IHG Prototype Pushes Nostalgic F&B Concept

DULUTH, GA— The legacy of Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inn more than a half-century ago, continues to thrive, this time as part of a nostalgic food and beverage concept designed for InterContinental Hotels Group’s new corporate-owned brand prototype here. Wilson, who died in February 2003 at the age of 90, remains a strong presence in the 143-room Holiday Inn Gwinnett Center outside Atlanta via Kemm’s Café, a 50-seat, three-meal retro-style restaurant the brand sees as a key component of the prototype evolving into the Holiday Inn of the future. “One of the things that’s essential for Holiday Inn in its segment, which is midscale with f&b, is that indeed it takes a leadership position with f&b,” said Mark Snyder, senior vp-brand management, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, North America. “It’s been a long time since Holiday Inn stepped up and said to owners that want to develop the brand that we’ve also got some guidance on a great concept that we know is going to track very well with our consumers and it’s also going to be an easier thing for you to implement, and you don’t have to worry about what most developers have to worry about when you start talking about food and beverage, which is losing a lot of money.” The brand worked with Cuisine Solutions and its own corporate f&b team to develop the concept. “It really couldn’t be more simple or more straightforward. It’s all of the things that you traditionally begin to think of when you think of great comfort food,” said Snyder. Dishes such as spaghetti and meatballs, cheeseburgers, meat loaf, roasted chicken, southern fried chicken, catfish, barbecue baby back ribs and apple pie recall a simpler time when the dining out experience was not usually calculated by consumers according to carbs or fat grams or whether a three-course meal was available in handy bar or liquid form. Snyder said a variety of options were considered for each menu categories. “We had to have a pasta dish, and some of the answers that came back were penne pasta and some of the pastas that are more in keeping with what the world thinks of it today. But it wasn’t classic to Holiday Inn. It wasn’t classic comfort food. From a pasta standpoint, could there be anything more comforting than a classic spaghetti and meatballs…there’s no rocket science here. It’s all just great comfort food that is reasonably priced and can be easily accessed and has the kind of flexibility that customers are looking for,” he said. Baby boomers remain the primary market segment for Holiday Inn, with Gen-Xers the only increasing market segment particularly in terms of business travel. Snyder felt the comfort food menu could be navigated by those concerned with dietary and nutritional influences, and are on regimens such as low carb. It was noted beyond salad there aren’t any designated vegetarian items, although Snyder indicated that market makes up only approximately 4% of HI’s market. However, based on the type of feedback the brand intends to elicit from its guests, “it’s something that can be easily changed,” he added. With midscale properties that incorporate f&b historically lagging their non-f&b midscale siblings over much of the recent past, Snyder is hoping Kemm’s Café’s characteristics will induce developers to give the concept and the prototype some serious consideration. “This is a turnkey solution that we’ve created as part of this prototype to allow developers to do a great restaurant concept, give customers what they want, position their property perfectly in the marketplace in terms of brand standards, and at the same time, not lose money,” said Snyder. “We’ve really come up with a very efficient prototype here.” Part of that efficiency is streamlining the restaurant serving process, and the brand is testing a wireless electronic menu. Diners are being offered a 8-inch by 10-inch “e-Menu” along with a traditional menu, from which they can make their choices via text and photog