I am mommy blogger, hear me roar
When Moe’s Southwest Grill heard that the annual BlogHer Food conference was coming to their hometown of Atlanta, the marketing department scrambled. “We scanned the attendee list and scoured the Web to find... mom bloggers who would relate to our brand,” says Lauren Barash, director of corporate communications. They were invited to join the Moe’s Rock ’n Roll Tour Bus, which picked them up at the airport and shuttled them to their hotels, accompanied by music and snacks....
The best (but still not great) chain blogs
Maybe the industry is leery after seeing so many “trends” fizzle into fads (low-carb menu, anyone?). Or it could just be a bandwidth issue. Whatever the reason, restaurant chains clearly lag other businesses in the use of blogs as a public megaphone.
In a visit to the websites of more than 100 companies, we didn’t find one blog that was exclusively the turf of the CEO, for instance. What we did find were five chain blogs that should be studied by restaurant brands that intend to blog:...
Five great behind-the-scenes YouTube channels
There are different approaches to take with your promotional videos collected on branded YouTube channels. You can simply show off your TV commercials. You can interview guests. If you’ve got big bucks, you could produce your own high-concept entertainment (see McDonald’s Bite Size Video Project). But a tactic open to every concept is the behind-the-scenes video, and as a way to extend your brand and connect with the customer it is still one of the best. Here are five who do it the right way. Click the restaruant name to see for yourself....
Five insightful employee blogs
When social media first appeared, restaurateurs worried that malcontents on their staffs would use the new soapbox to slam their employer. Little did the industry suspect that a good restaurant whine would become a staple of the new communications channels....
11 top tweeting chefs
We don’t know how they avoid dropping their smartphones into a bubbling stockpot or smearing their keyboards with butter, but somehow these busy restaurant chefs find time to tweet in the middle of dinner prep—and throughout the day. The authenticity of the tweets reveals that they’re coming from the chefs themselves—not a social media intern sitting behind the scenes. Here are the most prolific toques on Twitter....
Franchisees in social media
Top brands on Twitter
Starbucks @Starbucks | 2,001,235 followers ...
Growth-chain tweeters
MOOYAH @MOOYAHBurger | 26 locations, 20,500 followers
MOOYAH has a simple menu (burgers, fries and shakes), but it has a complex social media strategy. Twitter is an important part of both the franchise’s customer outreach and relationship with its franchisees. “Twitter gives us an opportunity to talk to our fans,” says Alexis Barnett, director of marketing. “As a franchisor, it helps us show our franchises that we have a solid presence.”...
New England as backyard
One might think that local ingredients are hard to come by during a Massachusetts winter. But that hasn’t deterred Brian Dandro, executive chef at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge. “When I took over the signature restaurant, ArtBar, it lacked an identity, so I thought ‘what better to focus on than what’s available in our backyard.’ Now I’m passionate about putting together local purveyors,” he says....
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