Group will spend more to make more

Alicia Robinson

NEWPORT BEACH -- A local restaurant group is sticking to its

successful recipe for promoting Newport Beach dining, but it’s adding

a pinch more cash to the pot than in previous years.

The Newport Beach Restaurant Assn. is poised to approve $130,000

for its 2004 marketing plan, which will enlarge on the group’s

efforts to advertise the city as a dining mecca, association

marketing director Peggy Fort said. Last year, the group spent about

$100,000 on marketing.

Marketing plans call for: more print advertising targeting local

consumers and some niche tourist markets; a 25% increase in

distribution of the group’s popular dining guides; and a redesigned

website with a better search engine and more information for

association members.

“The main overall goal is to continue to raise awareness of the

multitude of dining choices available in our city,” Fort said.

Restaurateurs have already seen the fruits of such marketing

labors. Since the restaurant association was founded in 1996, it has

developed an 800 number for dining reservations as well as the dining

guide and the website, said association chairman Clayton Shurley,

owner of an Clayton Shurley Real BBQ restaurant on MacArthur

Boulevard.

“We’ve really come a long way,” he said.

While the restaurant business slackened after 9/11, and continued to suffer from the soft economy, the trend reversed in 2003 when more

than 30 new restaurants opened in Newport Beach, Fort said.

Existing business has also been on the rise.

“Our business is spectacular,” said Dan Marcheano, who has owned

the historic Arches restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway since 1982.

He estimated each month’s business since mid-2003 has been about 20%

higher than it was the same month in the previous year.

The more than 300 restaurants in the city make for an increasingly

competitive market for business owners, but spending on dining out is

growing, said David Salisbury, who with his brother Doug owns Newport

Landing, a seafood restaurant on the Balboa Peninsula.

“I think it’s certainly getting stronger now than it was a year or

so ago,” he said.

More restaurants are expected to open this year, including the

Salisburys’ new Harborside restaurant at the Balboa pavilion, and the

National Restaurant Assn. has predicted 5.2% growth for California

restaurants this year. Local restaurant operators and their

supporters want to keep that momentum going.

“I feel real encouraged that we’re on an upswing now,” said Marta

Hayden, Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau executive

director.

The busy season for restaurants is about to begin, Hayden said.

“The restaurants are a real viable, strong segment in Newport Beach,

especially with tourism,” Hayden said. “It’s just one of the options

of many things to do in Newport Beach, but it’s certainly high on the

list.”

The Newport Beach City Council annually provides matching funds

for the city’s business improvement districts, some of which go to

restaurant marketing efforts. For the 2003-04 fiscal year, the city

approved about $32,000 for restaurant marketing, and the remainder of

the funding comes from fees paid by member restaurants. The

restaurant association’s board of directors will vote next week on

this year’s marketing plan and $130,000 budget.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.