Size matters.
But in the case of Houlihan?s, smaller is better.
The popular restaurant is taking their trend of “mini” menu and drink items to the next step. First came mini-desserts, then mini-wine flights and martinis, and now, mini-burgers. Houlihan?s newest promotion is Mini-Mondays, a program designed to get folks into their bar on Monday nights.
“Monday isn?t exactly a night that people think about, it?s not a big happy hour night,” said Jen Gulvik, vice president of marketing at Houlihans Restaurants, Inc. “So we?re trying to give people a reason to consider it.”
Along with several drink specials, Houlihan?s will offer their mini-burgers for $1 each every Monday. And at the end of June 2007, the restaurant will offer three brand new mini-martini concoctions, as well as a Thursday Girls Night program called “Viva La Diva.”
“Houlihan?s has a wide appeal, our fare is mainstream-hip, classic-contemporary food with a twist,” Gulvik said. “We like to offer people a bit of adventure, something you won?t seeanywhere else.”
The restaurant offers six or seven new promotions annually, some focused completely on the restaurant, others on the bar.
“People use Houlihan?s in different ways,” Gulvik said. “And we don?t think of the bar as a holding tank for the restaurant. We think of the bar as a destination in and of itself.”
Lisa Shenkle, president of VERB! Communications in Anne Arundel County, took on Houlihan?s as a client when she ate there with her husband over a year ago.
“I fell in love immediately with their restaurant concept, the interior, the easy menu and the hip direction they have gone without being über-chic and stuffy,” she said. “I?m really passionate about it.”
Besides promoting the new marketing, Shenkle is also responsible for bringing people into the Houlihan?s in the Inner Harbor.
“We?re at a weird corner,” she said, referring to the restaurant?s location on the far southeast corner of Power Plant. “It?s a challenging spot. We really just want to make people aware that we are there. We want to get on the radar.”
Gulvik said the mini trend has hit big and that Houlihan?s will continue to expand on it.
“We just kept carrying it out,” she said. “That?s something that we kind of own, it?s signature to us. And it?s been really well received by consumers.”
More Info
» Lisa Shenkle, VERB!
Communications
410-439-4695
» Houlihan?s,
621 East Pratt St., Baltimore
443-872-0058
