Bob Campbell, president of Tappan Street Restaurant Group, parent to Taco Mac, a 22-unit, Atlanta-based casual-dining chain, says that despite the sluggish economy business remains solid, thanks to smart marketing moves, new limited time offers and a continued focus on good food and service. Though the third quarter was not as strong as it has been in previous years, he said same-store sales increased 7.5 percent in October, and he is hopeful the trend will continue through the rest of the year. Recently Campbell spoke with Nation’s Restaurant News about initiatives he has implemented to increase guest traffic at Taco Mac.
Why do you think Taco Mac is doing as well as it is right now?
Ithink it’s just the nature of the type of business we’re in now; we have a low average price point and we’re a casual [concept] so people of vast demographics can come in to our restaurants. People are very leery right now of spending their hard-earned dollars in unfamiliar areas. We’ve been in business for about 30 years. Taco Mac is a known commodity. People around here know about us.
You’ve said that this year, for the first time, you decided to do some more aggressive marketing? Why now?
We never really had an in-house marketing person. We always figured we had quality food and service and the rest would take care of itself. But it definitely was the state of the economy that made us want to make sure we were covering all of our bases.
We did have a down third quarter — the first one in 10 years. We’ve never really been up or down; we’ve been more of a steady grower. But we thought that if things got worse we’d have to start hammering on the marketing. Also, we just signed a lease in Charlotte, N.C. It’s our first location out of [Georgia] besides the one we have in Chattanooga, Tenn., which [we think of as] practically a suburb of Atlanta. We wanted to make sure we had our message fine-tuned [for other markets].
What do you think about all of the value meal deals at casual-dining chains? Is it good for business?
Obviously this has become a big trend. [Operators] definitely have discounted their products a lot. The problem is it’s a bit of a slippery slope. Once you do it, people will always expect it and the ones who come in only for those discounts probably won’t come back after you stop them. [Discounting] is a tough thing to come back from.
Have you discounted any of your items?
If anything, we’ve had to raise prices, especially on our wings. I’m sure you know that the wing market is at an all-time high right now.
We are already a fairly inexpensive place to eat so it would be tough for us to discount much and still be viable. One thing we have done for the first time is a menu insert where — because the price of beef and chicken is down right now — we created four new items that weren’t discounted, but at $7.29 and $7.49, were cheaper than our specialty chicken sandwiches or burgers. And our margins were higher, actually better, than on the specialty sandwiches.
What else are you doing to increase business?
We are working on a kids program; that’s something we’ve never done before. Families are a huge driver for us, especially in suburban markets, and we want to solidify that we are a place families can dine at.
What are the biggest challenges you currently face?
Our biggest challenge is with the real estate market. Right now there are some phenomenal deals we’d like to take advantage of. Prices have been greatly reduced in a lot of areas that we’d like to go into, but the banks are still being very cautious. Getting a hold of funding is a bit difficult right now. In the old days we’d all but sign a lease and then get the funding, but now the banks are looking at every little detail. If they don’t like something, they won’t sign off on it. There are some banks out there that are willing to play, but they are being overly careful.
What is the restaurant industry’s future?
Iwish I had a crystal ball to answer that one, but I think at the very best we’ve hit the bottom. There’s been a lot of fallout in Atlanta and I expect there definitely will be some more this year. I’ve heard a lot of rumors about a number of restaurants teetering. I feel like if we’re not at the bottom, we’re quickly approaching it. Hopefully next year we’ll see a bit of an uptick; as long as unemployment levels out, we’ll be OK. People still want to dine out. I feel like we’re going to be fine, that the industry as a whole should do better in 2010.
Contact Elissa Elan at [email protected].