In a recent trip to San Diego, I visited a Rubio’s Restaurant near my hotel. The menu had evolved since the last time I was there many years earlier, and I was impressed by the quality and flavor of food and overall experience. In fact, I ate there three times in three days. I recently reached out to speak to Karin Silk, senior VP of marketing at Rubio’s, to learn more.
Can you give those of us unaware of your brand an overview?
Rubio’s Coastal Grill first opened in 1983 after co-founder Ralph Rubio tasted his first fish taco on the shores of Baja, Mexico. This experience inspired him to handcraft his own recipe and introduce the concept in the United States, starting with a walk-up stand in the San Diego neighborhood of Mission Bay. More than 30 years later, Rubio’s still holds the same passion for delicious food made with quality ingredients. The menu has evolved to what we call modern coastal cuisine. This includes innovative recipes, ranging from sustainable shrimp and Atlantic salmon to wild-caught mahi mahi, as well as salads, grilled marinated chicken and steak, handmade guacamole, a variety of proprietary salsas and hot sauces, and craft beer and sangria. Our food is affordably priced, and we welcome our guests in a casual and friendly environment that caters to a variety of lifestyles.
Rubio’s has a deep dedication to ocean preservation, which is why the majority of the seafood our restaurant serves is certified sustainable and why we sponsor beach cleanups and partner with ocean-centric causes in our communities. Rubio’s is headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., has 4,000 team members and operates more than 190 locations in California, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada.
Tell me about Rubio’s loyalty and customer relationship efforts?
As we’ve grown, so has our fan base and their passion for our food. This is what fuels us and keeps our team striving to create the most unique dishes.
Because of the passion we’ve seen in our guests, we understood the importance of not only giving them an outlet to share their passion, but also leveraging that passion into advocacy. Born from that understanding was Rubio’s Beach Club, a members-only email community that offers sneak peeks at new menu items, special offers, exclusive invites and more. Since launching our Beach Club, it’s grown to more than 300,000 active members. We also have a very active social following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Within these groups, we have a number of brand loyalists who are extraordinarily passionate about our brand and spread the word about things going on at Rubio’s.
How do you create brand awareness in new and growing markets? What kind of marketing tactics have you found successful?
In San Diego, we recently launched our “To the Ocean” ad campaign that celebrates not only the bounty of the ocean, but also reflects Rubio’s dedication to supporting ocean health 365 days a year. The response to this effort was overwhelmingly positive – we even received emails and calls from guests letting us know how impactful our TV spots were for them.
Also, we leverage our relationships with local media to generate awareness and continue building our credibility. Digital advertising and social efforts help us to connect to our guests in a space where they spend a lot of time. Our digital efforts were recognized this year when Rubio’s was honored with the 2014 Restaurant Social Media Index award in the category of Overall Mobile Brand of the Year. On the ground, we are involved in many local events like food festivals or runs, walks that allow us to … interact with our guests outside of our restaurants.
I know that your brand gives back to the community often. Why has that become a focal point?
Serving our communities is an essential part of what we do. We are committed to offering local events and promotions, rich fundraising programs and aligning with like-minded local causes.
Rubio’s has counted the ocean as a source of inspiration for more than 30 years. This underlying passion has been the driving force for many of our community efforts. One key example is our annual CoastFest Celebration and beach cleanup in San Diego. This is a free event for the community where more than 1,500 attendees joined us last year to clean up trash from the beach and educate the community about how they can help make a difference in preserving the ocean for generations to come.
Secrets to success
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Rubio’s was recently recognized as a top fast-casual brand. What is the secret of your success?
We keep the focus on the food. Over the past three years, Rubio’s has added new grilled seafood menu items like the Salsa Verde Shrimp Taco and Blackened Tilapia Burrito to build on our heritage of coastal food, and we’ve added craft beer and sangria to complement our dishes. We’ve also revisited our recipes to make improvements in most of our dishes, starting with the reintroduction of our Original Fish Taco three years ago and more recently our seasonal fan favorite, “Langostino Lobster,” where we updated the recipe with warm basil butter and introduced our new citrus rice. We now offer sustainably sourced seafood in a majority of our seafood dishes, have removed preservatives from our flour tortillas and source most of our produce [locally].
Rubio’s offers an elevated dining environment that’s not typical for many fast casual options. This experience is centered on the great people working in each of our restaurants that are ambassadors for the brand. Our management teams reinforce our emphasis on quality and serving food that meets our recipe specifications.
We reward our team members for their great work by promoting within whenever possible. It’s this culture that transfers over to the positive guest experience. Additionally, we use real dishes and flatware, which cuts back on paper/plastic waste and bring our food to our guests’ tables. Rubio’s will continue to enhance this experience with the redesign of 60 of our Southern California stores.
As the leader of the brand, what keeps you up at night?
Over the past few years, we’ve been working hard to change perceptions in the marketplace of Rubio’s. We’ve always been known as a place where you can enjoy a delicious beer-battered Original Fish Taco. But our menu, and soon the atmosphere in many of our restaurants, has evolved to reflect a broader identity. Rubio’s is a restaurant that serves a wide variety of flavorful coastal cuisine and celebrates the ocean.
What are you seeing in consumer trends from your guests? Are there specific West Coast trends or lifestyles that are unique to the region?
Over the last few years, guests have looked more and more to healthy options, quality ingredients and unique flavors. We offer a number of menu items that are under 550 calories. We also offer our guests a wide variety of salads and grilled seafood offerings.
Craft beers are a fast growing segment of the alcohol industry. San Diego is at the epicenter of the craft beer industry, and because of this we are able to provide our guests with some of the top craft selections in the industry. Our culinary team has worked to find craft beer options that are local to each of our markets and that pair well with a variety of our handcrafted recipes.
Are there any trends you are seeing in the marketplace overall?
We are seeing brands looking for ways to differentiate themselves in the fast casual space. One trend we are seeing now more than ever [is] consumers are interacting with restaurants through their smartphone for ordering, redeeming rewards and paying. We recently announced that we accept Apple Pay, which will allow our guests to pay for their order directly from their iPhone 6 or Apple Watch devices.
Another consumer trend we’re seeing is guests aligning with fast casual brands that are socially responsible. Today, consumers have so many choices and, because of that, brands are looking at their social responsibility and community efforts as a way to connect with their guests and build loyalty.
