Fitch Designs New Steakhouse Concept in Eddie Merlot's; Professional Women and Suburban Sophisticates Part of Target Market.

Business Editors

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2002

Working closely with principal Bill Humphries and Design Collaborative of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in charge of architecture and implementation, top-ranked brand design firm Fitch has designed the environment, the graphic identity, and the communications for a new concept in steakhouses. Dubbed Eddie Merlot's Prime Aged Beef and Seafood Restaurant after the owner's penchant for ordering Merlot for his friends, the 3600 square foot prototype recently opened in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The restaurant provides more of the gustatory pleasures consumers expect from classic steakhouses, with steaks cut from the top two percent of graded beef in the U. S., and eighty wines in the wine bar.

The restaurant doesn't just improve on the already established paradigm, however. Extensive research identified underserved demographics, so Eddie Merlot's is targeting a much larger market than that typically sought by steakhouses, with professional women, affluent thirty somethings, and suburban sophisticates as a key focus. After a successful beta phase, Eddie Merlot's is slated for a rollout of 10 restaurants over the next 5 years and 50 by 2010 in locations throughout the Midwest, possibly to include Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Minneapolis.

Fitch and Humphries spent months in the firm's Columbus corporate headquarters reviewing restaurant best practices, interpreting trends and demographic profiles, and formulating basic design imperatives based on the information. Fitch's findings indicated a shift in public expectations for fine dining: no longer strictly associated with larger metropolitan areas, it is an experience an increasingly gourmand public expects to find in suburban neighborhoods and mixed-use leisure destination developments. Humphries said of his own research: "(It) showed most restaurants cater to the male diner by offering big steaks and large portions in a clubby atmosphere. However, 58 percent of all businesses today are controlled by women and they're eating out, too."

Fitch recommended the interior of Eddie Merlot's forgo the overtly masculine appeal of typical steakhouses for brighter and more varied lighting, and a mix of maple and cherry wood finishes in marquetry-inspired patterns. Animating the various rooms are fiery copper, cobalt, and gold accents, and lively pattern and texture in upholstery and stained glass panels, which are either freestanding or framed wall elements. Vaulted ceiling panels with inlaid wood veneer are hung at various heights to create different levels of intimacy, while 12-foot tulip-shaped maple columns emphasize a convivial spaciousness in the main dining room. The bar transitions to a quieter mood with double-sided stone fireplace, carpeting, and a customized wine bar.

Lewis Allen, Fitch Creative Director on the project, said, "The American steakhouse was in need of updating because the membership of the `club' has changed substantially. We thought it important to alleviate some of the self-seriousness and stodginess of the classic venues, while retaining their focus on the finer things in life. Everything from the martini bar to the Mondrian-like geometric stained glass panels suggest a slight renovation of an enduring concept."

After a successful debut, Humphries said, "It was a personal goal as well as an elaborate vision to create a steakhouse that exceeded the dynamics of any other general fine dining steakhouse. Extensive research and the utilization of finely honed business strategies will lead Eddie Merlot's into the future."

About Fitch:

Fitch is the flagship firm for Fitch Worldwide (www.fitchww.com), a multi-regional, interdisciplinary network of creative companies that is the second largest of its kind in the world. Twenty-five offices globally share a vision but deliver regionally-inflected branding and design perspectives. Informed by research, strategy and trends interpretation, Fitch designs new products and services, creates the environments in which they're sold, and packages and communicates them in their markets. Fitch's strategic design and ongoing brand stewardship have demonstrably improved business for clients such as Iomega, Virgin, New Line Cinema, Timberland, Burger King, Harley-Davidson, Maytag, Hewlett-Packard, Bausch & Lomb, Omaha Steaks and DaimlerChrysler. Fitch is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Business Week 'Design of the Decade Award', and has been ranked among the national top five product and retail design firms for the last several years.

Fitch's restaurant portfolio includes the highly acclaimed WB Stage 16 restaurant complex at Las Vegas's Venetian Hotel, and Stars on Huntington in Boston, MA.