Branding a start-up concept must include the operation

By Steve Coomes By the time Rob Perez founded Saul Good, a casual restaurant concept in Lexington in 2009, he’d been exposed to more branding education than most business people get in multiple careers. Perez worked a combined 15 years for two of the most image-conscious names in foodservice, Hard Rock Café and ESPN Zone, a concept he helped create. “Those both were internationally recognized names that people who’d never even been there knew something about,” Perez said. “Anytime we considered a new twist to either concept, we had to see how it fit in with those brands as people knew them. It was almost an outside-in thing.” Which was the complete opposite of Saul Good, whose presence had to be created and refined. Ironically, research Perez read while helping create ESPN Zone gave him a place to start: 76 percent of all dining decisions are made by women. And when that concept’s development team conducted focus groups about what kind of a restaurant women might want to see, women surveyed said almost unequivocally that they didn’t want another sports bar. “When we dug a little further, we learned that what women really didn’t like about those places was every one of them had TVs,” Perez began. “They didn’t like the fact that those TVs distracted their men at the table.” Perez wanted to create a casual pub of his own, but he knew it had to be completely different, “a place women liked and guys didn’t hate.” To create “the Saul Good brand,” Perez turned over décor to his wife, who chose elements like chandeliers and wall mirrors to give the restaurant a boutique-like mood of casual elegance. Even the name, “Saul Good,” was drawn from a former jeweler of note in Lexington. Meantime, Perez worked on a craft beer menu that his research showed both men and women wanted. He also created martini flights geared toward women. Food options went down the middle with steaks, salads, pizzas and burgers, but in smaller than usual portions. When viewed as a finished product, Saul Good’s chef called it “a pub with a skirt!” Perez said, laughing. “We knew that, visually and in our offerings, we’d achieved that balance.” Located in a shopping district, that first restaurant drew a crowed skewed toward middle-class and upper-middle-class women who Perez’s staff noticed dressed well and commonly carried nice handbags. Recognizing the clientele Saul Good was attracting, “we became cognizant of forcing every idea we had through a female filter, to create things that reinforced that brand and what this demographic wanted.” Not that it was just about females, he added, rather than Saul Good had to be a place women could come by themselves or with their men, even a place where they could bring their families. “When a decision is made about anything now, the question we all have to ask is: ‘Is this on concept?’ It’s got to reinforce the brand we’re creating as we expand the concept. We want to be known for those unique touches as we expand in Lexington and beyond.” Three years and two restaurants into the life of the concept, Perez is polishing the look of Saul Good’s retail components. Shirts and hats are black cloth with gold and red filigreed touches that are decidedly feminine, but not fussy. When possible, the restaurants also partner with charitable causes their core customers support. While Perez sometimes questions if he’s gone too far with his “we love the ladies” approach, he said the concept itself continues to answer affirmatively that it hasn’t. “Here’s a good example of that. Guys love good beer, and women, too. But women love the ceremony of what we do with beer, whereas guys just love the taste,” Perez began. Every glass is correct to each beer style and bears each brewery’s name, all are pressure washed at the tap to visually reinforce cleanliness, and servers are taught to start conversations about beer with women who choose unique brands. “Women love the story about the beers they choose, and their food, too. Guys, on the other hand, we want to eat and drink. Women want something more, something emotional. And that’s what our brand delivers.”