Dallas-based Corner Bakery firing up coffee in its planned comeback

by PegNews wire

The story of the Corner Bakery chain is a tragedy perpetrated by Brinker International, who bought the chain in 1995 and drove it right into the ground.

When CB first came to Dallas, it had a diverse menu of authentic items such as pumpkin squares and fig squares and individual vegetable-topped focaccias and good bread. But then cost-conscious short-sighted Brinker kept poking at it and eliminating "risky" items and eventually destroyed everything that made it unique in the first place.

This timely story talks about the 2006 sale of the concept to an affiliate of Il Fornaio Corp., and what they're about to roll out for Corner Bakery's comeback: increased focus on coffee (with a dumb plan to give out 10,000 travel mugs) and free Wi-Fi, with stuffed chairs for lounging.

Three new branches will open locally in the next eight months: in Highland Village, Addison, and Plano.

Posted by T.G.

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Anonymous

kirk says:

In my opinion, they are going to need to do a lot more than simply improve the coffee.

It's a shame to watch many of the Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises spinoffs and geographic splitoffs wither and die. Big Bowl, for example, was far superior to PF Chang's, but ended up disappearing from this market and others.

You're right to point out that it's a failure of management, since the stores that have been retained by LEYE generally continue to flourish.

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2 years, 2 months ago
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jcangas says:

I think the original concept was spot on, but in suburbia the concept just bleeds costs. Brinker is clueless on the idea of authenticity. Correct me here, but they did the same thing to Romano's Macaroni Grill. A pathetic excuse for Italian food. Now they are just trying to keep up with the Chef Boyardee of Italian, Olive Garden.

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2 years, 2 months ago
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cynturner says:

Brinker no longer operates Corner Bakery; so the new venture capital group will need to do something to keep the concept in the black, however that probably won't happen since they aren't an industry group. Like Macaroni Grill, Brinker purchases good concepts, and in order to keep consistency, change the original menu - "cookie-cutter" the concept (sacrificing all the things that make the concept unique), expand it then sell it off to keep the "Chili's" concept afloat. A Bakery that can't make a decent hearty, loaf of bread is not a bakery.