disney World’s free meals promo
A visit to Walt Disney World can set a family back many thousands of dollars. The resort’s parent company is hoping to temper that turnoff with a deal it’s already offering for spring and summer. Customers who commit by Feb. 10 to a stay between May 27 and June 26 will get a free meal plan.
The catch is that the purchaser has to book at least three nights at a Disney-owned lodging property. They also have to buy the pricey pass that grants admission to every Disney park within the sprawling resort complex. No discounts can be used for either expenditure.
In exchange, the party is entitled to either two quick-service meals per person per day, or a combination of one sit-down meal and one fast-food breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The entertainment giant is clearly betting the high margins of the required purchases will more than offset what it loses in food purchases.