THE FOOD CHANNEL "RESTAURANT MATCHES STRIKE BACK"

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The Food Channel Restaurant Matches Strike Back "RESTAURANT MATCHES STRIKE BACK"

10/21/09 Cari Martens writes:

"Admit it. You’ve nabbed a few match books or matchboxes as souvenirs from restaurants over the years. I know I have, and I’ve never been a smoker. It’s good to hear they’re coming back from the brink."

[Cari then goes on to reference many quotes from an article published in The New York Times-A New Old Freebie: Restaurant Matches Return from restaurateurs who still believe in the effectiveness of advertising their establishment with branded matches]

"Because, hey, you never know when you might need to light the pilot light in your water heater."

[or a candle, or birthday candles, or a Bar-b-Que grill, or for use by your guests' as a Bathroom "air freshener"!]

Call us when you're ready to place your restaurant's branded match book or match box order! TheMatchGroup; or call one of our expert advertising "match makers" at 800.605.7331


...as the world’s freebie of choice and its most cost-effective and appealing advertising vehicle."

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The New York Times-A New Old Freebie: Restaurant Matches Return

Great Feature from the New York Times 10/20/2009 re. The Renaissance of Match Advertising!

In the face of many cities' anti smoking enforcement "...match boxes serve as the finishing touch on an ambience calculated to dislocate the present tense." says Dona Savitsky, a former smoker, who is the owner of the retro themed restaurant FLORA located in Oakland, CA.

"Savitzsky's  experience is echoed by a number of restaurateurs across the country, who concur that matches may be experiencing a fragile renaissance as the dining world’s freebie of choice and its most cost-effective and appealing advertising vehicle."

"Ms. Savitsky confirms that only a fraction of Flora’s matchboxes are taken for their ostensible purpose. Their overriding utility, aside from lighting the odd candle, is promotional: “They go out into the world, and they bring people back.”

"A Chicago spot, 33 Club, named for the year Prohibition was repealed, opened in August without matches, but that’s only because Jerry Kleiner, the restaurateur, is perfecting the design. “When they’re done right, they’re a piece of art,” said Mr. Kleiner, who envisions an oversize blue and gold-leaf matchbox bearing a crest and the 33 Club logo.

Mr. Kleiner operates eight other restaurants in the area, none of which has matches. “We had them till the antismoking thing happened and they fizzled out,” he said. “But I think I’m going to bring them back.”

To place your order for your business' branded match books or match boxes GoTo: TheMatchGroup or call one of our expert matchmakers at TheMatchGroup 800.605.7331 or email: Strike@getmatches.com

DENVER POST -Food 11/2/11 Smoking Ban Aside, Colorado Restaurants Find Custom Matches are Still a Great Way to Strike Up a Relationship

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A terrific (and relatively current) article about restaurateurs' reasons for continuing to rely on printing and distributing economical advertising matches to promote their business despite statewide bans on smoking.

To place your order for your business' branded advertising matches goto:TheMatchGroup or call our "matchmaking" specialists at 800.605.7331

DENVER POST: FOOD

Smoking ban aside, Colorado restaurants find custom matches are still a great way to strike up a relationship Got a light?

POSTED:   11/02/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT UPDATED:   11/02/2011 09:50:57 AM MDT

William Porter The Denver Post

Free matchbooks, a decades-old staple in restaurants and bars, would seem a likely candidate for extinction in this age of public- smoking bans.

But an odd thing has happened. Rather than going the way of the rotary-dial phone, the matchbooks, typically sporting a business' logo, have showed staying power.

Why? Chalk it up to a mix of nostalgia and a touch of club-kid irony — think porkpie hats and meatloaf as a menu star.

Toss in our crow-like eye for things bright, snazzy and free, and it translates into a gimme-bowl of sulfur-tipped pleasure at the host stand.

"Matchbooks are one of the few pieces of merchandise that customers are likely to carry around in their pockets and also one of the few collectibles," said John Bachman, director of operations for the Boulder-based Big Red F Restaurant Group. "It's a way of getting our brand out there in front of people as often as we can, and it's an inexpensive way of doing it."

Big Red F's holdings include Lola, the Jax Fish House restaurants, The West End Tavern, Zolo Grill, Centro and The Bitter Bar. Not all the venues offer custom matches — "There's no rhyme or reason as to which ones do," Bachman said — but the plan is that eventually all be aboard.

Bachman said the matchbooks are ordered in batches of 25,000 and must be ordered every few months. Design is critical.

"A matchbook's content has to be captivating," he said. "The color, the logo, maybe something snarky or clever on the inside cover. Anything to make someone say, 'This stands out.' I think we're realizing their effectiveness."

That's music to the ears of Jack Wagner, who's company has been selling matches in Evergreen for 30 years.

Wagner's company sells all manner of custom hospitality products, including coasters, toothpicks, dinner mints and sugar packets. But matchbooks and matchboxes are the mainstay. Wagner said he sells millions of them nationally each year.

"A matchbook is a business card with a purpose," Wagner said. "It's functional."

Despite this, estimated national matchbook sales have dropped to about $30 million from $200 million in the 1970s. But since they're sold for pennies, the economic crunch has made them an effective ad medium for restaurants, allowing them to enjoy a mini-revival.

Wagner takes pains to create matchbooks that are aesthetically pleasing. They show an eye toward art, sometimes literally. He is especially proud of the matches his company created for Sweet Basil in Vail.

"There's a gorgeous painting behind the hostess stand," Wagner said. "We took that image and wrapped it around the matchbox, along with the restaurant's info.

"So what we have is a very appealing piece of advertising far cheaper than anything else out there and it's going directly to the customer. It's point-of-sale advertising."

At Steuben's restaurant and bar on East 17th Avenue, the vintage vibe extends beyond comfort food and midcentury decor. The matches, too, are a throwback, down to their '40s-era design. This at a restaurant that's 5 years old.

"They're great for us," said bar manager Randy Layman, who adds that Steuben's has ordered 50,000 matchbooks since January.

"Whenever someone is leaving and they see the match bowl, their reaction is really neat," Layman said. "Their eyes light up and they go, 'Hey, we never see this.'

"It's an absolutely effective way of getting the word out."

On a recent evening, Heather Lyons snapped up a Steuben's matchbook as she head out the door. "I don't smoke, but they come in handy," she said. "I like to keep a pack in my purse and glove compartment. It's also a keepsake. I look at it and have memories of a night out."

Linger, which opened in Lower Highland about 3 1/2 years after Colorado's smoking ban took effect, offers matchbooks that change every few weeks. They are popular among customers, said owner-chef Justin Cucci. The matchbooks are modeled after vintage '60s patterns found in the restaurant's decor. "We wanted to give guests something that was used and popular from the era," he said. "Matchbooks were a natural fit."

And Boulder's Pizzeria Locale offers matches in a tube container with a nifty pop top.

The hospitality biz isn't the only outlet for such matchbooks. When "Pulp Fiction" was released on video in the United Kingdom, stores gave away packs of "Pulp Fiction" matches stamped with a quote from the film: "You play with matches, you get burned."

The Avenue Grill has been a staple in Denver's Uptown neighborhood for two decades. The restaurant was long known for its matchbooks, which had a gleaming white cover with the restaurant's logo: a stylized martini glass, rendered in a few deft ink strokes, and a green olive.

"People really like them," said Joel Bryant, the Avenue's director of operations. "You go to someone's house and they have sets of them they've collected over the years."

But the restaurant hasn't reordered the matches for several weeks, and the bar no longer features tumblers filled with the matchbooks. That's being rethought.

"When the smoking ban started, the need plummeted," Bryant said. "But the matches were something we were known for and we probably should bring them back."

As Wagner, the match company honcho, points out, lighting a match is not necessarily the purview of nicotine fiends. Candles, fireplaces, charcoal grills — they all require a foray into the "close cover before striking" zone.

"It's not the smoker who needs the match," Wagner said. "They have Bic lighters. It's the rest of us."

William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com

Photo illustration (above) by Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post. Model: Marnie Ward of Reveille 3, an Andrews Sisters tribute act (myspace.com/reveille3). Gloves provided by Mariel (1428 Larimer St., 303-623-1151).


New York Times OpEd Article May 1987 re. Matches Are Used for Bragging

A Lesson in Lagniappe

New York Times OpEd Article May 1987 re. Matches Are Used for Bragging

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An old NY Times Op Ed piece dated May, 7 1987 titled "A Lesson in Lagniappe" explaining the essential purpose for why people collect advertising matches despite the recent bans on smoking.

"... matches are hard to improve on as the ultimate small souvenir - shimmering, place-dropping evidence that the bearer recently flew on Air Force One, dined at Lutece, visited Gracie Mansion or celebrated Jeffrey's bar mitzvah. .... People want matches for striking, smoking or lighting, but most of all for bragging."

If you're interested in bragging about your business go to:

TheMatchGroup

or give our staff of "enablers" a call at 800.605.7331.


Promotional Flyer Circa 1980's Universal Match Corp. Targeted to Hotels

Promotional Flyer Circa 1980's Universal Match Corp. Targeted to Hotels
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In 1987, When I first started my career in the Advertising Match business, I was the Regional Sales Manager at Universal Match Corporation. Universal Match was considered the "Rolls Royce" highest quality standard in the match industry back then. During the time I was there and prior to their liquidation in 1991, they employed over 70 direct outside sales people covering all 50 states in the U.S. who were dedicated exclusively to selling only advertising match books and match boxes!

This is a copy of  one of their many targeted sales person "leave behind" flyers that would have been distributed to all hotels, motels and resorts. "MATCH YOUR_, _, _, _, _, YOUR NAME WITH MORE BUSINESS."

The flyer suggested how branded matches should have been distributed throughout the entire hotel's property during that period:

in their guest rooms (all were smoking rooms back then), at their restaurants and lounges, conference rooms, concierge desk, valet, room service and bellman stations, etc. I love their tag line: UNIVERSAL MATCH. THE BRIGHT REMINDER.

If you're considering placing an order for your business' branded match books or match boxes please GoTo: TheMatchGroup or give us a call at 800.605.7331 and we'll provide the spark that will ignite your brand!