Restaurant companies today face more challenges than ever before.
Any of this sound familiar?
Liebeck Morris’ Restaurant practice helps clients deal with these challenges thoroughly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. We specialize in working with emerging brands (5-25 units) and those transitioning to larger scale (25-100 units).
Our past restaurant clients include national and regional chains as well as franchisee groups. We have successfully worked in the Fast Casual, Casual Dining, Bar & Beverage and Pizza categories.
Our Conference Planning & Management practice offers turn-key or a la carte services to clients in the association, corporate and government agency sectors. Liebeck Morris has successfully planned or managed well over 1,000 meetings & conferences, ranging in size from 20-2,000+ participants.
We welcome the opportunity to speak with you confidentially to discuss your organization’s needs.
A 20-year-old casual dining restaurant chain experienced eroding sales over a five-year period. Management decided to make a dramatic, strategic shift in brand position but wanted to better understand both current guests’ perceptions and opportunities within their trade areas. Our team designed and managed a focus group to test optional strategies. We then worked with management to design and implement a new brand positioning and brand communication strategy integrating a combination of traditional media, social media, and digital marketing. Sales increased +22% in the first year, approximately +10% in the second year and have remained positive each year since.
A new concept was looking to create an expansion plan including franchise and corporate development. We were asked to design a research project to identify brand strengths and weaknesses, market opportunities matching existing location market demographics and economic characteristics and provide guidance on future expanded products. The project was concluded in 65 days and provided the basis for executive management to accelerate growth plans. The result saw the concept grow from 3 initial corporate locations to 60+ locations in 3 years.
A small franchisee with two stores asked us to work with them to place their locations on a growth curve. Using a detailed analytics regime, we identified opportunities to revamp their local marketing and to become more value-centric given their highest-in-the-market pricing profile. We designed a series of marketing plans and executed them, leading to both stores becoming the fastest growing in the chain for three years running. Subsequently, the group expanded to four stores at sites we helped identify. Those four stores remain the chains fastest growing.
A trade association had operated annual conferences for years on a deficit basis. Prior planners had negotiated hotel contracts with significant attrition penalties, large deposit requirements and overly generous food & beverage orders. Within three months, Liebeck Morris renegotiated current conference contracts to reduce attrition penalties. Additionally, deposit requirements were moved in line with customary levels and food & beverage orders were revised to reduce the risk of large over-ordering. The client hired Liebeck Morris to plan future conferences, all of which subsequently were conducted on budget and at break even or slightly profitable levels.
A trade association client contracted to hold a conference in a Gulf Coast location during hurricane season. Upon assuming the engagement with the client, Liebeck Morris recommended and secured hurricane cancellation insurance for the conference. Two weeks prior to the scheduled conference a major hurricane struck the meeting site, rendering it unusable. The cancellation insurance kicked in and the client not only did not incur substantial loss financially, but it also actually reported a slight positive cash flow after the event was rescheduled.
A for-profit corporation conducted a series of meetings and an annual conference for healthcare professionals each year. The complexity of these events as well as the expense commitments made focused management of the meeting planning and conference management functions an absolute requirement. Liebeck Morris had oversight for site selection, contract negotiation, program content development, event marketing, registration, food & beverage, event management and budget reconciliation. Within one year, a division that previously reported annual losses of $100,000-$300,000 reported a profit of nearly $800,000.
Chris Petersen has more than 25 years of senior executive experience in brand development & strategy, marketing services, conference planning, media & local media. Chris has spent considerable time in project management for a variety of clients in both B2C and B2B sectors.
Serving as CEO across several business sectors he has designed and executed multiple successful strategic plans including turnarounds, recruited and developed leadership teams, driven rapid sales and profit increases and managed to regulatory compliance including Sarbanes-Oxley and various regulatory agencies. He has served in senior management of publicly-held companies and in the private sector and has also worked with government agencies and non-profit organizations.
Chris served as Founder & CEO of On Brand Management & Media, a restaurant, brand development and media consulting company, and President & CEO of Brandstand Group, a national chain restaurant brand development firm. Previously he was President & CEO of broadband services (cable) provider Prime Time Broadband, Senior Vice President for Space Media at aerospace company SPACEHAB, President & CEO at PR services firm NewsUSA, President of the NSE Radio Network, General Manager of radio station and newspaper owner Lakes Country Communications and Producer of Space Shuttle Television at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Chris was the co-founder of Liebeck-Morris and served as the company’s first CEO, later spending more than a decade as a board director and consultant. Liebeck-Morris merged with On Brand Management & Media, Inc. in April 2018.
Bill Zaccheo has more than 25 years of senior management experience with global media companies where he has been responsible for all critical operating divisions. He works with Liebeck Morris clients on digital/traditional media and marketing strategy and supporting various marketing functions.
Bill has gained a broad-reaching and in-depth knowledge of business development, operations, marketing, programming, sales and general management for both start-ups and established enterprises. He has supplemented his corporate experience through a broad range of high-level consulting projects in today’s explosive digital environment; the combination of which uniquely positions him at the forefront of today’s media sector as both a visionary and a seasoned executive.
Throughout his career, Bill has been at the cutting edge of new content and delivery systems. He championed one of the first efforts to stream video, both live and on-demand, via the Internet in 1998 with the multi-award winning ComedyNet.com. He was Senior Executive on the founding management team that created and launched E! Entertainment Television, the team that launched the NFL on ESPN, and the early rollouts of HBO and Cinemax. His efforts helped propel each network to become the marquee brands that they are today.
Most recently Bill Co-Founded and was CEO of WebVet, LLC a leading provider of news and information promoting the health and well-being of pets. WebVet is the first site of its kind to offer only ‘vet approved’ information to pet owners. With this strategy it was able to secure first ever relationships with the American Animal Hospital Association, Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health) and Elsevier. He remains on the company’s Board.
Larry Reinstein leads On Brand’s restaurant and hospitality practice after serving more than 30 years as a senior executive in the restaurant industry. He has significant background in all areas of restaurant management: operations, marketing, brand development and administration.
Larry is well-known for his time as CEO of Fresh Concepts, which owned and operated brands such as Fresh City, Souper Salad and Church Street Bar and Grill. As co-founder, Larry led Fresh City to national growth by developing the replicable operating systems for national franchising and licensing. He also established the “Express” business model with a three-year ROI and operational costs under 50%.
Larry served as the president of Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina where he led the acquisition team and transformed the brand to effectively and successfully compete in the crowded fast-casual Mexican space from a revenue, profitability and replication standpoint.
More recently Larry has consulted a variety of restaurant brands in the “emerging” category, providing brand discovery, strategic recommendations and assisting in these up and coming brands’ evolving to larger scale operation. He also is a sought after expert advising private equity firms on their respective restaurant/hospitality investments.
In his distinguished career, Reinstein has been named “Hot Concepts Award Winner” by Nation’s Restaurant News, received YPO’s “Best of the Best” designation, and been awarded the “Hospitality Innovator Award” from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. He also has been chairperson of the National Restaurant Association’s Fast Casual Industry Council and has served as an Executive Board Member within the World President’s Organization and Young President’s Organization.
Larry holds a Bachelor of Science degree with distinction from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.
Greg Kauffman supports Liebeck Morris clients with creative and marketing services. He has been evolving his creative talents for more than 20 years servicing clients across multiple business sectors and non-profits.
Greg has been the chief designer for the Silver Diner restaurant brand in Washington, DC for nearly 20 years as well as working with over 25 additional chain restaurant brands including Moe’s Southwest Grill, Restaurants Unlimited, Happy Joe’s Pizza, and Villa Enterprises.
He founded the highly-regarded Kauffman Design Company, developing award winning branding solutions for a range of start-up and well-established clients. Some of his clients served include Adidas, Affiliated Computer Services, Business Software Alliance, Comcast, Charter Communications, Dunlop Tires, ESPN, Muscular Dystrophy Association and Univision.
He also has served as Creative Director for restaurant consulting firms throughout the U.S. as well as working in-house for commercial print companies, corporate graphic design departments and several marketing firms.
Greg holds a BFA degree in Graphic design from SUNY Fredonia and is a previous board member of AIGA, the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design.
Manuel Solis brings a business lifetime of sales and marketing expertise to Liebeck Morris clients.
His 20 years of career success are based on developing unique options to maximize business opportunities. As a strategic thinker, he has developed extensive experience in creating effective advertising, marketing, and trade show strategies that clearly communicate brand value to consumer markets and healthcare professionals.
Manuel served as US and Global Marketing manager for innovative eyewear company Transitions Optical and was instrumental in driving their growth into a multi-billion-dollar brand. During his tenure at Transitions, his Multicultural campaigns won national awards for creativity and effectiveness. He managed overall advertising and public relations agency relationships.
Manuel has served as Senior Partner, Multicultural Marketing at On Brand Media and Managing Director of The Alternative Board in St. Petersburg, FL. That firm offers a collaborative business network environment including business and executive coaching, management consulting and advisory board development for local growth businesses.
Bubba to those who know him is a 20+ year marketing and advertising veteran.
He has been involved in many core brand and new product efforts, integrated marketing communication initiatives and media buying along with consumer research, analytics and strategic/tactical planning. He also spearheads major projects for clients to insure execution of the strategic and tactical planning.
Bubba has done extensive work with blue chip clients like Reynolds Metals, AT&T, BB&T Financial Services, Schwan’s Bakeries, Kimberly Clark and McCormick Spices, among many others. He also enjoyed stints at BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather and most recently Media Solutions, where he led the Client Services/Strategic Planning team.
He believes today’s evolving media landscape requires an up-to-date understanding of how consumers embrace and interact with both traditional and emerging digital media offerings and applies that thinking as a foundation of all client strategy and tactical recommendations.
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