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Non-Tech : RAINFOREST CAFE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Richard Phillips who wrote (4623)	7/2/1999 6:51:00 AM
From: John Carragher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4704

Pops what pr dept. I have never seen a tv commercial,heard a radio advertisement or advertisement in the paper on the location in Franklin Mills. No wonder they can't increase sales.

To: Richard Phillips who wrote (4623)	7/21/1999 10:47:00 AM
From: John Carragher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4704

Pops thought you might be interested in this article Restaurant chain averts a default Elephant & Castle blames operating losses at two sites in Franklin Mills Mall. It has put up assets to keep running. By Jane M. Von Bergen INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Blaming its financial woes on operating losses at its Franklin Mills Mall restaurants, the Canadian Elephant & Castle pub restaurant chain has put up most of its assets as emergency collateral to avert a loan default. "Sales have not been as the company anticipated," said Cindee Kohagen, marketing director for the Vancouver, British Columbia, company. She said that foot traffic generated at the mall in Northeast Philadelphia has not been enough to support the Canadian company's two restaurants there. The restaurants are the Elephant & Castle, an English pub-style eatery, and the Alamo Grill, a Southwestern steakhouse. The chain operates 25 restaurants under various names, including, in Canada, the Rainforest Cafe. The Rainforest Cafe in Franklin Mills is operated by a different company. In November, the company tried an experiment at Franklin Mills, opening side-by-side restaurants. The idea was to spread the rent over more square feet and reduce operating expenses by having the two restaurants share purchasing, dishwashing, and other back-kitchen functions, Kohagen said. The two restaurants maintain separate food-preparation areas. "We've had a problem in the mall," she said. The two restaurants are on a far end of the mall, and she is not sure shoppers venture all the way up to Franklin Mill's "green neighborhood," which also houses a Boscov's department store and the mall's cinema. Franklin Mills divides itself into color-coded sections, with those colors repeated on doors into the mall. Two newer movie palaces nearby also have drawn crowds from the mall's 14-screen General Cinema multiplex and reduced foot traffic near the restaurants, she said. To compensate, she said, the company is stepping up its efforts to market to people living within three to five miles of the mall through direct-mail campaigns and by leaving flyers with nearby hotels and attractions. The company has restaurants in other malls across the nation, but has had a problem only at Franklin Mills, she said. The Elephant & Castle restaurant in Center City is doing well, Kohagen said. Franklin Mills spokesman Paul Entin yesterday described the restaurants' spot in the mall as "a very strong location" near the Rainforest Cafe and the cinema. "They are very well-positioned to succeed here. Entin said 19 million people visit Franklin Mills annually. "There are times when the Rainforest Cafe has lines outside the restaurant, but there aren't as many people in Alamo Grill or the Elephant & Castle," Entin said. He said the mall's marketing staff has made efforts to give the two restaurants a boost. The Elephant & Castle is giving General Electric Investment Private Placement Partners II, which owns 6.65 percent of the company, a security interest over "substantially all" of the company's assets, a company statement said. Kohagen said that amounts to about $6 million worth of assets. In exchange, General Electric is waiving six months of interest and existing defaults, and is relaxing certain restrictions. General Electric had lent the company $8 million, Kohagen said.