Kona Grill competes in the upscale casual restaurant segment, one that is becoming increasingly competitive with entries from national and regional chains and sophisticated local players. Kona Grill has successfully opened 13 restaurants and has plans to continue and accelerate its expansion to a potential 100 locations. While the brand has a rich offering of food, drink and atmosphere, management had a major concern with maintaining the consistency of the customer experience from one restaurant to the next.

While the Kona Grill business concept was clear, we were engaged to develop a Brand Strategy that would build a strong relationship with target customers. The challenge was to dig deeply into current and potential customer motivations to understand what they seek emotionally. By tapping into those emotional needs we defined the Kona Grill brand from a customer perspective, and created a compelling and distinct Brand Promise that could drive growth.

Engaged with:

• Marcus Jundt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
• Jason Merritt, Chief Operating Officer
• Mark Robinow, Chief Financial Officer
• Susan Bryan, Director of Marketing
• Greg Snodgrass, Vice President, Training