I hadn't eaten at a MR MIKES since I was nine years-old, when my best pal Phil and I headed out for our first unchaperoned dinner out. Fast forward to last weekend, when my wife and I had the pleasure of eating lunch at one of MR MIKES rebranded restaurants in Cochrane, Alberta, and I have to tell you, I was impressed not just with the food and service, but also with how they've branded their business in fun ways and made an extra effort to engage their customers: 

• They use every opportunity to inject some humor to reinforce their fun, casual, irreverent brand: Funny signs adorn every wall (Follow Your Dreams. OK, not the one where you're naked in public); drink coasters feature quirky trivia questions that can be answered by the server; table tent cards and menus offer up more trivia and offbeat humor (Outdoors: Wolverines and snakes. Indoors: Bites n' booze specials all night long).  
• Their urbanLODGE (the bar section of their restaurant) includes a shelf loaded with various board games - a great way to keep their customers longer.
• Their Play It Forward TeamFunder Card Program creatively encourages referrals to their restaurant while giving back to local community teams. 
• They created a video challenge in 2016 encouraging Canadians to sign a petition encouraging TV host Jimmy Kimmel to drink his very first Caesar to celebrate the 1st and 4th of July holidays. Kimmel accepted the challenge. The campaign, culminating with Jimmy Kimmel drinking his first ever Caesar drew thousands of people to MR MIKES social media channels and earned them heaps of free publicity. 
• Finally, their Chew Crew program is a fabulous way to engage their customers in an ongoing conversation. Successful businesses constantly seek out ideas for continuous improvement. Lots of businesses say they welcome feedback, but MR MIKES' funny and conversational feedback cards and Chew Crew program demonstrates they are serious about connecting with customers in creative and meaningful ways.