ONE-PRODUCT RESTAURANTS: Specialization is the next stage of evolution in the restaurant industry, says Aaron Allen, founder and CEO of Orlando, Florida-based Quantified Marketing Group, a strategic marketing and PR firm for the restaurant industry. So bring on the restaurants selling only cream puffs, soup or cereal. Americans are hungry for them.
Jodene Jensen, 39, Ken Hall, 36, and Keri Barney, 36 (above, 1. to r.), gambled big When they opened P.B.Loco, a restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2003. Some thought their idea for a restaurant specializing in peanut butter was nuts, but these former lawyers were confident they could strike it rich by giving a classic commodity a modern taste. They opened their first cafe in Minnesota's Mall of America, featuring low-carb wraps and unique sandwiches like "The Wacko," which combines Asian Curry Spice Peanut Butter with pickles, coconut and potato chips. Sound good? It's tasty enough that P.B.Loco has since become a multimillion-dollar business, with franchises selling faster than peanuts at a baseball game. Says Hall, "People feel very passionately about peanut butter."
Choose an adaptable product, find a niche, and get to know as much about the product as possible. "You have to be an expert in a particular area," says Allen. Do this, and you'll certainly stand out in the restaurant world, which has become, according to Allen, a $430 billion-per-year industry.