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Taneko: PF Chang's brings a modern Japanese Tavern concept to life
Profile
PF Chang's China Bistro, Inc has garnered great success across its 150+ restaurants since its inception. In early 2006, the company began exploring how to take their upscale yet approachable twist on Chinese food and apply it to modern Japanese dining. Taneko Japanese Tavern was born of this inspiration. As the team at PF Chang's prepared to launch the new concept, they envisioned a new offering made up of high integrity, authentic flavors, using technique that spoke to the true traditions of the cuisine in a modern Japanese environment.
Challenge
The inspiration for the Taneko concept stemmed directly from the traditional Japanese casual drinking establishments serving warm and cold appetizer sized snacks known as 'izakayas'.
While the PF Chang's team were confident that the spirit of the izakaya concept would be embraced by US consumers once it was understood, they anticipated that the approach could not be directly applied and that some localization of the concept would be required.
Early in the conceptual phase, the team struggled with some key questions that would later help inform the Taneko concept. These questions included addressing how high-end the concept should be, what consumers understood as representative of Japanese food, how essential to the offering sushi was going to be, and whether sushi could work in a restaurant format that doesn't have a sushi bar.
Process
The Culinary Edge team was hired to strategically guide, lead and interpret a set of focus groups designed to uncover consumer behaviors and attitudes towards Japanese restaurants and dining. Through the planning process, it became clear that among other concerns, the Chang's team struggled most with how authentic the food should be, and what visual cues the customer expected from dining at a 'Japanese tavern'. In an effort to resolve these essential foundation points, The Culinary Edge developed a plan for executing a series of focus groups that included not only a computer generated guided tour of the restaurant space, but was conducted over the course of an entire served meal.
Solution
Through the successful execution of these innovative focus groups and further consumer feedback on pricing, menu structure and flow, The Culinary Edge team was able to collect reactions to test kitchen dishes, the restaurant design, look and feel and other key elements creating the customer experience. Through an in-depth analysis of this qualitative fieldwork the final feedback and recommendations of The Culinary Edge proved to shape and refine the concept and menu formulations and help create a successful restaurant platform.
Taneko Japanese Tavern launched in Scottsdale in fall 2006 and has already generated buzz and awareness in the region and beyond.