This week’s “Meating Place” magazine, an industry trade journal, recounts how upscale steakhouses are adding burgers to their menu. Remind’s me of those old steaks sauce commercials, “after all hamburgers aren’t chopped ham, they’re chopped steak!”
Morton’s is now offering “Bar Bites,” that include options like Three Prime Cheeseburgers and Petite Filet Mignon sandwiches. Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse added a bar menu under the push “5 for $6 until 7,” wich includes (obviously) five different appetizers at $6 each, available from 5-7PM nightly. On the menu is an 8 ounce prime sirloin bacon cheeseburger. According to “Nation’s Restaurant News” (according to “Meating Place,” Flemings is contemplating a more extensive bar menu that may include up to eleven burgers.
All this to bring in more customers, at a lower price point, because one surmises in this economy, upscale expensive steaks aren’t moving all that well, at least in the dine-out category. The same article says that these steaks have moved to the retail arena, and cites Costco selling Prime ribeye at 9.99 a pound.
So why the Ruth’s Chris logo even tho they weren’t mentioned in the article (and as far as I know, they only offer burgers in select locations). Ahhh, I’m partial. Ruth’s was founded in the city I love most, New Orleans, and I’ve dined at their locations worldwide, and found them very consistent. Plus I met a few of the Fertels, the family that founded Ruth’s. Nice folks.
