The San Diego Union Tribune – Rubio’s grilling up fresh look and brand

By Katherine P. Harvey (/staff/katherinepoythress/) 3:35 p.m. Sept. 24, 2014

Updated 11:06 a.m. Sept. 29, 2014

San Diego based fish taco chain Rubio’s (http://www.rubios.com/) is freshening up its brand, its menu and its stores to better embody its coastal roots, the company announced this week.

The fast casual restaurant chain, which began selling fish tacos at its first store on Mission Bay in 1983, is dropping “Fresh Mexican Grill” from its logo and replacing it with “Coastal Grill.”

It’s also redesigning 60 of its Southern California stores with more modern elements reminiscent of the beach.
Senior Vice President of Marketing Karin Silk said the changes are an effort to distinguish Rubio’s from other fastcasual Mexican restaurants like Chipotle (http://www.chipotle.com/enUS/default.aspx?type=default) and Jack in the Box’s Qdoba (http://www.qdoba.com/). Rubio’s is setting itself apart, she said, by putting a greater emphasis on seafood.

The company has added several grilled seafood items to the menu over the last two years, including a salmon taco, mahi burrito, shrimp taco, and an array of grilled seafoods that can be added onto the restaurant’s salads and bowls. The grilled items tend to be a little pricier than their beer battered counterparts, Silk said, but the farmed tilapia dishes have a more approachable price point.

“As we evolved our menu, we began to feel that the name ‘Fresh Mexican Grill’ didn’t really fit anymore,” Silk said. “We began to really separate ourselves from the other competitors out there.”

The new menu demanded a new, modernized look for Rubio’s, which has never overhauled the design for its full chain before, she said.

The company’s Carmel Mountain Ranch restaurant test marketed the new look, which includes natural wood, cobalt, green, indigo and sand colors throughout, and blue tiles showcasing the chain’s salsa bar.

The redesign is also expected to hint at the company’s involvement in seafood sustainability and beach cleanups
(http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/may/07/rubiostoholdthirdannualcoastfest/), with wall panels depicting the restaurant’s history and artwork detailing the brand’s recipes and ingredients.

Restaurant analyst John Gordon, owner of Pacific Management Consulting Group in San Diego, said the rebrand and redesign are both good things for Rubio’s, which doesn’t have many direct competitors.

“The physical refresh is very important,” Gordon said. “Anything that has a customerfacing area just needs a new look periodically.

You’ve just got to do it because people are attracted to that and don’t want to just see the same old, same old all the time.”
Placing greater emphasis on grilled foods is smart, he added, because more consumers are opting for them as a healthieralternative to fried items.

Still, the chain needs to consider more customizable menu options, Gordon said, if it’s going to continue to compete with other fast casual concepts.

Rubio’s Senior Vice President of Real Estate Greg Semos said the response to the changes at the test store was “overwhelmingly positive,” and sales improved noticeably.

Rubio’s operates almost 200 stores in California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. The company this year topped the list of Mexican chains in Consumer Reports’ latest survey, and came in second behind Chipotle on the publication’s burrito ranking.

Note: This story has been updated to clarify the fact that Ralph Rubio did not invent the fish taco, but began selling it in 1983.