Blogging from the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Scottsdale:

The breakout session led by Technomics was based on changes in their Top 100 Restaurants list over the past 10 years.  Based on who moved in and out of the list, they drew some more general conclusions.

One chain that fell out of the list was TCBY, prompting the question: Is yogurt a concept or just a menu item?  That is, can I actually get consumers to seek out my restaurant for this product alone, or do I have to do more?  TCBY actually chose to do more, e.g., ice cream, and it hasn’t worked out well.

What struck me is that yogurt is currently booming in San Francisco — but with the new Pinkberry-style offering.  Yogurt is still a viable concept.  What if TCBY had stayed focused on yogurt, but innovated in that space?