Recession, recession, recession. It’s virtually impossible to pick up a newspaper or magazine, turn on a TV or radio or surf the Internet without encountering a story about the recession and its effect on Americans. Now talk of the recession and the negativity that surrounds it is beginning to wear on consumers.
So the Oceanaire Seafood Room recently launched a promotion featuring bottles of wine for USD 20.10 and a three-course dinner for USD 20.10. The upscale seafood concept, with 16 restaurants nationwide, is trying to be positive and drive restaurant traffic in light of the recession.
“There’s so much doom and gloom out there that we thought this was a smart thing to do,” Wade Wiestling, Oceanaire’s VP of culinary development in Minneapolis told me recently. Check out the rest of my interview with Wiestling:
How is the recession affecting Oceanaire?
On a good night we’re down 8 percent, and on a bad night we’re down 25 percent. So we’re feeling it. A lot of restaurateurs are saying, “Flat is the new up.” It’s been tough. I don’t know anybody that hasn’t been affected one way or another.
What’s the idea behind the 2010 promotion?
We’ve been paying attention to what others are doing, and we read an article recently in the Wall Street Journal about someone doing a USD 20.09 promotion. And we’re like, “Screw 2009 — 2010 is when we’re going to rebound.” So We’ve got some nice wines for USD 20.10 [a bottle], and [previously] we didn’t have very many bottles under USD 27. And then we said, “Let’s offer a three-course dinner for USD 20.10 as well.” So a guest can spend USD 40 or a couple can spend USD 60 and get themselves a nice three-course dinner, a nice bottle of wine and the Oceanaire experience. We had been offering a USD 32.95 three-course dinner since early last summer, when we first felt the effects of the economy. And then the economy tanked in October we changed it to USD 29.95.
Did the promotion work?
It’s hit and miss. From our perspective, it’s all about getting guests in the restaurant and showing them who we are, what we do and our points of differentiation, whether it’s the service or ambiance or quality of the seafood, in the hopes of getting them back in. We have this perception that we’re expensive. A lot of consumers have no problem dropping USD 45 on a piece of red meat at a steakhouse, which is our primary competitor. But when it comes to seafood, there’s no way. It’s a challenge. But we have great culinary talent and a great new bar menu with [no items] over USD 14.
What does Oceanaire have planned for this summer?
We have a yearlong partner in the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. We’re going to be doing something at the end of June featuring Alaska salmon. Then full on in July and August, we’re going to be doing our Summer of Salmon promotion. Basically, if it’s a wild salmon from the state of Alaska you’ll find it on the menu at Oceanaire, whether it’s kings, sockeyes, cohos and even Yukon River keta, which we had success with in late July and August [last year]. The fat content on [Yukon keta] is remarkable.
