Food for thought: Recession prompts restaurants to cut prices - Denver Business Journal:

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People came up to peruse the $32.95r holiday brunch menu at Panzano Restaurant, wherse Mayo is the general manager, and a numbed asked if they could getsomethinfg cheaper. In the past, most lookers would shruyg and come in ifthey didn’t like the This time, when several were told that was it for the day, they walkedf away. Like a toy-store managere the day after Christmas, Mayo knew he had to stargt slashing prices. And he wasn’t alone. You can now get a $4 stea appetizer at Panzano. Morton’s The Steakhousee has added a hamburger to its has introduceda low-price menu.
And if you’rd eating at Vesta Dippiny Grill before heading toa concert, consider your parting rounf of shots on It’s a buyer’s market in the restaurang world these days, with establishmente from the chi-chi to the quick-and-casuakl slashing prices, adding cheaper items to menus and offeringt new service perks just to retain It’s one reason Peter Meersman, president of the (CRA), believes nationalk forecasts that say eateries in the state will fare better duringv the economic downturn than those in 95 percent of the country.
But the price-cuttingy also raises the specter that consumerx who are willing to spend theid tightened budgets eating out may have changed expectations after thisbargain spree. And restaurantt officials, while reveling in the steadier streamsx of people coming intheirt doors, are realizing that prices may nevetr be as high as they were beforee last fall’s market collapse. “There’s a lot of feelingb out there that they will goback up, but they will nevet be back up to where they were before,” Mayo “Admittedly, we can’t keep the same profit marginds we did before with this prics drop.
But we also can’t keep the business if we don’rt make this adjustment.” Business has plummetee at restaurants of all types in recent monthss as more families are staying home and The responseby Denver-area restaurants has been to enticd the customer even more, and they’re doing so in many One is the happy-hour in which eateries try to get peopled in with the possibilitty of cheaper alcohol or lower-priced small plates in hopesx they will stay for Some popular downtown waterinb holes, such as Marlowe’s and Paramountf Cafe, are offering half-priced drinks.
Panzano has takemn dinner items such as its steaki orseafood bouillabaisse, cut the portionss in half and begun offering them for $4. Happy-hour business has doublex since January, Mayo said. Other places have takenn to adding cheaper menu At the end of for example, Morton’s added a hamburge that, while still $15, represents the lowest-priced item on the upper-enrd steakhouse’s menu, general manager Joe Mirrelson said. Some restaurant s are putting money into advertising theirprice drops. Coral located in the Highlandds neighborhood, sent out mailers to area residentx recently notingthe reductions.
Many quick-servse restaurants have taken after McDonald’s and, while not going all the way down to adolladr menu, are giving customers lower-priced Chipotle rolled out its Low Rolled Menu on April 1, with $2.9o soup and $2.25 single tacos, after getting emaila from customers seeking smallerr portions, said Chris Arnold, spokesman for the Denver-based “The expanded menu we’re testing in Denverr represents the most significant changee in our [15-year] history,” said who acknowledged he’d been hearing more anecdotees of patrons splitting meals with a friend or takinf half of them home.
Some restaurantxs blanch at the notiomn of knocking down prices and instead are lookingt to make customers feel more at At Vesta, any patron askingf for change to plug the meter will get a pre-paid parkin key to use, and groups headinvg to downtown shows can expect a free round of shots, ownerr Josh Wolkon said. “We’re all in trouble,” Wolkojn said. “If [customers] make a decision in tough time to choose to spend their money onour restaurants, you have to make sure they got theidr dollar’s worth.” One trend severalk people said they expect to see is the returm of the $52.
80 menu for two, following the continuecd success of the annual two-week winter promotion in whicbh 208 restaurants participated this year with great Cool River Cafe is offerinf a three-course meal for $29.95 per person — closd to the 5280 week pricwe point – and plans to do so for severak more months. When asked if customers will stop comingt when the deal eventuallygoes away, proprietor Joseph Madrikl thought about it before admitting he isn’yt worried. “I don’t believe there’s a risk,” Madrilk said. “I think people will be appreciative, and it builda loyalty.
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