King's Frownie brings 'bad' attitude to dining
King's Family Restaurants for 40 years have been known for three things: good food, plentiful desserts and company founder Hartley King.
Beginning Monday with a new TV and billboard advertising campaign, King's will be known for a fourth item: food with attitude.
That attitude will be symbolized in TV ads by a bad-boy treat that purposely closes elevator doors before anyone else gets on, leaves a father and his little girl in the dust when they run out of gasoline and covers as many parking spaces as possible with its beat-up Ford Pinto.
King's Frownie Brownie is taking over. You got a problem with that?
Frownie's status is a sign of changes at King's Family Restaurants that include new management, menu updates and a plan to remodel at least 20 of King's 35 locations.
"When we launched Frownie Brownie in September 2005, it was tremendously well received," said Cliff Rankin, the point man for the King's ad campaign and one of the creative brains at Smith Brothers Advertising in the Strip District.
The key to the ad campaign is to use Frownie as what Rankin calls a "disruptive" force, a hook to make diners think about King's, first for its food, but with Frownie always there in the picture. The tagline in the TV commercials is "That's one mean dessert."
"We've never before taken advantage of Frownie's power. We think he can carry the restaurant," said Lindsey Smith, co-creative director with brother Bronson at Smith Brothers. "Frownie convinced the owner of his appeal during last year's holiday season parade."
At the annual Downtown parade, King's executives heard loud and clear the screams of "Frownie, Frownie," from kids lining the parade route when they saw photographs and drawings of the chocolate brownie with the white icing frown.
There is an obvious comparison between Frownie and another local restaurant chain's mascot: Eat 'n Park's Smiley Cookie. The Smith Brothers admit Smiley has become somewhat of a Pittsburgh icon.
"Eat 'n Park has done some great things with Smiley," Lindsey Smith said. "But we believe his curmudgeonly attitude gives Frownie his appeal."
"We take it as a compliment that they've introduced their Frownie Brownie," said Deb Malley, Eat 'n Park's marketing director. "It has to be hard to compete against Smiley, which is to us what Mickey (Mouse) is to Disney. He's iconic and is infused in everything that we are. But we wish them well."
Robert Butter, a veteran Pittsburgh public relations/advertising executive and owner of Veritas Communications Advisors, said, "King's is trying to appeal to a younger audience. This gives them a new signature. They make it hip to be associated with Frownie, and dessert is comfort food, so a person who takes a bite gets happy."
The changes at King's include, for the first time since Hartley King opened his first restaurant in 1967, an outsider running the day-to-day operations of KCS Management, a holding company that includes the King's chain and Buy N Fly Mini Marts.
Nick Hrehovchak, chief operating officer of KCS with 25 years of restaurant experience, was hired two years ago. Together with Chris Whalen, the chief financial officer, they have brought an outsider's perspective to King's. Hartley King remains chairman and CEO. He wasn't available for comment.
Hrehovchak said he decided to give Frownie new life after previous management let it grow stale on a Smith Brothers' shelf. King's will spend $150,000 on its first three months of ads.
"We tested Frownie in five stores, and the results were phenomenal," Hrehovchak said.
Whalen admitted that 2005 was the worst year in King's history, with customer counts falling and the organization suffering negative cash flow. Food, labor and maintenance costs were out of whack. During 2006, customer counts rose by 5 percent and red ink turned black, according to Hrehovchak.
The King's menu also is undergoing change -- "comfort food with a twist" is the slogan. The idea is not to alienate the long-standing King's customer, but to appeal to the infrequent or new King's customers.
"We're also going to remodel probably the 20 stores that need it the most," Whalen said. "We're looking to spend between $400,000 and $500,000 per restaurant."
Hrehovchak, Whalen and Hartley King are scouting Western Pennsylvania for sites for new King's locations as well as sites for Sonic Drive-In franchises, another venture among the three.
