Smashburger

Social media isn’t all marketing

Ruby Tuesday’s narrowly averted cheese-biscuit apocalypse demonstrates how social media’s role is evolving from marketing to operations. The chain has spent several years working through a major brand refresh, migrating from a down-home bar-and-grill to a more upscale-casual concept. To that end, the company decided to phase out the free cheddar biscuits given to diners, testing the new program in one area where the biscuits went AWOL. The reaction was telling: customers had a fit, sharing their displeasure through social media.

Pizza steps up

Is “better pizza” following in the footsteps of “better burgers” as the next fast-casual star? Some industry veterans are betting on it, including...

While steakhouses and casual dining spots have suffered recently from a trading-down trend, the "better burger" segment has benefited from trading up.

Former Smashburger CEO Dave Prokupek joined the fast-casual chain’s board of directors as part of the deal, which the chain says will help fuel the concept’s expansion plans.

A roundup of developments affecting restaurant franchisees and franchisors.

Frustration with the federal government bubbled over during a session of the Restaurant Leadership Conference, with attendees angrily complaining to the chairman of the National Restaurant Association about the political process and the group’s role in it.

Maybe the industry is leery after seeing so many “trends” fizzle into fads (low-carb menu, anyone?). Or it could just be a bandwidth issue. Whatever the reason, restaurant chains clearly lag other businesses in the use of blogs as a public megaphone.

When Moe’s Southwest Grill heard that the annual BlogHer Food conference was coming to their hometown of Atlanta, the marketing department scrambled.

Relations between franchisee and franchisor have always been a make-or-break dynamic for restaurant chains. But the prescription for a mutually lucrative partnership has been scrambled a bit by the Great Recession.

David Prokupek, CEO and chairman of Denver-based Smashburger, found a way to tailor Groupon, the popular couponing service, to make it work best for his...

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