Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Great Question....
First - In spite of being a web-oriented person, I just do not see the advantage of a restaraunt using a webpage, unless there is a way for a person to order to go food or something of that sort.

To answer your first question - what drives me to come back to a restaurant? The food needs to be good, but more importantly they must have service that treats me special. That comes in the form of an occassional free appetizer, a sampler platter for my guests, personal greetings from the owner and the ability to phone ahead to get just the right table.

How do you get people in?
Promotions - 2 for 1s work. I know some successful folks who do these often - but if they are handled incorrectly they can work against you. Any 2 for 1 coupon customers need to be treated like gold - you want them back. Often they are treated like "cheapskates" instead.

I would promote myself to local hotels. The front desk or bellman often dictates where I eat when staying in a downtown location. And, I find that business people traveling by themselves mostly dine at your kind of restaurant.

hope this helps/

You have posed many tough and complex questions here given your investment opportunity. You have numerous challenges ahead of you, many of which you are already aware of (i.e. a former ”dodgy” Chinese take-away,” “located 5-10 (miles?) to high traffic street,” “requiring a conscious decision,” etc. etc.)

These problems are exacerbated by the fact that you are considering investing in an existing restaurant property that is attempting to reposition its price point and menu with out significantly changing it’s food origin. A critical factor, given the new cuisine, is that you failed to tell us the name of your new restaurant? I assume that it is marketable and reflects the values you are trying to instill in its location and building. (Please tell me you are not "putting lipstick on a pig"...?)

As a former Novelle Cuisine Restaurateur, my suggestion is that if you are committed to this investment, that you establish an "aggressive" PR and Print Ad campaign with the designated local media(s)-of-choice of your targeted audience, simultaneously with a new Promotional Branding campaign. Both these campaigns should reflect the higher-end audio/visual production values of your menu and location, while targeting local and regional food and/or entertainment critics, local or regional TV celebrities, sports figures, and politicians who you will pander to in the most obsequious way, including picking up the tab for their food and beverage of choice “indefinitely.” And in so doing, creating an atmosphere where “they” can shine and be in the spotlight. This might include the traditional investment of hiring a professional photographer to take their picture that night (or any night) with you and, most importantly, your Chef. These you will hang in prominent places throughout the restaurant.

Under no circumstances should you lower your prices or make “special offers” of wine or food that you are not prepared to live with for an extended period. Try to match your decor with a high-end price point like mixing Asian antiques with modern US furniture, and under no circumstances should you do anything but cater to the new audience that you are hoping to appeal to for the long run.

The existing owners have made a conscious decision to try and appeal to a more affluent audience and you should be prepared to support that decision in all future strategic planning aspects, including an integrated marketing campaign for at least 12 to 18 months.

Failing that commitment, and depending on your competition, you will know quickly whether you have succeeded or failed in your efforts.

First, make friends with your local restaurant critics. I owned a restaurant in a similar situation-- we were out of the way and the previous owner was selling pork and calling it veal-- with horrid reviews. I got one to champion me, she even had me on her radio show. And yes, have a web page. Even with a glowing recommendation, I hit the web before I visit.

Give people a reason to come. I sponsored art shows --rotating local artists. The artists pals came to see the show and of course became clients. During the holidays I invited local students to sing Carols- filling the place as their parents of course attended. I did prom specials. Even inviting the young gents in between lunch and dinner and taught them which fork to use and general manners--they want to impress their dates. I went to the chamber and told them I want their business. They host events all the time--- meetings not on the calendar but for planning. Did the same for the city.

Create events. We celebrated new Beaujolis, did mom and spring fashion shows. Hired a harpist. The list is endless.

To answer what makes me keep coming back? First, we are real foodies and we only go to mid -high end restaurants when I dont cook in. I am a great cook and I want great quality. I love happy hour specials. I like to be greeted by name, and someone to remember my favorite starter wine-- even where we like to sit. When my favorite is off the menu, I like the kitchen to make me something that may not be on the menu. I know I'm bragging, but I know I can outcook most chefs. I go for the personal service. I also appreciate combinations that are different. I try items because they are interesting vs boring.

BTW, besides owning an award winning fine dining 41/2 star restaurant (out of 5), running one for another -- my fiance eat out 3x a week or more for dinner.

Hope that helps, Carol
Sell Well and Prosper tm

Others have already given you plenty to "chew on". Here are my thoughts:

1) Give free tastes where people gather, with coupons for first time diners. Especially popular before lunch and dinner time.

2) The whole dining experience. Great food/poor service can work (if you play that aspect up). Poor food/great service turns your restaurant into a social meeting spot (but won't help your botttom line). If you're appealing to business crowd, then the tables have to be suitable for private meetings. For a family gathering, children must be given special attention with activities and/or conversation.

3) A review/word or mouth.

4) A great review is the quickest way to create great word-of-mouth.

5) It might also be free delivery, frequent diner card, etc. Be careful trying too hard to give too much away too soon. It creates a desperate atmosphere, which undermines your quality positioning.

6) Offer anyone that visits your restaurant a chance to be on your taste/advisory panel. Invite your panel to a free meal during your "off hours" to get their feedback on the food. Rotate new people in to create a fun focus group, and generate more word-of-mouth (since the panel now has some pride-of-ownership).

7) If there are other businesses you can co-market with, do so. For example, movie/playhouse (for date nights), florist (date nights), ice cream (family night), etc.

I own a popular Thai and Vietnamese restaurant in an affluent city in Colorado. The city has about 90,000 people - not counting the beighboring cities with similar demographic. Around our restaurant (within 1 mile radius), there are 8 Chinese Take-out places, two mid-end Chinese-trying-to-be-Thai-Vietnamese place, Mark Pi, 3 Japanese restaurant (one is very popular as it does French Japanese cuisine), tons of chain restaurants and 7 Mexican restaurant. Just a month ago, our place was the hole-on-the-wall with only 28 seats (but our revenue is that of 60-seats restaurant). We were there for 5 years! The location was not good - as no one can see us from the busy corner but everyone knew we did amazing business. Now we moved to a nicer place, with 60-seats, patios and right on the Main street of downtown and we have done amazing numbers. What I am trying to say is the that although the city we are in is more than saturated with restaurants. Ours is doing very well and I believe here are the reasons why (that I hope to give some suggestions for you as you ponder this important investment decisions):

1. Our food is very healthy and tastes great (authentic food)- that is the minimum requirement for any restaurant business. Our price points is such that people can eat at our place 3 times a week and many do. Lunch's dishes are around $8 and dinner starts around $9.5 go up to $19. All of our appetizers are in smaller portion and they are priced at $5 so it is very easy to purchase a few. Our place is beautifully decorated - with not too much emphasis on too Asian or trying to be modern. It is described as pretty and comfortable - non-pretentious.
2. The owners (my husband and I) are always there to talk to our guests. I am the executive chef but I do come out and chat with the customers - frequent customers or new ones.
3. Our service is very tentative. We just expanded into a bigger place and we worked hard to make sure our staff know our customers, their favorites, and at least to give warm and great service.
4. Our signature dishes are very popular and are known to many people.
5. The only marketing I do is to have a frequent diner program and I market to them - solely. I found that ads on any magazine - even a hip magazine - is a waste of money. I tried and tracked every campaign so I know this very well.
6. Food critics - I think it is all depends. I got great reviews and that did bring in traffic but that is not sustainable. What sustain the constant flood of customers to our doors is what and how we keep our customers informed and giving only those on our email list the "good deals".
7. We do run promotions - but not predictable and it is by designed. We found it is very successful to do a promotion on one day where dishes that normally are priced at $8 to be $6, $95.0 fo for $7.50. We do this kind of promotions on our popular dishes as well as on dishes that we want them to become popular. I don't do any % percentage off as that is typical and value to customers are not perceived as well.
8. Buy One Get One 1/2 or FREE is something I do a couple of times a year and only when I need to bring flood of traffic to my door - like Super Bowl nights where people tend to go to bars (we don't have bar) or stay home. AND again, I only communicate this promotion to my own customers who are in our database. I would strongly discourage doing this often or post it on magazine ads as it does bring in people you might not want as patrons of your place.
9. The whole celebrity part is not something I go for as well as not something my clients go for., The customers are very successful in their own rights so although we have sport fingures and well-know chefs, celebrity restauranteurs dine at our place, we don't emphasize it. We don't use them to promote our place as there is no need. Our customers who dine at our place don't care who that person is. The food, the atmosphere (often people describe our place as a cult...), the great service and the honest appreciation shown to our guests that we are only here because of their support and business is what I think has made our place a huge success.
10. We do put together an entertainment with Thai musician, dancers and dragon dance for special occassions - no more than twice a year on special Asian Holidays. Again, we only promote the events to our own customers so they feel exclusive and important. Those events have people talking for months afterward and that continues to bring excitement to the place and to our customers. They are the ones who bring friends and tell their friends to join our email list to receive "privileges".
11. Lastly but most importantly, our restaurant is not viewed as a mom-and-pop operation as we are very up-to-date with eating trends. We are big in Gluten-Free offerings (that landed me on local ABC news) so while there are many restaurants around, we are the top place in term of dining for people who need to be Gluten-Free. We publish newsletter about food facts and what is up with us so it is personable and the customers feel we care about them. So, maybe your place should be known for something more than just another Asian Fusion restaurant by featuring items that are well-know to general public but do them GF version also. Doing GF version on your menu will also give your place a story for the news and local newspaper to write about and then it will attract all sorts of people to it - regular folks as well as folks with restriction.