Disney set to unveil Mickey's Kitchen

Nation's Restaurant News, March 5, 1990 by Richard Martin

Disney set to unveil Mickey's Kitchen

MONTCLAIR, Calif. - The Walt Disney Co. has issued a "casting call" for foodservice workers to star in Mickey's Kitcken, Disney's first restaurant venture outside a theme park.

The "wholesome" fastfood outlet is set for an April debut inside the Montclair Plaza shopping mall, 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Mickey's Kitcken will operate as an adjunct to a new branch of the company's Disney Store, a 41-unit gift-retailing chain that features Disney art and memorabilia.

Disney's planned launch of Mickey's Kitcken signals a new "Main Street" tack in hospitality for the entertainment firm, whose estimated d1989 theme-park restaurant sales of $506 million ranked it as the industry's 25th-largest food-service operator.

However, Mickey's Kitcken is not Disney's first attempt at a real mall-based food operation. Two years ago, citing a dim outlook for profitability, the company scuttled its 1987 plan to open an array of fanci-fully themed restaurants in a $300 million shopping mall-studio tour attraction it had planned to build near its Bur-bank, Calif., corporate headquarters.

The company's test of a new retailing-foodservice hybrid will give it a model for the possible diversification of its fast-growing Disney Store concept, which is earmarked for expansion to 100 outlets nationally. In Montclair the restaurant will be accessible from both the mall's gift shop.

Disney Store casting call advertisements last month solicited applications for assistant managers, counter-service workers and kitcken personnel for the unnamed restaurant. The newspaper ads, which also offered retail sales and stock jobs, described Disney's new venture as an "exciting concept featuring retail and fast food in a fun and entertaining setting."

Menu items and price points for the Mickey's Kitchen prototype have not been finally determined, according to Dennis Frare, a Disney Store employee trainer who answered phone inquiries about the ad. "We're looking at more nutritious, wholesome menu items and trying to get away from traditional fast-food offerings," Frare said.

Comparing the crew requirements of Mickey's Kitcken with those of a McDonald's general manager Mike LaRue said he is seeking 40 to 50 "cast members" for hourly and management positions.

LaRue said the restaurant project has been hidden "under wraps" on their orders of Disney chairman Michael Eisner. However, a Disney Store source revealed that Mickey's Kitcken will features a whimsical, cartoonish environment, with seating and tables projecting fantastic, "Disneylandish" qualities.

Although the term "cast member" suggests that workers might be dressed as Disney characters, a spokesman said staff "costumes" will project a collegiate image.

Mickey's Kitcken will face competition from several other foodservice outlets at the 175-store Montclair Plaza mall, including Orange Julius, Sbarro's, Hot Dog on a Stick, 1 Potato 2 and other typical mall food court concepts, plus a full-service restaurant at Nordstrom's department store.

A source said Disney chose the Montclair Plaza site because "they felt they'd get a better [test] reading" of the concept in the large, yet "typically suburban" mall.