Everyone loves comfort foods. For some it's a meatloaf or a Yankee pot roast, for others it's pancakes or a grilled cheese sandwich, but for me it's a steak and eggs breakfast.
The steak has to be a succulent sirloin or a skirt steak cooked medium, not bloody and not dry, just there in the zone where everything is perfect. When it comes to steaks, I am a purist: no sauce, no camouflage, no fancy topping, just a timid pinch of salt and pepper. Then come the two eggs soft scrambled with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and Thomas' english muffin generously covered with Smuckers' strawberry preserve. And since I don't wake up until I have smelt, breathed, inhaled, whiffed and become one with an aromatic cup of dark Arabica coffee first, well then, it's important too. Yes indeed, this is heavens. Today I found heavens at Denny's in Hoffman Estates where Linda brought me breakfast with a smile.
To parody a popular commercial, the price of a homemade breakfast is $8. The same breakfast at a restaurant is $13.63 + Tax. To enjoy it without doing the dishes: priceless.
The breakfast menu at Denny's includes 22 items of which 5 are vegetarian, 4 with beef and 13 (or 51%) with pork. Vegetarian dishes are priced between $3.99 and $7.99 with a $6.11 average. The 4 beef items are priced $7.99 to $12.49 with an average of $9.59. Finally breakfast entrees featuring pork as main protein source are priced $5.99 to $8.29 with a $7.31 average. The pricing history of this particular steak and eggs breakfast went from $5.99 in 1999, to $6.49 in 2002, to $8.59 in 2005, to $9.59 in 2009, representing an average yearly inflation of 4.82%. During the same period, breakfast entree selection went from 40 items to 22. They dropped the froufrou.
Denny's most popular breakfast dishes include the Grand Slam ($5.99), the Moons-Over-My-Hammy ($7.29) and the All-American Slam ($7.89). Newest menu additions include the Prime Rib Premium Breakfast Skillet ($7.99) and the cute little Pancake Puppies ($1.99).
In the financial realm, Denny's (DENN) is not doing so bad. Their stock fell 5% to $1.78 but only dropped 36% from $4.97 in the past two years. I say "only" because during the same two-year period, Brinker International (EAT) plummeted 69.36% and Ruby Tuesday sank 95.76%. Even though their recently reported financial data do not portray a rosy picture for the largest family style restaurant chain, there are a few optimistic indicators.
After opening 34 new units in 2008, the company intends on opening another 33 in 2009. This past year, they reduced their debts by $25 million, their administrative expenses by $3.4 million and their operating costs by $175.8 million while improving their operating gain by $4.7 million through an increase of operating margin by +3.4%.
In the end, Denny's is not out of the woods just yet, and it won't happen in 2009 either. But management has been proactive in managing controllables and redesigning a menu closer to their core business while producing "mean" breakfasts. Isn't that the key to attracting and retaining guests? After the recession is over, I'd love to see some bison steak, some turkey sausage or a Sunday brunch that includes a salmon omelette.
Your host.
Sources:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090218/denny_s_outlook.html?.v=1
The steak has to be a succulent sirloin or a skirt steak cooked medium, not bloody and not dry, just there in the zone where everything is perfect. When it comes to steaks, I am a purist: no sauce, no camouflage, no fancy topping, just a timid pinch of salt and pepper. Then come the two eggs soft scrambled with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and Thomas' english muffin generously covered with Smuckers' strawberry preserve. And since I don't wake up until I have smelt, breathed, inhaled, whiffed and become one with an aromatic cup of dark Arabica coffee first, well then, it's important too. Yes indeed, this is heavens. Today I found heavens at Denny's in Hoffman Estates where Linda brought me breakfast with a smile.
To parody a popular commercial, the price of a homemade breakfast is $8. The same breakfast at a restaurant is $13.63 + Tax. To enjoy it without doing the dishes: priceless.
The breakfast menu at Denny's includes 22 items of which 5 are vegetarian, 4 with beef and 13 (or 51%) with pork. Vegetarian dishes are priced between $3.99 and $7.99 with a $6.11 average. The 4 beef items are priced $7.99 to $12.49 with an average of $9.59. Finally breakfast entrees featuring pork as main protein source are priced $5.99 to $8.29 with a $7.31 average. The pricing history of this particular steak and eggs breakfast went from $5.99 in 1999, to $6.49 in 2002, to $8.59 in 2005, to $9.59 in 2009, representing an average yearly inflation of 4.82%. During the same period, breakfast entree selection went from 40 items to 22. They dropped the froufrou.
Denny's most popular breakfast dishes include the Grand Slam ($5.99), the Moons-Over-My-Hammy ($7.29) and the All-American Slam ($7.89). Newest menu additions include the Prime Rib Premium Breakfast Skillet ($7.99) and the cute little Pancake Puppies ($1.99).
In the financial realm, Denny's (DENN) is not doing so bad. Their stock fell 5% to $1.78 but only dropped 36% from $4.97 in the past two years. I say "only" because during the same two-year period, Brinker International (EAT) plummeted 69.36% and Ruby Tuesday sank 95.76%. Even though their recently reported financial data do not portray a rosy picture for the largest family style restaurant chain, there are a few optimistic indicators.
After opening 34 new units in 2008, the company intends on opening another 33 in 2009. This past year, they reduced their debts by $25 million, their administrative expenses by $3.4 million and their operating costs by $175.8 million while improving their operating gain by $4.7 million through an increase of operating margin by +3.4%.
In the end, Denny's is not out of the woods just yet, and it won't happen in 2009 either. But management has been proactive in managing controllables and redesigning a menu closer to their core business while producing "mean" breakfasts. Isn't that the key to attracting and retaining guests? After the recession is over, I'd love to see some bison steak, some turkey sausage or a Sunday brunch that includes a salmon omelette.
Your host.
Sources:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090218/denny_s_outlook.html?.v=1
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