Only O'Charley's: promotion roll-outs win Best Merchandising Award

Cheers, April, 2005

O'Charley's has raised the bar on the quality and depth of their beverage program merchandising initiatives, and in recognition of its efforts, received the Cheers Best Merchandising Award.

"What earned us this award is our commitment to raising the awareness level of our guests as well as our servers on our adult beverage offerings," said Colleen Brennan, beverage program director, for the chain. "Given this objective, we worked with [consultant] MarkeTeam to put together a fully integrated program that included new glassware, a company-wide rollout plan, as well as eye-catching marketing materials and several incentives," she said.

An example of one of O'Charley's successful merchandising programs was its PrimO' Summer Sensations, which it presented last year. The chain created four summer cocktails: two rum-based tropical-style drinks, Bermuda Breeze and Island Cooler; and two styles of Margaritas, Top Shelf PrimO' Margarita and Cranberry MangO'rita. "We used the information we learned from the Adams Beverage Group handbooks to create drinks which reflect the current trends in consumer taste preferences," Brennan said.

After designing the colorful glassware (each location received 48 different glasses), an extensive array of point-of-purchase (POP) collateral kits were created for the PrimO' Summer program. The POP materials were packaged in a "store kit," which included beverage menu inserts that were placed into plastic holders; danglers, in which a photo of one of the drinks dangles inside a large "O" (these were placed at the bar as well as throughout the dining room); and a large, 3-foot-by-6-foot banner stand with photos of the drinks, placed in a highly-visible location in each location's entry. In addition, each staff member received a T-shirt with the promotion's name and a colorful floral design as well as stickers (about 2,000 were sent to each unit and these were worn as buttons).

Brennan said that one of the biggest challenges for operators in the merchandising category is staff training and building staff enthusiasm for the promotion. "The staff played an integral role in the success of the program. We were fortunate to have the support of all our operators on every level; it was the support of all our managers that made this program the unprecedented success it turned out to be."

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The "PrimO' Prizes" program not only provided employee incentive, but generated a sense of team spirit and camaraderie. Each restaurant received 600 scratch-off game cards, giving employees the chance to win from $100 to the grand prize of $1,000 in cash, along with "instant-win" retail gift cards. In executing the program, employees were teamed up, and each time a server sold a featured PrimO' drink, or a bartender sold two of these drinks, each received a scratch card. Prizes were won by scratching off squares on the cards, revealing the prizes underneath.

"Success in this category takes commitment from every department--training, operations and marketing. Our goal is to increase our comparative liquor sales and to grow the category as a whole. We were able to significantly increase our alcohol sales and do it responsibly," Brennan said.