How to Keep Things the Same, But Feeling New

Donnette Hansen
Owner, Rainbow Lodge, Houston TX
www.therainbowlodge.com

When the Rainbow Lodge, a popular, long established Houston restaurant, had to change locations, its owner wondered what else should change.

After more than 30 years leasing a location near Memorial Park, Donnette Hansen, the Rainbow Lodge's owner, had to relocate the restaurant in late 2006. But fortune smiled when she found a 100 year-old log cabin restaurant on an acre of land on TC Jester near downtown Houston that she could own.

Donnette was also savvy enough to use the move to her advantage. In fact, moving gave her the opportunity to keep what the restaurant had always been known for - delicious food, fantastic wines, and antique hunting and fishing collectibles that highlight her passion for fly fishing and the outdoors - but also to re-think and refresh the concept. She says, "Moving generated a ton of press and got people excited. And, it gave us a chance to reinvigorate the presentation of our business, such as new uniforms for servers, contemporary table top service and live music in the bar area."

When asked about the challenges of running a restaurant, Donnette says, "My biggest challenge is that because we are a mature restaurant, we need to avoid becoming stale. We need to always be fresh and exciting and in the mind of Houstonians. So I focus on constantly refining what we are, what we offer, and how we present it."

Donnette adds, "To some people we had become an "event restaurant", the place to go once a year for an anniversary or birthday. We focus on giving people more non-traditional reasons to visit more often, whether it's for a midweek wine tasting, or to have drinks and appetizers while watching the election returns."

Her other innovations include offering half-price glasses of wine and 'comfort food' on Sundays; a twice-a-year Grand Food and Wine Pairing event where more than 300 wine lovers gather to taste mouthwatering food and wine combinations while enjoying live music and art by various artists; and wine tastings on the outside patio the second Wednesday of every month. "We started the wine tastings with 20 to 30 people, and now we have to cut it off at 150," Donnette says, smiling, obviously delighted at the success of the idea.

"I do all our marketing myself," she said. "I help create all the menus and use emails and the internet to remind people about us and give them more reasons to visit. And I learn a lot by talking to our customers. I am a front-of-house person, I love being with people. I am passionate about food and work closely with our chef, Randy Rucker, on our menu selections."

Donnette understands that the restaurant's success is based upon her ability to build and maintain a loyal community of customers, many of whom are today likely to be feeling the effects of the recession. "I know people and businesses will be cutting back, so it is important to give them more affordable reasons to come more often. Email costs virtually nothing, so we are constantly building our list. But we have to be careful not to be seen as pestering them with too many emails sent too often."

"More than anything else, our success depends upon the experience you have when you visit us. If it's good, you will probably come back. If it's wonderful, you will definitely come back and will tell your friends about us. That's why, once we get you in the restaurant, every member of our staff is focused on making your meal with us a truly enjoyable experience."

A graduate of Trinity University's business school, Donnette felt she needed to know more than just the business side of the restaurant, so she went on to attend chef school. "I knew I wanted to run a restaurant and decided that to earn respect from the chefs, I needed to know the kitchen side of the business."

Donnette's uncle, Max Yarbrough, started the restaurant. "While the rest of my family were bankers, I always wanted to run a restaurant," she said. "Everyone but Uncle Max thought I was crazy." When Donnette acquired the business from her uncle in 1988, she remembers thinking, "I love entertaining. What incredible luck that I can do it for a living."

Donnette continues to reinvent the restaurant. "On the horizon, we are expanding our gardens to grow more of our own produce. Chef Rucker is into hard-to-find heirloom produce, such as Malabar spinach, and growing our own is another way we can stand out and be memorable. I want people to continue to look at us differently. Stale is a bad word in my business. We're not your grandma's Rainbow Lodge."