Milestones is repositioning itself slightly in hopes of winning the hearts, minds and stomachs of men post-takeover.

The restaurant chain, previously owned by Recipe Unlimited, was bought out by Second Cup owner, Foodtastic last fall.

Its latest campaign is airing on rotation for six weeks across CTV, CTV2 and TSN. It focuses on a young couple, the female half of which “saves the best for last” by eating her dessert first, and keeping her steak.

Foodtastic marketing director, Patricia Iacampo tells strategy it currently attracts a majority female audience. And by bringing back its meat program items and heroing them, it hopes to attract the opposite sex in greater numbers – ideally, a 50/50 split. 

In 2020, the restaurant pushed its happy hour program with a famous actor’s Aviation gin.

“We are premium/casual and worked with Ryan Reynolds in the past,” she says. “And there’s a way to keep our brand premium/casual, but to bring in a little sense of humour and sense of the human.”

Iacampo says it is also positioning itself as a more premium casual option, through restaurant layout and dish presentation, to attract more millenials and battle competitors such as Cactus Club and Earls.

Milestones worked closely with first time partner Black Box Productions to develop the creative approach and script based on Foodtastic’s campaign objectives and target audience. The campaign also marks a return to TV for Milestones which they previously halted spend due to COVID.

“It’s a COVID comeback,” she says.

And it’s not just TV that the Foodtastic brand is leaning into. According to Iacampo, part of the changes Foodtastic is implementing include improving Milestones’ social media presence, which was previously less dynamic.

“We’ve changed the approach…by focusing a bit more on Instagram, because that’s where millennial clients are,” she says. The brand is starting to integrate Instagram Reels to grows its presence and is also considering activating on TikTok.

The national campaign’s media buy was done in-house.