Several chain restaurants within the Valley have new sights on their horizons, including updated menus, logos and décor. Among those restaurants are Scottsdale’s Macayo’s Mexican Grill & Cantina and Tempe’s Red Robin.
Red Robin is going through a re-branding campaign, changing its look at its restaurants nationwide. Tempe Marketplace’s Red Robin is the first in Arizona to get the new look.
Still a family-friendly restaurant, it has adjusted the seating charts. With different sections of the restaurant dedicated to families than diners without kids, it aims to provide a more comfortable experience. If you didn’t come with screaming kids, you won’t have to sit next to them.
Still a place to go for a burger and a beer, Red Robin’s also updated its menu. With a focus on local beers in the bar and creative burgers, it’s an updated version of the Red Robin faithful customers know.
As one of the restaurant’s staples, the plethora of artwork that usually adorns the walls has now been consolidated, creating a more modern and sleek look for the dining rooms. Instead, the art adorns a strip of the ceiling, collected in an unexpected ceiling art exhibit.
Macayo’s Mexican Grill and Cantina introduced a new look and menu, while keeping the neighborhood feel it has had since the family-owned restaurant opened almost 70 years ago. In an attempt to show the partnership between the new and older branding, both logos are on the building. Almost all of the previous menu items are available, but with the new menu, so are some new modern and innovative ways to experience Mexican food.
Behind this innovation is Sharisse Johnson, daughter of the restaurant’s founder, Woody. She followed in her father’s footsteps, traveling to Mexico to find inspiration for new menu items, like the jicama tacos and chili pork stew.
A cleaned-up interior and a re-done outdoor space invites diners to come for a new experience, but still one recognizable as Macayo’s.
Jason Rusk, vice president of brand transformation at Red Robin, has been in charge of the company’s rebranding strategy. Rusk is in charge of updating restaurants around the country, all while making sure they maintain their individualism. At each Red Robin, a restaurant gets to vote on which art to keep and display.
When a remodel of a particular restaurant comes into question, it’s often worth weighing the options: remodel or relocate?
For Red Robin and Rusk that has to do with a few variables. Before deciding, they’ll look at the shortest lease term without renewals, at ownership and at the level of investment.
With a longer lease on the books and not near the end of it, it makes sense to remodel, an investment that will pay off. But when a lease is coming to an end, Rusk says the restaurant will look into relocating.
With a known location, a restaurant won’t have to work to get the public to know they’ve moved, but with an update, it can bring back loyal customers while attracting new diners.
That’s just what both Macayo’s and Red Robin have chosen to do. A new menu, a new look and a new feel will invite new customers, while still staying close enough to their brand that loyal customers will want to come back too.