A few months ago, I encountered a restaurant that was obviously a sit-down version of a Canadian fast-food chain. I didn’t go in after I first saw it, but I was fascinated by the idea and looked for information on the internet when I got home. I found nothing. Later, I went there and was told that it was a new concept and that it was the only location. (They disavowed any association with the fast-food restaurant from which it was obviously derived.)
It wasn’t terribly busy, though a few people came in while I was there (most of them seemed curious about it). The location wasn’t great, so I doubt it’ll be very successful, though it was good enough that I’d like to see more of them. I think there was some sort of feedback form available, though they weren’t unusually interested in getting feedback on the place (as I’d expect would be the case). The server was, however, unusually talkative and answered all my questions about the concept and asked a few questions about what I thought of it.
Recently, I saw something about another test restaurant – it was a place that had all the trappings of a chain restaurant, but there was only one location, and it was not advertised. It also occurred to me that a short-lived restaurant across the street from my former workplace (a fast-service version of a full-service chain) may have been a test restaurant. It didn’t last long, though it was very aggressively marketed, as opposed to the other one where there was no hint of advertising anywhere. (There wasn’t even a mention of it on the investor’s news section of the chain’s website.)
So, how common are test restaurants, and how many are successful enough that they become new chains? Are they always unadvertised? Do they always close after a trial period, or do some stay open if they’re profitable? One more thing – the prices seemed unusually high for a restaurant of this type (counter service, essentially upscale fast food with nicer tables and better food). Could the pricing have also been experimental, in order to see how much people were willing to pay?
I don’t know how common they are but I went to an upper-class version of KFC. You still had to go to the counter and order but the food they had their was more extensive and of waayyy better quality. (More like a fancy buffet type of place.) I wish it would have caught on too. That place was awesome. I ate there about twice a week untill it shut down.
Opening a restaurant takes a considerable amount of money, time and effort and the restaurant magazines all say that restaurants are the hardest business to open with the least amount of profit margine. I don’t know if that is true or not, but it sounds reasonable.
That being said, I don’t see why that one place didn’t advertise. If it was a chain that was trying to break into your market, I think they would have known to advertise. Probably the owner of the resturant just saw the chain, figured “This is easy.” and learned how hard running a restaurant really is.
The owners of the restaurant were I work took almost 5 months to open. We don’t even have our set menus yet. That’s a bad idea for the restaurant business. We already have regulars and while it’s good to open for maybe a month or so and get a lot of feedback, it’s just stupid to keep it unfinished yet open for so long.
My restaurant has a very unique menu and atmosphere and everything about it is pretty much one of a kind for its location, maybe in the entire US, so it had an excuse to have a long trial period. I don’t see why the restaurants in your examples needed long trial periods.
I was in the first Jack-in-the-Box test restaurant in San Jose.
This was when they still had the old clown head at the drive through and no seating or only the plainest bench seating.
Their test restaurant had fancy tables with inlaid tile (like at upscale Maxican places), cane spring chair seating, cafe curtains, and the menu included a lot of different types of food, from scones with clotted cream, to huge tacos, to club sandwiches.
Guess they were trying all combinations at once.
It eventually became one of their regular newer restaurants, nicer but no longer fancy.
Opening a sit down restaurant of any size is going to cost at least a quarter of a million dollars if you buy everything new. They can cost a whole lot more. So I’m guessing that a test restaurant, in the sense of a short lived test, is actually rare. A test restaurant as in an experement that might be longer lived, if sucessful, is a different matter.
Most non franchise restaurants fail within their first year (source: Pizza Today Magazine), so a short lived restaurant is not unusual. Lack of advertising is the main killer of new restaurants (taking too long to get the store running is a close second) so no advertising at a test restaurant would seem strange.
I work for a Papa John’s store that test marketed their medium pizzas and wings, and we advertised them to death. In fact, I can still offer you the “new” pizza and wings special despite the fact that we have had wings for nearly a year now.
I believe Darden (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze) opens concept restaurants from time to time. Smokey Bones #1 was located a couple of miles from my old house outside of Orlando, and for about nine months it was the only one in the country. There was no advertising or promotion, but the place had a distinct chain feel; theming, graphics and service seemed too well-thought-out and “scripted” compared to a typical local restaurant.
Darden just opened a new restaurant in Altamonte Springs (in the Orlando area): Seasons 52, which is supposed to be fancy and upscale, with a menu that changes every week of the year (hence the name). I haven’t been, but it has been getting rave reviews.
Orlando seems to get a lot of new restaurants before anyone else does, or franchises that are unique to the area. It is the only place I’ve seen a Friday’s Sports Bar (I forget the exact name), and yesterday I was stunned to drive by a McDonald’s Gourmet Bistro. They had a slightly-modified version of the Golden Arches out front, with a big sign advertising their new panini sandwiches!
The Tampa/Clearwater area also seems to be the testing ground for a lot of new restaurant chains. Hooters and Hops are just two that spring to mind that started out there.
