Food Network appearance boosts sales at Whale's Rib 60 percent
> Posted by John Tanasychuk on September 18, 2009 07:00 AM
Source: Sunsentinel.com
The Food Network told Chris O’Neil, supervisor at The Whale’s Rib in Deerfield Beach, that an appearance on
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives would boost business, but he wasn’t sure.
“That’s great,” he remembers saying. “It sounds like pie in the sky and you can only cross your fingers and hope. But I had no idea how large the viewer base was locally and that it would have this much impact at one little restaurant.”
The Whale’s Rib had its moment in the spotlight on Monday, August 31.
By the following Saturday, O’Neil says sales were up 42 percent. In the week that followed, sales were up 60 percent. Sales were particularly strong for the items that host Guy Fierie featured.
“The week before the show, we sold 88 Key West Dolphin sandwiches,” says O’Neil. “The week after, we sold 340 Key West Dolphin sandwiches.”
The restaurants sold just 12 orders of Oysters Rockefeller the week before the show. That grew to 135 orders the week following and 108 order the week afterward.
O’Neil says the week following Labor Day is traditional a slow one at his restaurant. For years, it was the week they closed and asked staff to take a mandatory vacation.
“Every restaurant knows that when school starts, no one is taking their kids out to dinner,” he says. “We are in the tall grass over at The Whale’s Rib right now. It’s remarkable.”
The episode repeats tonight at 9 p.m. and again at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
PHOTO: Guy Fieri, host of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (Courtesy Food Network)
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