Warren Ellish and his team have brought significant value to Bennigan’s Franchising Company as we set out to transform this 35-year-old legacy casual dining brand into a model that resonates with today’s consumer. Warren led the brand re-positioning efforts, developed our overarching strategy, and actively engaged our franchise community to build conscientiousness and trust. In addition, Warren developed and executed a consumer research project which aided in the development of our new menu, communication strategy and many elements of our new prototype. Warren did a great job of partnering with our internal corporate resources and franchise community which ensured buy-in and active participation. We will continue to call upon Warren and his group of professionals as we continue to move our brand forward.

"Warren is a leader with a focus on sales and profits. I worked closely with Warren at Burger King in the late 80's when he was in Marketing with responsibility for the Breakfast Daypart. I hired Warren/EMG in 2001, when I became the Denny's CEO. I needed someone I could trust and deliver results. He led as consultant/business partner for brand positioning work, menu optimization/simplification and menu design. As part of this project EMG developed new traffic-generating products and the consumer research to validate the work. Warren has the leadership, the knowledge and the resources to deliver solutions that work. He knows how to help you make money."

"The work that Toppers Pizza did with Warren was productive in many respects. First, we involved many interested parties to the brand work, including Franchisees, marketing and operations personnel and myself. One of the unexpected outcomes of the work was that we disparate and sometimes hard – headed participants found ourselves substantially on the same page at the conclusion of the projects. That resulted from the methodical research based approach that Warren uses, reducing personal biases.
Toppers took several substantial actions as a result of the work with Warren, several of which were tertiary benefits of the primary targeted projects we had hired him to conduct. The brand positioning and strategic marketing assessment work resulted in a substantive change of reference in our approach. We ultimately changed our signage and many of our base identity elements following the work. The extensive research in the areas of menu optimization and promotional offers resulted in our eliminating 2 menu categories with very little push back from operators in our system. The customer reacted as predicted and I feel as confident today as I did then about that decision.
Warren is an accomplished brand and marketing consultant, but also is one of those people who can at once challenge the status quo and build consensus among stakeholders with a combination of science and solid facilitating communication.”

Ellish Marketing Group was of great to help to Pollo Campero as we evolved our brand in the United States and modernized it to meet today’s consumers’ demands. From Brand Positioning to menu engineering, food photography and designing marketing collaterals, Warren Ellish and his team helped throughout the entire marketing process—converting consumer insights into strategies and developing local plans. His attention to details throughout the entire project resulted in stand-out work that delivered the results we were looking for. His great work has been taken into other markets within the United States as we continue implementing our new global brand platform.

We brought Warren Ellish in to help us identify the brand positioning for our Blackjack Pizza brand. Warren worked with a team consisting of our Franchise Advisory Committee and senior-level management from all departments, encouraging wide-spread participation among the group. Warren’s extensive knowledge of the restaurant industry helped the team identify the direction they wanted to go. Throughout the process, he was able to guide the team in to a focused direction pin-pointing our strengths and creating a fundamental message to help communicate them. Because of his effective facilitation of our session, we now have a clear positioning statement that will be our roadmap into the future. This has helped catapult our journey to full management alignment within our corporate infrastructure, franchisee’s and store level management as one!

I attended a session that Warren Ellish presented at the IFA national convention and I was so impressed I engaged him to assist us in bringing clarity to our brand positioning. Warren brilliantly facilitated an intensive all-day session with our Interim HealthCare executive team and key franchisee leadership. His ability to foster collaboration among a diverse group of both new and legacy franchisees was instrumental in leading us to the development of a solid brand positioning statement. We could not have accomplished what we did without Warren’s guidance. He is truly a brand positioning expert and the foundation he helped us establish has been used as a basis for making critical decisions.

Warren Ellish is an excellent facilitator with an uncanny ability to guide a group of individuals through a rigorous process that ultimately yields a substantive outcome. Our Soccer Shots executive team and franchise leadership were engaged throughout the day-long exercise, and our team forged a bond through the experience. This collaboration and wide-spread participation has prompted belief and buy-in for the direction we're going with our brand. Thanks to Warren we now have a brand positioning statement that clearly articulates the Soccer Shots brand, and it has become a point of operational and marketing focus for us.

Seasons Pizza has hired many restaurant and marketing consultants over the years, but never anyone as strategic, resourceful, focused, and experienced as Warren Ellish and Ellish Marketing Group. Warren definitely delivers powerful results and is a great value compared to the bigger firms. We hired him to refresh the Seasons Pizza brand and were thrilled with the insights and the solutions that were provided on all levels. He patiently took his time to understand our company, our consumer and the reasons for our prior successes, then with focus and discipline helped us define our Brand Positioning, our marketing message, and our menu. The results and the numbers speak for themselves, all the way to the bottom line.

Warren is a top notch marketing executive who really understands the restaurant business. We contracted Warren originally for concept positioning and he was able to work well with our team and help us develop new positioning in a fast efficient manner. Subsequently, we worked with Warren on various projects including menu development, grand opening marketing and direct mail campaigns. In each case, Warren had a tremendous level of knowledge and many creative ideas. He also understands the importance of return on investment and is very focused on measuring the results of every program. Upon moving to Salasarita’s, I engaged Warren to lead the brand positioning for us and he delivered with exceptional results. Warren has the highest level of integrity and commitment, and is a real asset to any organization looking for marketing, branding or positioning expertise.

The direct mail work Warren and his team of professionals developed for Corner Bakery Cafe was right on target. Our brand was strengthened with the delivery of a strategically crafted, visually striking, and relevant message.

I engaged Warren to run a process of helping VICORP Restaurants to establish a strategic marketing direction and, in connection with that, to execute a search process to identify and hire a new advertising agency. Warren's knowledge of the industry (both agency and restaurant) enabled us to go through the process very efficiently--both in terms of the time to execute and in terms of identifying appropriate agencies and negotiating an appropriate contract. All of the constituencies at VICORP (the CEO, the head of marketing and myself) were very pleased with Warren's knowledge base, his ability to assess relative strengths and weaknesses of the bidding firms, his attention to detail and his ability to deliver on a timeline.

Warren is a class act. He's a solid marketing professional who will operate as a dedicated member of your team. His work is excellent; his commitment to his clients is unmatched.

Ellish Marketing Group has been an invaluable asset to American Blue Ribbon Holdings. Warren’s insight and experience has helped guide the positioning of our Village Inn brand and has contributed to the turnaround that we have been experiencing. Additionally, the ability of Warren Ellish and the Ellish Marketing Group to identify the key guest benefits of one of our new product introductions insured the success of the program. They guided us and focused our marketing efforts in the right direction. As a result, this new item is now our biggest seller on the menu.