2013 was quite the year for the restaurant industry. Taco Bell made a splash with its much-anticipated Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos launch and Smashburger bowed its first TV campaign. Other big news was made by McDonald’s, Chipotle, Starbucks, and Panera – and then there was the non-news of KFC’s Original Recipe boneless chicken. Check […]
(Get the inside scoop on new and interesting retail and restaurant concepts with my Brand Experience Briefs — here’s the latest.) Wired magazine recently reported on a new restaurant concept that aims “not just to build a radically sustainable, healthy brand of fast food…[but] to transform the way the world produces organic ingredients, doing for […]
Last week David Ristau, the analyst who publishes daily stock recommendations in The Oxen Report, weighed in on the fast/casual dining industry with predictions for 10 fast/casual companies in the coming year. Chipotle, McDonald’s, and Domino’s were among the companies he analyzed based on growth, profitability, financial health, value, and management. […]
I usually try to keep my critiques to categories I’ve worked in, primarily because I think it’s irresponsible for me to comment on what works and what doesn’t when I have little basis for my assessment other than being a consumer. So I initially demurred when some folks have asked for my POV on AT&T’s […]
Apparently my “Outside Insights” column, How to Defeat McDonald’s**, on QSR Magazine‘s home page has prompted concern among the folks at McDonald’s. It was intended as a service piece for fast feeders looking for insights on how to establish competitive advantage — but the Golden Arches media relations team seems to view it as a […]
I walked into a Bruegger’s Bagels shop, I handed the clerk a piece of paper that told him what I wanted, I watched as he filled the bag, and I walked out of there — all in less than 30 seconds. […]
The editor of QSR Magazine, the trade journal for quick service restaurant brands (fast feeders like McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, etc.), interviewed me to explain to QSRs “Why You Win If Starbucks Survives.” […]
Tonight marks the beginning of the Olympics but we’ve been seeing Olympic-related advertising for several weeks now (some examples: […]
In preparing to launch my blog, I researched a lot of existing ones to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t. As a brand person, I was particularly interested in whether or not brands themselves had blogs. I looked at a sampling […]