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Denise is the driver behind visits, bringing
her family with her, so it’s very important
to give her what she wants.
At Café Rouge, the love for the brand still
existed with customers but they just hadn’t
been for ages. Again, it was tired and rundown and the food and service was simply
not good enough. Café Rouge was also
re-energised and refurbished to create the
right food and environment and bring it
back into fashion. The menu was stripped
back to basics to authentic French classics
made with the right ingredients.
Extending the Café Rouge brand, a graband-go offer has been introduced at Euston,
Oriel, Café Rouge’s premium sister, has
been launch in towns such as Chislehurst,
a site has opened in Dubai and its ‘other
sister brand’ Belgo, which has actually
been around for 25 years, has also been
refreshed with new site openings.
At the heart of Casual Dining Group are its
brands and the first transformational year
saw the revival of Bella Italia and Café
Rouge. Bella Italia was a ‘fairly brown, rundown and forgotten’ brand, but a great
estate made up of fantastic locations.
The plan was simple, to refresh the whole
offer, including refurbishment, staff,
training, food and opening out to leisure
parks and overseas. The new menu
featured stretched pizza and fresh pasta
made with authentic Italian ingredients
from a new supply chain. Customers
reacted well and double digit growth
was achieved.
‘Project DNA’ researched 284 Bella Italia
customers and identified three distinct
customer groups: the 16-18-year-olds out
for the first time in a ‘safe place’; families;
and loyalists. The loyalists, internally
dubbed “Denise and Keith”, are an older
couple who made up 14% of the customer
base but a staggering 50% of sales.
The second year of transformation
stepped up the growth of Casual Dining
Group with two significant acquisitions:
Las Iguanas, the “brand deal”, and La Tasca,
“for the properties”.
Las Iguanas was a proven and very
attractive brand of 25 years that boasted
like-for-like growth for ten consecutive
years. It complemented the original
portfolio and appealed to the 25-30 year
olds, not the Denises, avoiding any
cross-cannibalisation of brands.