Some strategic windows remain open for an extended period of time; other, don’t. One of those slim windows faced Tom Krouse, chief concept officer with Donato’s, an independent premium pizza restaurant chain, headquartered in Columbus (Ohio). Krouse, who is reponsible for new product development, had to answer a question facing many restaurants: Is the low-carb diet a flash fad or a trend—and should we respond?
“Restaurants are influenced my many factors: product, message, weather, reputation, and competition, to name a few. But mostly we are influenced by changing eating habits. As a result, we monitor a variety of sources. One of these is syndicated research obtained from The Yankelovich Monitor and NPD Eating Trends. Another is e-mail comments from customers received via our web site. We also hold monthly WASSUP Meetings,” shared Krouse, “where each employee brings knowledge of an element from popular culture and explains its affect on Donatos.”1 Donatos, recently divested by fast -ood giant McDonald’s, had, for four years, access to tremendous amounts of research on the eating habits of Americans. In late July, according to the 2003 HealthFocus Trend Report, 26% of eaters were “carb aware.” “This meant that they were incorporating low-carb habits into their diets. We had a multitude of evidence, over several months, that the interest in low-carb eating plans was increasing,” concluded Krouse.
The time was July 2003. Krouse, who himself was following the Atkins diet,2 was noticing that at company meetings, where pizza is a staple refreshment, “little piles of crust” were being left behind. “At first, we worried that something might be wrong with the crust,” shared Krouse. While to some degree food quality is important to any restaurant, Donatos stakes its reputation and its position in the pizza segment on two factors: premium quality and an abundance of toppings—Edge to Edge® as its slogan goes. Donatos discovered that nothing was wrong with the crust; its employees were avoiding the carbohydrates inherent in the grain-based foundation of every pizza on the market at that time.
Convinced the low-carb craze permeating the media was no fad, Donatos started its research-based product development process. The process typically starts with developing the product prototype, followed by employee taste testing, concept screens (where participants, usually in a central location, are shown photographs of food products, and then queried about the item’s uniqueness, brand fit, price attractiveness, and the likelihood of purchase if the product were available), and ultimately in-restaurant tests in two or more restaurants within the chain.3 In-restaurant tests also include participants completing a self-administered intercept survey or, for delivery customers, a callback phone survey.