Show them the money! But first please think about the brand.

I spent the better part of two years learning business in a classroom. At night, my MBA program transported me to the corner office of a CEO. And every morning, I returned to the corporate cubicle of a B2B marketing copywriter.

I am not a CEO. I never will be a CEO. But I’ve had the ear of a number of CEOs, suits and assorted big shots as a business writer for Phoenix Magazine.

Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll share a few things I learned during these interactions. Up first …

Oregano’s Pizza Bistro: It’s hard to protect a good brand from the market.

When Oregano’s Pizza Bistro announced a $25.5 million merger with publicly-traded Restaurant Acquisition Partners last year, many fans were in a tizzy.

Would the leisurely pace of a perfectly-prepared pizza be slashed for efficiency? Would the cheeky attitude that spawned ad slogans like “Size Matters” and “Passion of the Crust” be tamed for a broader audience?

Some longtime fans may have even recalled how the move from privately-owned eatery to publicly-traded chain scuttled the Garcia’s of Scottsdale brand in the early 1990s.

When I met with him last summer, Oregano’s CEO Mark Russell assured me that his partners loved the Oregano’s concept as is. Private or public, the Oregano’s brand would remain grounded in strong customer service, quality food at reasonable prices, and a lively atmosphere based in nostalgia for 1940s Chicago.

But Richard Lipson had his doubts. Lipson helped take Garcia’s public in 1983 only to see his successors dilute the brand and file for bankruptcy 10 years later. “Eventually you lose sight of the big picture,” he warned. “You get caught up in the stock price.”

P.F. Chang’s, Kona Grill and Ra Sushi all expanded out from Scottsdale without succumbing to the market pressures that devoured Garcia’s. Now that the Oregano’s merger seems to have been shelved, I wonder how they’d have fared.

What do you think? Ten years after a merger, would Oregano’s still be Oregano’s — or would it be another Olive Garden? What could the organization do to protect its brand? Post your thoughts in the comments below!

Further reading: Phoenix Magazine | Another Slice of the Pie (October 2008)

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