Get ready for american-style themed dining
The jazz legend Fats Waller professed: "If it ain't got that swing, it don't mean a thing." Those developing the latest US restaurant concepts must be reading from the same page of Fats's songbook because their motto seems to be: "If it ain't got that theme, it don't mean a thing."
In America patrons are queuing up from coast to coast at restaurants that serve up much more than food. Convenient and cheap isn't enough these days. The stressed-out, pressed-for-time Americans want more: they want to be entertained while they dine.
The entertainment may take the form of watching beer being made at a micro-brewery restaurant, eating a sandwich in a submarine or even being served by a drag queen.
The success of the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood, with their reliance on entertainment and merchandise sales in addition to food, has spawned a new generation of concepts built upon every theme imaginable.
Merchandise sales are an important element of the themed restaurant. The merchandise usually consists of high-margin, branded clothes and souvenirs carrying the restaurant's logo.
The big ones
Let's take a look at several of the "themers" making a splash with US customers. As many states are changing laws to allow on-site brewing, a new theme concept is gaining momentum nationwide - the micro-brewery restaurant. The best known of this genre is the Rock Bottom Brewery.
Although its first store opened five years ago, the 10-unit, Colorado-based company is poised to become the front-runner for the first national brand of brew-pubs.
A typical Rock Bottom Brewery has 500 seats and a 40-item menu. Customers can view the brewing process - taking place in huge, glass-enclosed, silver tanks in the centre of the floor - and the display kitchen. The two offer entertainment and added value to the consumers.
The company's 10 stores generated sales of about $30m in 1995. Beer brewed at the restaurant sells for $3 to $3.50 per glass - 94% of the price is profit. Of total sales - 45% came from beer and alcohol.
If dining amid exotic talking birds, tropical plants and waterfalls is more your style, then head for the Rainforest Cafe. The original 14,000sq ft Rainforest Cafe opened near Minneapolis in 1994. With 295 seats and an eclectic menu, its annual sales now approach $12m. A third of this volume is generated through retail goods, which include logo apparel plus a collection of nature-themed merchandise. Its second restaurant opened in Chicago and a third location has been leased in Orlando.
Dive! combines the artistic talents of Hollywood moguls Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg with the culinary talent of Levy Restaurants.
The first Dive!, a $7.5m, 350-seat restaurant in Los Angeles, resembles a giant submarine. In an 11,000sq ft building its computers run an audiovisual system that creates the illusion of undersea voyaging. Between 2,000 and 3,000 patrons daily dine on gourmet "sub sandwiches", while around them television monitors show film of underwater life.
A larger unit opened in Las Vegas and a third is planned for New York. About $15m first-year sales are projected for the Vegas branch.
Now picture yourself in an artist's loft in Barcelona, with artists and an assortment of musicians, magicians and the like wandering in and out. Welcome to Cafe Tu Tu Tango! These restaurants serve only appetizers and offer diners a mix of food, drink, art and entertainment.
Cafe Tu Tu Tango's flagship restaurant is based in Miami and has other outlets in Orlando and Atlanta. The restaurants are approximately 6,000sq ft in size and generate an average $3.5m in sales.
Just when you thought you had heard it all, there's Lucky Cheng's. This Manhattan restaurant (with branches in Miami and New Orleans) employs Asian drag queens as waitresses in its restaurants.
Just a passing fad?
How many of these restaurants will survive the fad and achieve success in the long term? Both Larry Levy of Dive! and Brad Weiser of Cafe Tu Tu Tango agree that, no matter how good the theme, it is the basics of good food and service that keep your customers coming
Ian Waddell, a member of the Council of International Restaurant Brokers, is closely involved in the development of theming in the UK. His advice is to "watch this space." He says: "The UK is the prime target for innovative proven American concepts. They're coming our way with all the creativity you expect from the home of food with fun."
