Morton’s Steakhouse is at the top of a list it likely doesn’t want to publicize: It’s been rated the favorite place in the US for adulterous couples to go for dinner by AshleyMadison.com, the dating website that fosters affairs. 

Visitors to Ruth’s Chris, P.F. Chang’s, Outback Steakhouse, Chili’s, Houston’s, Red Lobster, Del Frisco’s, Fleming’s and The Cheescake Factory might want to take an extra look around to see if any of their pals are hiding behind menus. The lucky chains rounded out the top 10 after more than 42,000 Ashley Madison members were polled.Continue reading...

American Express announced an innovative social media integration with Twitter this week, enabling US cardmembers to turn customized Twitter hashtags into savings via sync.americanexpress.com. Promoted with the tagline “Sync. Tweet. Save.” the social marketing promotion is the most direct use of Twitter to date by a brand that creates a real utility for customers: couponless savings loaded directly to their synced cards and automatically delivered in a credit statement.

“With Twitter, we’ve really hit the trifecta. We have a great platform in Twitter,” said Ed Gilligan, Vice Chairman, American Express. “We know our cardmembers are engaged in Twitter. We’ve been working with them to think about how can we help them move from conversations to commerce. To turn a tweet into a transaction.”

Brands trying out Amex Sync include Best Buy, McDonald’s, Whole Foods Market, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Century 21, The Cheesecake Factory, Dell, FedEx Office, FTD, Gulf, H&M, Seamless.com, Sports Authority, Ticketmaster, Virgin America and Zappos. They'll be closely watching the analytics on this test, with the Amex Synch API offering also supplying reports to merchants about customer spending, online and offline.

And if they're in Austin for SXSW on March 12th, they can celebrate at a concert featuring Jay-Z.Continue reading...

Add P.F. Chang’s name to the growing list of major restaurant brands that are learning how to extend their relationships with consumers through grocery stores.

Sales of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro frozen retail items climbed 117%, to $14.5 million, in September, suggesting that it’s possible for China Bistro to reach robust annualized sales of $117 million. And that’s just in stores measured by SymphonyIRI, which doesn’t track sales via Wal-Mart. 

P.F. Chang’s has joined other casual operators in chasing customers into the frozen food section at the grocery store.Continue reading...