At dinner now, though, workers put on a polo shirt and tie an apron that’s special to the service. The chain, which takes its roots from a logging community, has long fitted employees in Black Bear T-shirts and suspenders with dark jeans. To reinforce the new emphasis, Black Bear created a uniform that’s only worn after 4 p.m. Dean says workers themselves felt a little undervalued at dinner compared to other, perhaps busier shifts. These updates touched everything from culinary offerings to presentation to the music playing in the background.Įmployees were the first line.
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In late April, Black Bear launched a series of changes to elevate its dinner service. “It was clear to me that I didn’t quite have what I called the ‘wow effect’ at dinner as I did at breakfast,” he says. Recent consumer preference changes required Black Bear to step its game up, Dean says. So Black Bear wasn’t scraping for share in a lagging segment, like IHOP did with steakburgers and lunch recently-it was making changes to guard a slice it already coveted. (Lunch makes up 37 percent and breakfast 32 percent). Also, the dinner daypart represents 31 percent of the brand’s sales, which is far higher than many of its family dinner peers, where it’s often a forgotten component. “And not only our menu, but our atmosphere.”Įssentially, Black Bear needed to ensure its dinner service could attract a completely different competitive set than breakfast. “As we looked at it, we said, ‘Obviously, we need to make some moves on our menu,” says Dean, who founded the brand with Bob Manley in 1995 in Mount Shasta, California. Black Bear has seen guests trade up and through to casual dining at dinner. For Dean’s 130-unit brand-one of the fastest-growing family dining chains in the nation-a different sort of dynamic developed. The most-often cited: higher checks to offset fewer guests, and additional business through off-premises pathways. Currently, strong consumer confidence is influencing a host of changes. Huckleberry’s is open for breakfast and lunch daily 68, Bear Diner CEO Bruce Dean has been in this business for nearly 25 years, long enough to understand how the economy’s fitful cycles affect his restaurant. So the menu includes dishes such as a shrimp-mushrooms-and-eggs skillet with creole sauce, along with andouille sausage, benedicts and California versions of fried green tomatoes, jambalaya and chicken gumbo.įor a cross-culture breakfast, try a andouille-and-eggs burrito with potatoes, peppers, onions and creole sauce or “Cajun” chili (?). The Brooks family, 70-year restaurateurs from Fresno, California, started Huckleberry’s to offer a restaurant with “Southern hospitality.” (And cocktails.) But they come with strawberries, peaches and (a California giveaway) huckleberries - like a sweeter blueberry. They’re doughy, more like cake doughnuts than the sopaipilla-shaped beignets we know from Louisiana. Ignore the calendar and try Huckleberry’s “Mardi Gras” beignets anytime. Eatery and Seven Mile Cafe, along with nearby Southlake chains.
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In Keller, Huckleberry’s enters a market dominated by hometown favorites DeVivo Bros. Huckleberry’s: Creole cooking via California “Mardi Gras” beignets at Huckleberry’s come with strawberries, peaches and huckleberries.