The Brand Insight Blog, published by BN Branding, a Bend marketing consulting firm, offers some unconventional wisdom about why Jody Denton’s once-red-hot Bend restaurants, Merenda and Deep, cooled off and went under.
“The obituaries sounded all too familiar for this town, at this time: ‘Merenda’s demise was hastened by prevailing economic conditions.’ ‘The bottom dropped out of the restaurant business. Everyone’s feeling the pinch.’ ‘The seasonal nature of business in this town makes it very difficult … ‘” the blogger writes.
But the real problems were (in the case of Merenda) failure to establish a distinctive brand and a loyal customer base and (in the case of Deep) a failure to read the Bend market correctly.
Although the food was good, the blogger explains, the Merenda brand “wasn’t about the cuisine. It was about partying. The brand promise seemed to boil down to ‘good friends, good times.’ It was a loud, raucous place where groups would gather and drink generously from an outstanding wine list. The vibe was more urban, the energy level more electric, than anything previously. Many nights you couldn’t hear yourself think.”
(The Eye can personally attest to the truth of that last statement. The noise level was one of the big reasons we didn’t care too much for Merenda. A cheerfully noisy restaurant is fun, but that place was crazy. We didn’t enjoy having to scream to make ourselves audible to the person sitting across the table from us.)
“Many of Merenda’s customers were only there because it was THE place to be,” the blogger continues. “It was a superficial relationship, not a genuine bond. Success by association. When new restaurants opened the crowds thinned out.”
The Eye has seen that pattern in Bend more times than we can count: New restaurant opens, there are lines out the door for a couple of weeks or months, then the novelty wears off and “the beautiful people” (or what passes for such in Bend) move on to the next “great new place.”
With Deep, the blogger argues, the problem was offering something too exotic for the local market:
“Being different from the competition is certainly important, but it’s not as crucial as being appealing. Tiny morsels of Kobe beef served on a hot rock for eight dollars a bite … that’s different! ‘Angry Lobster,’ Monkfish paté, grilled yuzu and marinated, chopped maguro tataki were all impressively different. But not appealing enough to inspire repeat business by a large group of people in a relatively small market.
“Bottom line: Deep was a high-end sushi place in a meat and potato town.”
That last line is worth remembering, and not just for restaurateurs but for anybody who wants to sell anything here: Underneath a paper-thin veneer of sophistication, Bend is still basically a working-class, former logging town with down-to-earth tastes.
(TOTH to “I Hate to Burst Your Bubble” on the BendBubble2 blog for spotting this item.)
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2009.
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I think being different in Bend will be successful if you price food right and cater to all classes. Jody Denton could have used a little more common sense and less snobbery when business started going down. Merenda reeked of striving to be exclusive,the prices and the menu alone did that. The food was overpriced and at best average. Bend is still “a down to earth place” and I’m happy to see that the newer eateries coming in realize this. I sincerely hope someone does open a new restaurant at the old Merenda, it’s a great space. Hopefully it won’t be another Mexican, Italian or so called “upscale” sushi. What we could use is a really good meat and potato restaurant!
Dunno if anyone here is familiar with San Luis Obispo’s Big Sky Cafe (http://www.bigskycafe.com/index2.html) but such a place would serve downtown very well, IMO. It’s warm and welcoming, not expensive. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Meat and potatoes, done interestingly, served with zero snobbery.
I understand Jody Denton is going to open a new restaurant in Boca Raton, FL, a very affluent town. He’ll probably do very well. He’s a nice guy and I wish him success.
BTW I remember when the building where Merenda stands housed a music store, of all things.
“Down to earth” Sushi at Mio Sushi…no pretense, by far the best sushi in Bend. Prices are great and you can park without a hassle. Cascade Village shopping center next to JC Penny. Bye Bye KanPai.
And long before it was a music store, it was an upscale women’s clothing store. And Wettle’s, Bend’s only department store, was across the street.
A music store? Hell, HBM, I remember when it was a JC Penny store.
As is usually the case with John’s posts on his Brand Insight blog, he offers insightful observations and reflections to make strong points about, you guessed it, branding. How sad a comment it is on the general state of marketing and brand/business management these days that what amounts to very well crafted lessons in common sense is now seen as “unconventional.”
They failed because of too many arrogant managers, poorly prepared and overpriced food.
Jody and Family are off to Australia where he almost went before coming to Bend in 01. This will be their next adventure. All you restaurant “experts” should lease the space now vacant and “make it work”. All the answers are here, but no doers, just talk talk talk. Rumor, gash, and spill.
For a good laugh, go to the City of Bend website, and search for “Bend Brand”.
The money that the city spent during the last six years to ‘brand’ Bend as Aspen is staggering.
People who brand are simply doing their job, its fascinating that a little desert town that long ago extracted its resources would spend its last borrowed nickel on branding itself as a rich persons playground. When in fact Bend was only a Kmart, Walmart, Costco, shopping lot at best where local ranchers and farmers came to town.
You can ‘Brand’ anything. The real issue is who pays the Millions of dollars for the branding. There will always be ‘branders’. For all the money spent, what is the ‘Bend Brand’ worth today?
My wife and I visited Bend last February and again in September. We dined at, among other places, Bend Blacksmith, Merenda, Deep and Fireside Red. At the time, I thought the fine dining scene was competitive with the Pearl District’s or Ashland’s, so I have been following the recent implosion of Bend’s marquee restaurants with dismay.
Beyond the advanced conception of the food (I grew up in Central Oregon in the 1980’s, when the Beef & Brew restaurant by the Bon Marché was the classy place for dining out)I wondered if Bend’s palate had evolved to support such levels of sophistication. Bend is not Portland, and I don’t think Bend’s professional class is large enough to support that class of restaurants year-round.
I agree with others that during the winter Merenda was jam-packed, rowdy and had the vibe of being the “in” place. But by September it was lonely, while places like Deschutes Brewery continued to draw crowds. Was this just because of its’ prices, or a menu that was unfamiliar to the customer base? I thought the food at Merenda was excellent, and not overpriced. But the service was inattentive, and I wanted to feel more appreciated for choosing to dine there.
I guess the lesson is that all restaurants outside of Aspen or Whistler need to create relationships with their LOCAL customers, welcome them and create a service atmosphere that brings them back, repeatedly. I feel this every time I walk into Deschutes Brewery, despite staff turnover and hectic crowds. Build the brand around exceptional service, and people will pay a premium for your product. It’s not enough to be the only place in town offering Sauternes on the wine list or pufferfish on the menu.
I agree with others that during the winter Merenda was jam-packed, rowdy and had the vibe of being the “in” place. But by September it was lonely, while places like Deschutes Brewery continued to draw crowds. Was this just because of its’ prices, or a menu that was unfamiliar to the customer base?
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As a long time local, It may as well be said ‘comfort zone’, the Merenda food was only good when it first opened. Mel @ DesBrew has maintained consistent quality forever, by 2005 jodi had given up, on forcing the troops to be consistent. That’s when he put that effort in over at the Deep.
‘Comfort Zone’, as DesB I can go there anytime, in any dress and feel comfy, at Merenda it was ok early on when the food was good, right after opening with friends, but when the food went downhill the groups quit going. As a SOLO drinker at the bar at Merenda I always found the bar rude, it was clear they wanted the bar for party’s to wait, they wanted turn-over.
For over 20 years at desBrew whether solo or group I have never felt rushed. Prior to desBrew there wasn’t good food in Bend, well perhaps Hans, then Marz. To this day DesBrew is still the best brewpub food in the State, nobody comes close.
When you saw Merenda packed in the winter it was most likely the hip tourists. Then since we’re on Merenda lets mention the rude wait, sitting at the bar stools away from the main bar with two couples for instance many times there we waited 1/2 hour even for water or the first drinks and wine, sure the main seating was better, but the main bar area was inattentive.
The happy-hour was ONLY good early on, by the second year they took the good items off like the string-beans.
It was never really a beer place, it was always a wine place, and there are lots of wine places downtown.
‘Comfort Zone’ Merenda was rude, one of those places where if you came in a suit, they would treat you gold, but come back two hours later in jeans and tee shirt where they didn’t recognize you, and you might as well been black in white Bend. DesBrew always make everyone welcome, I think from day-one the strategy of Merenda, was to make sure that ONLY beautiful people hung, well like mr.brand says above ‘beautiful people’ are fickle, and they quickly moved on, the regulars, people like me who have gone to DesBrew twice a week for 20 years are what make Bend work, between the rudeness, and the inability to water&bread in the first 5 minutes of seating, … Merenda’s management was absent.
I remember as early as 2004 sitting next to Merendas managers at DesBrew as they would come over their after their shift, bitching that Jodi was going out of his mind handling over 80 people, and that he was going to create the DEEP his perfect little place where he could do it right.
Sadly, like all cases of one man trying to run two circuses at once, when merenda went down, it brought the DEEP down.
If they dont have hash browns on the menu, the joint has no class.
branded,
We agree on the food quality at Deschutes Brewery. I think Bridgeport’s pubs in SE Portland and the Pearl come close though.
I don’t think you can chalk up Deep’s problems to their menu alone. Sushi can be found everywhere these days, and has been accepted even amidst Central Oregon’s ranching and logging culture (Ha! Would anyone characterize Bend as such these days?) Why did a place like Yoko’s succeed while Deep failed? Yoko’s opened way back when Japanese food was unfamiliar to Central Oregon.
Deep had Credibility, Consistency and Differentiation (to use Brand Insights’ terminology; kudos John!) but limited Relevance. While we only dined there once, it seemed more like a novelty than a place genuinely embraced by the local community. Deep felt a bit intimidating to me.
Contrast this with Yoko’s: a much better representation of Bend ate there regularly, even the lower wage tourism/service industry folks (myself included). Some of this was influenced by pricing; there was good value there compared to other sushi joints. But they also demystified the experience with an unpretentious dining area and friendly staff.
Bruce…
You know a good headline when you see one! I’m glad my blog’s an inspiration to you, and a source of great debate for your readers. Next time, could you please attribute it to me, as well as the company. Thanks. johnf@bnbranding.com