Article
How Lane Cardwell Jr. plans to re-marketize Boston Market
Boston Market's CEO looks to recapture the meals-to-go niche by capitalizing on Boston Market's core strengths: value and product quality.
June 21, 2009 by Valerie Killifer — senior editor, NetWorld Alliance
Boston Market has experienced its share of highs and lows over the past 25 years, but with the June 1 announcement of F. Lane Cardwell Jr.'s appointment as CEO, the chain could quickly get back on track as the leader in home meal replacement.
Cardwell was serving on Famous Dave's board of directors, a position from which he has since resigned, prior to taking the helm at Boston Market.Between 1978 and 1999, he held positions at Brinker International and S&A Restaurant Corp., and his roles with Brinker included chief administrative officer and then CEO of Eatzi's Market and Bakery.
As Boston's Market's newest frontman, Cardwell said his top priority is "not to get in the way." He also plans to help reposition the company as the leader in the meals-to-go category.
We recently had the opportunity to ask Cardwell some questions about Boston Market's past, present and future. Read on for more insights and information.
1. Having been a member of the Brinker International system for nearly 20 years, what lessons did you learn that can be applied to Boston Market?
Overall, my experience has shown me a lot about what works and what doesn't in home meal replacement. As the EVP of strategic development for Brinker, I learned a great deal about Home Meal Repleacement, a term Boston Market coined in 1992.
We took those learnings and developed Eatzi's, where I served as the CEO. That concept showed me that customers wanted hot food which they could eat right then, but that they would also be interested in purchasing the same food chilled that they could take away and eat at a later time. At Corner Bakery, we evaluated and converted the service model from a cafeteria style of ordering to one where the customer orders at the counter, finds a seat, and has their food delivered to them. Boston Market may be able to test new ways to approach our guests with chilled meals and to serve them differently.
2. What do you see as some of Boston Market's biggest challenges and strengths?
In this economic environment, consumers are re-evaluating value in terms of portion size, price, quality, convenience and service. One of the biggest challenges will be addressing this new definition of price value. Everything is up for grabs.However, this may also be one of our biggest strengths. Fast casual concepts are getting a lot of attention, precisely for their combination of quality, competitive pricing, casual atmosphere, and convenient service models. Boston Market already works on many of those levels, especially the quality of our food. That is our major strength. We don't have to fix the food. We just need to do a better job of communicating why it is so good.
Another challenge is rate of change. Implementing change across 530 restaurants is always a challenge.
3. Where do you see Boston Market positioned in the fast casual space?
It's really hard to peg us down. We are in the chicken category, but we sell a lot of other proteins – turkey, meat loaf, brisket. We are a restaurant, but we are also home meal replacement with a signficant percentage of our sales in take-out. We compete with restaurants, but we also compete with grocery stores. We need to re-focus on our original reason for being: Boston Market offers convenient, affordable, high-quality meals that can be picked up and eaten at home. We also need to communicate that we do chicken better than anyone.
4. What are your first few priorities as Boston Market's CEO?
My first priority is not to get in the way. We have a tremendous amount of longevity here at Boston Market, and our team is doing many things right.
Additionally, my priority is to ask a lot of questions and be the voice of the customer. I've been a fan of Boston Market's and have eaten there 2-3 times a month over the last 15 years. In fact, I eat out in restaurants about 600 times a year. I've often wondered why certain things were done, and others weren't. Now I have a chance to dig in and understand the details of our positioning.
Finally, I'd like to communicate why our food is so good. Customers love our food, but they don't really know why they love it. We need to tell them why. For example, we need to communicate that our chickens are never more than two hours old. In grocery stores they use a calendar to determine the freshness of their chicken. At Boston Market, we use a watch. We're always cooking our rotisserie chicken, and you can taste the difference.
5. How does the chain's new $5 menu fit into its future brand positioning?
I mentioned earlier that customers are reassessing value. Well, the $5 price point seems to be part of this new vernacular. We introduced a menu of offerings at this price point last fall, and we recently gave this menu a bigger presence in our stores.
The quality of the food on our $5 menu is a step above many other competitive offerings at this price point. For example, our chicken carver sandwich is literally carved to order from our all-natural rotisserie chicken that is never more than two hours old and then placed on an artisan roll. We don't plan to walk away from this menu, but we do plan to communicate our quality story. We have $5 meals, not just $5 deals.
6. There's nothing really like Boston Market in the restaurant segment as a whole. How do you see Boston Market competing with other fast casual chains for a portion of dinner dollars?
Speaking specifically of dinner, we have a real strength in this area. Family meals are our sweet spot, and the economy is playing to our strengths. For example, you can feed a family of 4 very well for about $25. Our typical family meal for four includes a one and a quarter rotisserie chickens, four large sides and four cornbreads. This is quality food at a price lower than many of our competitors during this day part.
This week, we will also begin a family meal promotion where customers can add an additional whole rotisserie chicken to any family meal for only $1.99. It's like getting another meal for two bucks.
7. Who do you see as its main competitors and what steps is the company taking to re-market itself and regain market share?
We look at everyone in fast casual as our competition, but we see grocery as a big competitor as well. Back when I was with Steak & Ale, we started watching the blurring of grocery and restaurants. In fact, a decade ago there were break-out sessions at grocery trade shows on how to Boston Market-ize your grocery store. Now it's our turn to take a page from grocery.Whole Foods, for example, has an entire display of chilled items that can be eaten immediately or taken to go to be eaten later.
We can perhaps offer customers different ways they can use Boston Market with more chilled items. There is clearly a demand for restaurant quality meals to go, and Boston Market was the originator of this idea. During its hayday, Boston Market was the most talked about restaurant chain among its customers and its competitors. Perhaps we can find new ways to reclaim that.
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