Country Kitchen keeps promos rolling, unveils new logo

Nation's Restaurant News, May 26, 2003 by Gregg Cebrzynski

MADISON, WIS. -- Family-dining chain Country Kitchen is sticking to tradition in one area, promotions, while breaking with the past by unveiling a new corporate logo.

The 200-unit chain, which has relied heavily on promotions to drive sales, launched the "Country Summer Collection," meals starting at $4.99 that cover all dayparts. The promotion is scheduled to run through Labor Day.

Country Kitchen also has begun rolling out a new logo on its signage and marketing materials to increase its brand presence in the family-dining segment and raise its awareness among consumers.

"It was time to evolve to become more contemporary," said president and chief executive Chuck Myers. "We wanted to stand out from the crowd."

The new logo is oval, compared with the previous rectangular logo, which resembled a restaurant building. The new logo has a yellow background to make it more visible -- the old one was green -- and displays the restaurant name in upper- and lower-case letters.

Country Kitchen had been using the old logo for nearly 20 years, but Myers said the marketplace is "inundated with brands," and the new logo is designed to be more visible to consumers. The oval shape allows store signs to be five feet higher than the previous signs based on the old logo.

Although new, the logo doesn't break entirely with Country Kitchen's brand heritage. It uses the type font that the chain began using more than 30 years ago.

"We wanted to separate ourselves [from competitors] and at the same time maintain our heritage," Myers said.

The logo already appears in freestanding inserts for the Country Summer Collection and in two TV spots for the promotion. The 15- and 30-second spots open on the meals included in the promotion, while a voice-over describes them. The logo appears for a few seconds in the upper left comer of the spot and then disappears. At the end of the spot the old logo shows up in the upper-right corner, it dissolves and then the new one reappears. Both spots end with the tag, "Are you ready for a real meal?"

Ovation Advertising and Marketing of LaCrosse, Wis., created the campaign. Privately held Country Kitchen does not reveal ad spending or systemside sales. The 2002 Nation's Restaurant News Top 200 survey put the chain's 2001 systemwide sales at $223 million.

The current promotion, unlike the Country Chicken Classics and Country Star breakfast promotions earlier this year, includes meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner to stimulate sales.

The chain's Big Country Breakfast is available during that daypart for $4.99. Other menu items include Pepper Steak Skillet; Smoky BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich; Country Summer Fruit Salad; Canta-Loopa-Tuna, two scoops of tuna salad served with cantaloupe; French onion soup; and two desserts.

The menu also includes Jalapeno BLT, which Myers said is a response to diners wanting more comfort food.

The sandwich contains jalapeno peppers and four strips of bacon boasting a jalapeno flavor. Instead of using white bread, Country Kitchen serves the sandwich on potato-chive panini bread.

In addition to broadcast support for the promotion, Country Kitchen is using a variety of in-store materials, including menu inserts and tray liners, which show each of the menu items.