Description
Each restaurant features a bakery that bakes its own bread. There is a core menu for all of the restaurants created collectively by their chefs, plus signature dishes and specials at the discretion of each chef. In addition, the group markets ciabatta, sourdough, and other bread to supermarkets throughout California.
Overall, the company caters mostly to repeat guests and does not market extensively. Regular customers averaged 12.7 return visits per year (later reported to be 17), considered very high in the industry. The company is known for its long-running "passport" loyalty program promotion Two weeks out of every month the restaurants promote dishes from a rotating schedule of Italy's 20 food regions with a special insert. The 10,000 promotion members receive a "passport stamp" from that region if they order one of the items, and those who collect all twenty stamps receive gifts and sweepstakes entries. As an unintended benefit, the promotion became a vehicle for recruiting cooks and chefs, after tourism offices in Italy noticed the promotion and established relationships with the company.
Read more about this topic: Il Fornaio
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