The Pillsbury Corporation
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Bennigans
The Pillsbury Corporation established Bennigans Grill and Tavern in 1976 in Atlanta. Bennigans quickly became a well-known tavern-themed casual dining restaurant across the United States as well as in 14 other countries. Bennigans menu features traditional American dishes with an Irish twist to them. All locations serve throughout the day, as well as have fully stocked bars. They market themselves to basically everyone, ranging from families to people just sitting at the bar for a pint and Monte Cristo sandwich. They are known for their “Irish hospitality” and their “OYES” answer to any requests from customers.
“At Bennigans were dedicated to providing guests with the kind of genuine, warm and high-spirited service youd experience in a neighborhood Emerald Isle pub, rejecting the canned greetings and scripted sales pitches all too common in todays theme restaurants.” (Bennigans Website)
Bennigans became known as a great family restaurant to get something familiar for everyone, as well as somewhere to just hang at the bar. The relaxing and fun atmosphere was in the trends in the 80s and 90s, which is what customers were wanting at the time. People werent worried about health or nutrition yet, so they were gladly eating deep-fried sandwiches, buffalo wings, fried vegetables, and other calorie filled food.
Although the restaurant chain started off strong and continued to rise, it definitely hit a wall along with all businesses right when the economy starting going down. All companies, especially restaurants, were hit with higher fuel prices, food cost going up, and labor rising as well. These operating costs were even harder for Bennigans to keep up with as their sales quickly started falling. With better choices of casual restaurants coming up, Bennigans failed to become distinctive to customers and fell behind quickly. They failed to update their concept or make any noticeable changes that the trends were obviously showing. New restaurant chains were being born with more options, better food quality, and lower costs. With the economy being drained, customers started eating out less and becoming much more conscious with how they spent that extra income. They wanted a better deal with better food for the money they were spending.
People became more health-conscious and watching exactly what they ate, especially when they were going out to eat. Customers didnt want the high-calorie fried food anymore, yet Bennigans stuck with their menu and resisted any trend changes. After reading different sources as well as listening to the news as it happened, I heard the main two reasons for the downfall were because of the outdated décor and concept as well as the poor quality of food.
Restaurants no longer were “themed” very