Humphries says Eddie Merlot’s has launched the newest version of its menu on October 27th, with a number of new items featuring a Greg Norman Signature 20 ounce Wagyu Bone-in New York Strip Steak from Australia. Not only does Eddie Merlot’s feature USDA Prime steaks aged for at least 21 days and hand selected and hand cut in its own butcher shop, but it also features a diverse selection of chef’s creations and seafood. “We use a lot of lighting that attracts the eye,” he says, adding that the restaurants also feature fine china with contemporary designs.Įddie Merlot’s was created to appeal to the traditional steak lover as well as a broader selection of customers, and the menu certainly reflects that. Humphries describes the look of Eddie Merlot’s as “very contemporary,” with a lot of copper and stained colored glass. The third group Humphries had in mind when creating Eddie Merlot’s was 30-somethings, which he says trends toward looking for a date night experience. Humphries says that today, women account for nearly 60 percent of the entertaining clientele at Eddie Merlot’s. Humphries says Eddie Merlot’s locations have been designed with décor that is more attractive to women, with a menu that makes room for lighter options like seafood and smaller portions. The second important demographic Eddie Merlot’s was created to embrace was women, and specifically women in business. The first was the baby boomer generation, which Humphries says wants to use restaurants to entertain. When Humphries created the model for Eddie Merlot’s, he did so with three key customer groups in mind – customer groups that he felt were underserved by the fine dining steakhouse segment. “Back in the 1990s, the steakhouses were very clubby, with lots of cigar smoking,” Humphries says. He says he saw an opportunity for a different style of concept because overall steakhouses were focused on serving the same demographic they had back in the 1950s and 1960s. Humphries, who was the first franchisee for Subway in Indiana and served for 20 years on the sandwich chain’s board of directors, says he began to pay close attention to the steakhouse market while doing research for Subway. The result was Eddie Merlot’s, a chain of steakhouses that honors the tradition of the steakhouse while breathing some new life into it for a more diverse clientele. Bill Humphries, a long-time veteran of the restaurant business, sought to update the steakhouse concept to cater to the nation’s changing demographics. The traditional steakhouse is one of the cornerstones of the American restaurant industry, but until recently its image had remained somewhat mired in the past as the nation changed around it.
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