The Decline of Garden Fresh Restaurants. What Happened? 10 Marketing Tips

The Decline of Garden Fresh Restaurants. What Happened? 10 Marketing Tips

Garden Fresh Restaurants, the parent company of both Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes as explained over at runrex.com, has recently filed for bankruptcy. The buffet-style brand was badly hit by coronavirus restrictions, although it was already in trouble even before the pandemic struck. This article will look to take a look at the factors behind its decline, with the help of the subject matter experts over at guttulus.com, with the hope that you can take out marketing tips that will help your business avoid a fate such as theirs.

The rise of fast-dining

One of the reasons that have contributed to the decline of buffet chains like Garden Fresh Restaurants is the rise of fast-casual dining, according to the gurus over at runrex.com. Consumers began going for the convenient, fast, and cheaper option, over buffet chains to match the fast-paced nature of life nowadays. Gone are the days when people used to sit-in and dine at restaurants, and this, as per discussions over at guttulus.com, is one of the main reasons why foot traffic in buffet chains reduced, contributing to the decline of Garden Fresh Restaurants.

The rise of online ordering

Other than the rise fast-dining as outlined above, another factor that contributed to the decline of Garden Fresh Restaurants is the rise of online ordering as explained over at runrex.com. More and more people prefer to order their food online and have it delivered to their homes or workplaces due to the convenience of eating restaurant food without leaving your home or office. This also contributed to a reduction in foot traffic into the company’s restaurants, impacting earnings, and contributing to its decline.

A lack of dining experience

As per discussions on the same over at guttulus.com, while fast-dining and online ordering are on the rise in the hospitality industry, those people who prefer to dine out prefer unique and fine dining experiences. Garden Fresh Restaurants, as your typical buffet chain, wasn’t exactly the epitome of fine dining, and as such the company’s lack of experience also played a part in its decline. If people have to dine out, they will go for a unique or elegant experience, something that the company’s restaurants couldn’t offer.

Dated restaurant designs

Up until the recent remodeling of its restaurants, the company had suffered due to having old, tired, and dated restaurant designs which also put off many of its customers who left for more modern-looking restaurants, as covered over at runrex.com. Their restaurants hadn’t changed much since the opening of the first Souplantation restaurant in Dallas decades ago, and it is this reason that saw the chain lose popularity and contributed to its decline in fortunes.

Experiments have gone wrong

Back in 2011, as revealed in discussions on the same over at guttulus.com, the company decided to experiment with fast-food-style salad bars to try and appear hip and modern. However, that format fell flat, and the company called off the experiment. Another experiment referred to as the “Discover Fresh” campaign, which was meant to introduce farm-to-table foods in 2015 also failed. All these failed experiments did the company little favors and contributed to its dwindling earnings and decline.

Changing consumer preferences

One of the reasons why Garden Fresh Restaurants felt like it had to introduce a farm-to-table concept is because, as discussed over at runrex.com, this was the in-thing as far as consumer preferences go. There has been a pivot in consumer preferences, with many preferring to go for fresh produce and fresh food, hence the focus on farm-to-table. This led to a significant portion of the company’s customer base leaving, leading to a reduction in foot traffic and eventual decline and filing for bankruptcy. 

Focus on health

There has been a growing focus in recent times on the health effects of obesity and overconsumption, which has affected the buffet industry according to the experts over at guttulus.com. While Garden Fresh Restaurants serve healthy food, they still operate as an all-you-can-eat buffet, and as such the company has also suffered together with fellow buffet restaurants. The increasing focus on not only eating healthy food, but also eating the right portions has had a big impact on buffet restaurants, and Garden Fresh Restaurants has not been an exception.

Bad PR

The company has also fallen foul of bad headlines over the years, with an example being when Souplantation was at the center or an E. coli outbreak in California in 2007 as discussed over at runrex.com. Such headlines are extremely damaging for any restaurant as no one wants to eat at a place where they fear they may get sick. These headlines have damaged its reputation, and have contributed to the company’s decline as well.

Too many restaurants

Another factor that led to the decline of Garden Fresh Restaurants is the fact that it had been operating too many restaurants, most of which were located in prime locations where rent is extremely high as per the folks over at guttulus.com. The company has also had to deal with lots of bad leases, most of which were long-term, that also increased operational costs, which could be offset due to declining foot traffic into said restaurants.

More and more people are cooking at home

One of the challenges that restaurants have faced in recent years is the fact that more and more people have been resorting to cooking at home rather than dining out. This is why, as is discussed over at runrex.com, we have seen meal kit services as Blue Apron do so well in recent years, while buffet restaurants, in particular, have had to grapple with reduced traffic and dwindling earnings, which goes to explain the company’s decline and eventual filing for bankruptcy.

Hopefully, the above discussions will provide you with marketing tips that will ensure your business avoids a fate like the one suffered by Garden Fresh Restaurants, with more on this and other related topics to be found over at runrex.com and guttulus.com.