ed Lion Hotels Corporation in Spokane, Washington, has completed its campaign to convert all menu items in the restaurants, lounges, and banquet facilities at its properties into zero trans fat selections—part of an ongoing effort to give customers more of what they want and solidify menu consistency chainwide.

Menus in participating Red Lion restaurants and lounges now clearly display the brand’s newly designed trans fat free logo. The brand’s website, www.redlion.com, also identifies these restaurants and lounges. The company owns, operates, and franchises 57 hotels in eight states and one Canadian province.

The process of establishing menu uniformity has been “somewhat difficult for us,” concedes George Goodrich, corporate director of food and beverage. “The chain operates in markets as different as downtown Seattle and Helena, Montana, so you’ve really got to come up with menu selections that work in broad markets.”

About four years ago, management was finding “some inconsistency in our products in terms of highly variable menus from property to property,” Goodrich recalls. Red Lion, he says, has historically enjoyed strong brand consistency. “If you went from one hotel to the next and ordered the club sandwich, it was predictable and consistent.”

The company, however, had “completely gotten away from that, for a combination of reasons,” he adds. Thus, management made it a goal to focus more on its menus—seeing to it that they are innovative, adhere to current dining trends, offer healthier selections, and offer everything from comfort foods to ethnic cuisines with “spice and seasonality.”

Despite the challenges, Goodrich believes the menu today is “fundamentally different” than it was four years ago. “I think it has continued to evolve in a progressive way with the times, with what consumers’ preferences are in terms of eating styles—whether it be health or spice, regional, or seasonal.”

ASKING QUESTIONS
Red Lion’s research involved the use of panel interviews. Executives worked through the company’s marketing department to convene consumer focus groups to figure out what they were looking for. According to Matt Engels, Red Lion’s VP of operations, the primary question that needed answering was: When they are coming into our restaurants, what do they order off the menus?

The focus groups, run by an outside agency, were comprised of 10 to 15 people each in different Red Lion markets throughout the country, including Houston; Portland, Oregon; and a few on the East Coast. “Those had as much to do with brand as with the menus,” says Engels. Among the things participants were asked were: What do you know about Red Lion? What is your feeling about Red Lion? And what are your expectations, both from rooms delivery and foodand- beverage perspectives?

Researchers found, to no one’s great surprise, that quality of both food and service were “very important.” Says Engels, “I boil it down to [consumers] wanting a hassle-free experience when they dine in our outlets.”

Focus group participants were not asked specific questions about the menu, Goodrich adds. Most of the innovation specific to menu items “was driven from the manufacturer side, with guidance about what trends are happening and what consumers are looking for in terms of specific salads and sandwiches. In other words, what’s selling and what’s not.” Outside consultants were also tapped for ideas.

Over the last four years, that process has been fueled by tapping the expertise and experience of many of the chain’s key chefs. Gatherings were convened at various properties that resulted in menu items later added to properties systemwide. Last May, the company convened the fourth such group at a convention center in Spokane, Washington. The result was a collection of new dishes added to Red Lion menus in September 2007.

Where previous groups consisted of those chefs that management considered to be the “most innovative and creative,” Goodrich says, the most recent gathering paired some of Red Lion’s top chefs with less-experienced colleagues, and “they came up with some really great ideas.” The items they developed, he feels, are “well thought out, and I am confident they will sell in our markets.”

Red Lion has also worked closely with several of its vendors for additional food- and consumertrend insights. “The vendors provided us with customer feedback on, say, what kinds of desserts were selling on the West Coast versus the Midwest versus the East Coast,” says Engels. “It’s interesting when you look at it. Use key lime pie as an example: How many of those are selling in the South versus the Midwest?” Such geographical comparisons “gave us the idea to target items we think are creative and good for our part of the country, items that people actually buy.”

TREND TRACKING
Engels says Red Lion’s ability to track trends has been key. “We went through the low-carb craze, and now we’re seeing a trend toward no trans fats—and we’ve been able to take advantage of that.”

Last summer, Red Lion took another step forward and revamped its catering menu. Catering, says Goodrich, “is often one of those areas in hotels that does not get addressed in terms of creating new selections that are more in tune with dining trends.”

Typically, he points out, banquet fare is standard. A banquet breakfast, for example, always consists of scrambled eggs, either plated or as part of a buffet. Among Red Lion’s innovative new items is Granola Supreme, with fresh fruit, granola, and yogurt in a glass and served with a healthy muffin. Oatmeal served with a variety of dried fruits and nuts is another. “There are a lot of items like that throughout the menu,” Engels points out. “We have infused more of the lighterstyle selections that we recognize consumers find appealing.”

Red Lion also solicits customer feedback from a database of guests. After every catered event, the catering sales manager reaches out to the customer to try and determine “what did we do well, what could we have done better, and how was the price to value experience?” Engels says.

Food cost runs about 30 percent, about five percentage points lower than four years ago. A good part of the savings came from improved menu engineering, specifically great cross-utilization of product.

For example, fresh salmon is used on three different menus—as a char-grilled fillet served with a choice of sauces, with Caesar salad, and in a pita bread sandwich—“so that we get enough volume out of that item and eliminate the potential for waste,” says Goodrich. Another part of the cost-cutting equation is a software program that costs all items and helps measure portions more precisely.

Looking ahead, Goodrich says, “I think we will continue to evolve our menus based on what our consumers ask for. Health is still a continued consideration. We recognize folks want to splurge at times, and at other times they want to be conscientious about it. We want to appeal to all their needs.”

And, increasingly, Red Lion does.