Growth concepts pick up the pace

“The people who won’t weather the storm are those who cut labor and quality,” he says. “That will separate the real players from the pretenders.”

So will a strong marketing effort, according to Linda Duke, chief executive of Duke Marketing, based in San Rafael, Calif.

About 43 percent of fast-casual executives do not conduct customer-satisfaction surveys, according to the 2007 Fast Casual State of the Industry Report from Fast Casual magazine. Twenty percent conduct them annually, 7.5 percent do them monthly and weekly and 5 percent conduct them quarterly.

Those numbers surprise Duke.

“One of the things I was totally blown away by is that the area that needs the biggest help is marketing,” she says.

Some restaurant managers do a good job of marketing to the communities around their stores, Duke says, but many others are lagging in this area.

“They’re really not doing a lot of communication,” she says. “There’s a big opportunity to improve.”

Duke sees a shake-up coming in the segment, with weaker brands falling by the wayside. For those chains that market effectively, she says, “your brand will stand out.”

Local store marketing, including direct mail and community involvement, is the best way to sustain the viability of a concept, says David Wolfgram, chief executive of San Francisco-based Forklift Brands.

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