THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701240169
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER C. O'DONNELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 50 lines
Diners at Greenbrier Mall now can munch on a chicken sandwich or fries and watch a little television at the same time on one of 21 monitors set up throughout the mall's food court.
Food Court Entertainment Network, an information and entertainment television network based in New York, has opened its newest Cafe USA network affiliate at the mall.
``We figured people can watch television and eat at home. Now, they can do that at the mall, too,'' said Davi Cohen, a spokesperson for Food Court Entertainment Network.
Cafe USA consists of programs designed to put customers in the buying mood. The programs, which run about 30 minutes each, offer information on such topics as fashion, lifestyles and trends. The programs place an emphasis on what is currently available to mall shoppers. In addition, a kids-only show from Sesame Street is featured.
The 30-minute programs are divided into three parts; 20 minutes of informational programming on fashion, sports and other topics, 8 minutes of commercial messages from a combination of mall and national advertisers and 2 minutes of mall promotions.
The series is hosted by television personality Sarah Purcell.
``Mall operators are embracing the Cafe USA concept because it perfectly complements their marketing aims by providing information that is relevant and immediately useful to shoppers while they are just a few feet from their favorite stores and have their credit cards ready,'' said James N. Perkins, president and CEO of the network.
Food Court Entertainment Network has 20 Cafe USA's up and operating in malls around the country. Greenbrier Mall joins Springfield Mall and Richmond's Chesterfield Town Center as the only Virginia malls with the service. Other locations are in operation in cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and Atlanta.
Food Court Entertainment Network selects malls based on their food court's seating capacity and their annual sales, which must exceed $5 million a year.
Kim Wagner, marketing director for Greenbrier Mall, said being one of the country's first malls with Cafe USA is a sign of good business.
``It's always good when you can pioneer a program . . .,'' said Wagner. ``It adds value to our food court and I think it shows that as a mall, we have come into our own.''
Wagner added that Cafe USA has been well received by Greenbrier Mall shoppers. The mall does offer a ``monitor free'' zone for patrons not interested in watching the programming while they eat.