Good food and service make a good business, but providing a total dining experience can transform a good restaurant into a great brand that endures for generations. The experience is why Red Lobster is not simply a restaurant, but a trusted name synonymous with seafood in America. The experience is why Olive Garden is a robust company with 43 consecutive quarters of U.S. same-restaurant sales growth through the end of fiscal 2005.

    The experience includes everything guests encounter, from the time they first see our restaurant and walk through our doors until they leave. There is a visual experience. For example, the island architecture at Bahama Breeze, including a tin roof, rich woods and wicker furniture, immediately puts you in an island state of mind. There is also a more subtle, subliminal experience. Because freshness and cleanliness go hand-in-hand with seafood, Red Lobster, like all our restaurants, maintains meticulously clean restaurants. Olive Garden conveys the spirit of Italian generosity with unlimited refills on soup, salad and breadsticks.

    In short, creating a dining experience is an exercise in thoughtful details. And those details support the clearly defined brand vision that is critical to success. Every element – from food and beverage to décor and service – must be consistent with the brand and must be monitored to ensure consistency over time. Smokey Bones conducts an annual brand audit, for example, in which every guest touch point is evaluated and examined for consistency with the brand vision, which is to be known for the friendliness of our people, who serve great-tasting barbeque and other American favorites in an energetic atmosphere to every guest, every time. Items such as menu design, artwork on the walls and in-restaurant television programming are examined to make sure they support the brand. This exercise brings discipline and helps sustain focus and clarity in the brand management process.

    We think about the dining experiences our brands create as a mosaic – many different, individual pieces that come together to create one big picture or experience. If pieces are missing or don't fit, the picture loses its focus and continuity. As brand managers, our job is to pay attention to every piece – no matter how small – to make sure the overall experience is distinct and memorable and keeps guests coming back for more.