Casual dining crunch and the purpose of John Lewis: Your Marketing Week
Every Friday afternoon, I look at the key stories of the week, offering my thoughts on what they mean for you and the industry. From the woes of the casual dining sector to the purpose of John Lewis, it’s been a busy week on marketingweek.com. Here is my take.
Eat in to help out
Casual dining chains have had a rotten couple of years. The explosion in the sector at the beginning of the last decade led to a saturated market and high profile casualties such as Jamie’s Italian Kitchen.
For a sector already struggling lockdown was hugely damaging. Although most are back open for business, reduced capacity is a headache for businesses reliant on volume.
No surprise some brands in the sector are looking to different sources of revenue. Pret A Manger and Zizzi are just two of the brands following in the footsteps of Pizza Express and Starbucks by exploring branded products in supermarkets. They face a huge challenge. Strong distinctive assets and positive perception will get you so far, but when your brand is built on expectations of a particular experience, the move isn’t a straightforward one.