2. Marketing Strategies
Taking the plunge into business takes courage and a
belief in yourself and your ideas. Not everyone has the
self-confidence required to run a successful restau-
rant. The fact that you believe in your business sense
enough to work at it as hard as you do says you have
something special. Otherwise you wouldn’t be putting
this much time and effort into your operation.
Unfortunately, the talent and vision that form the core
of your restaurant are often lost in the sea of compe-
tition your customers choose from every day. If they
only knew what you already know about the great-
est attributes of your restaurant then you would never
have to worry about finding customers.
This edition of The Front Burner features many ways
to communicate effectively with existing customers
and plots strategies for finding new ones. A marketing
strategy is certainly important to the success of your
restaurant, but far too often the foundation of an ef-
fective campaign is overlooked.
Before you commit to a marketing strategy, identify
the two or three things you do really well. Those couple
things should be easy to find – they’re the reasons you
“Taking the
plunge into
get out of bed every morning and get to work. The
key is to weave those bedrock ideas into the narrative
that makes up your marketing campaigns. Whatever
channel you decide to use for marketing your restau-
rant, communicating your vision will ensure success
business takes
courage…”
and help you connect with customers.
Michael Lewis
Tundra Founder
3. 10 Easy Marketing Tips That Will
Crank Up Your Restaurant’s Revenue.
Good food, great service, and a unique concept are the fundamentals of a successful restaurant. If you don’t
impress your customers with these three things, they won’t be coming back any time soon. Sending happy
customers out the door to tell their friends about their experience in your restaurant is the most effective way to
get the word out.
Unfortunately, word-of-mouth marketing can only get you so far. Eventually you’re going to need to cast a
wider net in search of customers. On the other hand, any marketing that’s more involved than your regulars tell-
ing their friends about you is going to cost money – a prospect that will surely give any restaurant owner pause.
Fortunately, there are ways to market yourself without busting your budget or taking away from the time you
need to run your restaurant. That’s why we decided to compile 10 easy marketing tips that will help you crank
up your revenue. These strategies are designed to deliver maximum punch per dollar without taking up a lot of
your time.
Look for these Top 10 tips throughout
this edition of The Front Burner…
1. Social Media Marketing
2. Manage Your Online Reputation
3. ROCK Your Marketing Efforts
4. Completely Change Your Menu
5. Nothing Sells Like A Good Secret
6. Serve “Fast Food” For Lunch
7. Turn Your Restaurant Into A Hot Spot
8. Harness Email & Ride The Gravy Train
9. Recharge Your Happy Hour
10. Take Your Restaurant Marketing Underground
unique marketing
efforts by
PLUS…
Is Your Kitchen FDA Compliant With New Changes To The Food Code?
Controlling Insects & Pests
4. Tip# Social Media Marketing
In Three Steps
Social media. It’s the thing everyone is talking about in the marketing industry. The
best part about restaurant social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is that
getting your message out there costs you nothing but time – a precious commod-
ity to be sure, but a heck of a lot cheaper than a local newspaper ad or radio
spot. Already many restaurants have employed clever strategies to engage cus-
tomers and generate business for their restaurant online.
A social media marketing campaign, if done right, can become an effective cus-
tomer making machine. It’s not easy, and will require some work. But if the right
strategies are employed, your restaurant stands to benefit.
STEP 1: FACEBOOK
Facebook is probably the most popular so-
cial media platform for anyone in marketing
today. Does that mean sales are going to go
up the minute you hit “publish” on your Face- Some Facebook Strategies:
book page? Well, maybe not, but the bottom line is that having a Build a great fan page.
fan page definitely can’t hurt you, and may very well help. If you As a business you’ll want to create a Facebook fan page
don’t start bringing in loads of new customers, you’ll at least im- rather than a profile. The bad thing about a fan page is that
prove retention among existing ones. you can’t communicate with others the same way you’re
More importantly, a Facebook fan page can be a great way to used to. A fan page is much more reliant on people finding
collect information about your customers and get feedback about you and engaging you.
your restaurant. You can leverage this information to connect with The good part about a fan page is that you can do a lot of
customers in new ways and expand your email marketing cam- customization. Create custom tabs, set up a couple RSS feeds,
paigns. You’ll also have a direct line to customers, revealing what and you’ll be well on your way to making your fan page stand
they don’t like about your establishment as well as what’s working out for your customers. There are countless step-by-step guides
well. to building Facebook fan pages on the web. A quick Google
So how exactly do you create a great Facebook page? And how search will return you more articles on the subject than you
do you start gaining fans and generating interest in your restaurant? know what to do with.
STEP 2: TWITTER In the food service industry, restaurants
and chefs have used Twitter to engage
Here are some best practices
that will help you succeed
customers with content that gives them
Twitter is a “micro blog” tool that al- a behind-the-scenes view of what’s hap- and get the most out of your
lows users to send short 140 character pening and unique promotions that bring restaurant marketing efforts:
messages to a list of subscribers. The in extra business.
original goal of the site was to give Post regularly. Some Twitter users send
Chefs are using the site to engage cus- out several tweets every day. You prob-
friends a way to update each other
tomers by giving out recipes and asking for ably don’t want to annoy your customers
on what they’re doing in real time.
feedback on new dishes and ingredients. with a lot of updates, especially at first.
Of course, as we all know now, Twit-
O t h e r restaurants are advertising meal But you should definitely choose a sched-
ter has quickly become much more
specials and events to draw in ule and stick with it. That way your follow-
than that. Chief among the
loyal customers on specific ers know when to expect an update and
things Twitter has become,
days. Some restaurants (hopefully) they look forward to your next
besides a news distributor, a
have even started one.
social media site, and a busi-
tweeting months be-
ness communications tool is a
fore the doors open for Be creative. 140 characters doesn’t
popular vehicle for marketing give you a lot of space. It also doesn’t give
the first time, resulting in a
and branding. you a lot of time to catch someone’s at-
packed opening night.
4
5. STEP 3:
FOURSQUARE
Foursquare is part of a newer subset
of the social media phenomenon
that has been dubbed “hyper-
local social media.” It works
like this: as you patronize
your favorite local haunts,
you “check-in” with Four-
square, which allows you to
see if friends are nearby and
post information about the
venue you’re currently in.
The more you check-in, the
more “badges,” or awards,
you get. For instance, you
can become the mayor of
a certain bar or club if you
check-in the most times from
that location in 60 days.
Tech-savvy restaurants and bars
caught wind of the mayor and other
Tell everyone about your page. Foursquare badges and started ad-
With a fan page you can’t just go around Facebook friending as many people vertising to this ready-made customer
as you can find like you can with a regular profile. Therefore you must drive traffic base, offering free drinks and other
to your fan page in order to get some fans. The most obvious places to do this comps to the Foursquare mayors of
are on your website and in email marketing campaigns, but it would definitely their establishment. Most people had
benefit you to explore some other options, like business cards or even your no idea what the heck a mayor was,
menus. but those who did quickly spread the
word to their friends, and it turned out
Offer your fans something unique.
to be a hot way for restaurants and
Once you’ve started to build a fan base, reward them with some sort of promo-
bars to market themselves effectively
tion – a free appetizer, 2-for-1 drinks, anything to get your fans to actually come
to their hippest customers.
into the restaurant and spend money. The added benefit for you is that you’ll
be able to gauge exactly how successful your fan page is based on how many In general the hyperlocal movement
people use the promo you only released through Facebook. is beneficial to the food service in-
dustry because it provides a real time
medium through which restaurants
can advertise to their customers. For
tention. Boring tweets will get deleted, is paying off? Offer a special meal deal to now, Foursquare and the inevitable
guaranteed. Straight-up sales pitches will your Twitter subscribers only. Give out a copycats that are forthcoming will be
also be ignored. Instead, use colorful, cre- special code that allows them to redeem largely limited to big urban centers
ative language to engage your subscrib- the deal. Every time a customer uses the like New York, Chicago, and L.A., but
ers and draw them in. code, you know they are there because it’s not that farfetched to imagine a
of your Twitter efforts. This strategy has the
Do more than just sell. Yes, the ulti- hyperlocal medium of one kind or an-
added benefit of making your followers other servicing communities of all sizes.
mate goal here is to get people through
feel special because they are the only
the door of your business. But if all you do is
ones getting the deal.
sell, sell, sell, you’ll start seeing unsubscribe
notices pouring in. Throw your customers a
few juicy bones before you set the hook.
Give out a few recipes. Tell a story about
the behind-the-scenes action. Ask for Engage customers with
opinions on a new dish. Get them looking content that gives them a
forward to your next tweet. Then hit ‘em
behind-the-scenes view. Tip#
with a dinner special.
Customize offers. Managing Your Online
Want to know how much all your hard work Reputation
5
6. “we’re a healthy alternative
to other fast casual chains.”
You’d think finding a place to eat lunch in a health nut haven like
Boulder, Colorado that featured simple, all-natural ingredients
made from scratch for a good price would be pretty easy. Boul-
der residents Anthony Pigliacampo and Rob McColgan realized
a couple years ago that finding good, affordable, healthy food
prepared fresh and fast was much harder than it should be. The
two friends then set out to fix this problem.
Their solution is Modmarket, a fast casual restaurant located in
the heart of Boulder’s 29th Street Mall. The menu and the food
follow a simple set of principles laid out by Anthony and Rob
when they started. Even more impressive than Modmarket’s fresh and tasty menu
is their extremely savvy marketing campaign. The restaurant is
SERVE FOOD THAT… a great example of how a great concept can expand quickly
Tastes great with the help of some well executed strategies.
Modmarket’s founders are skillful practitioners of many of the
Is made from scratch
marketing strategies you’ll find in this edition of The Front Burn-
Features simple ingredients that er, but one of their most successful campaigns comes from an
anyone can recognize innovation all their own: using receipts as advertising space.
“We view the receipt as an asset,” says co-founder Anthony
Is served quickly
Pigliacampo, “We’ve taken what was going into the trash
Is affordable, and… and turned it into a marketing tool.” All Modmarket receipts
list nutritional information for each item the customer ordered,
Wouldn’t turn you into the guy from not only placing the restaurant ahead of the curve on menu
“Super Size Me” if you ate it every day. labeling but also reinforcing Modmarket’s message: we’re a
healthy alternative to other fast casual chains.
The crazy thing is how revolutionary this simple credo has turned
out to be. Modmarket’s daily offering of fresh salads, brick oven “People like the fact that it’s transparent. We’ve had peo-
pizza, gourmet sandwiches, and made-from-scratch soups has ple come in just because they’ve heard about it,” Anthony
been an instant hit with the Boulder locals, and founders Antho- says of the nutrition information on receipts. But Modmarket’s
ny and Rob are hard at work on a second location in Denver use of all that white space on customer receipts doesn’t end
that opened at the start of the year. there. At the bottom of each receipt is a bold black arrow
pointing to the right that reads “Turn Me Over.” On the back
is a limited-time promo giving the customer 10% off their next
order, provided it happens in the next two days.
Read more about ModMarket’s unique marketing
efforts at etundra.com/modmarket
303.440.0476 modMarket.com
BOULDER DENVER
1600 28th Street 1000 S Colorado Blvd
Boulder, Colorado Denver, Colorado
7. Managing Your
Tip# Online Reputation
Everyone’s got an opinion!
And in the internet age, everyone can and
does voice their opinion online. So do you
have any idea what people
are saying online about your 84% of American
restaurant? This is not to say consumers say online
that the opinion machine driv- reviews affect their
en by the internet is all bad. It decisions on products
is, however, a decidedly dou- and brands.
ble-edged sword. On the one
hand, positive reviews and feedback com-
ing from your happy customers can bring
new customers in droves. On the other, one
jerk who may or may not have actually had a bad experience
can pick up the megaphone and start screaming nasty things
about your restaurant.
HERE ARE 4 WAYS TO MANAGE YOUR REPUTATION:
1. LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING. You can’t manage
something if you don’t know what you’re dealing with. So tune
in to the internet and start listening. Some places to start: Yelp,
OpenTable, and UrbanSpoon are just a few of the myriad web-
sites that post restaurant reviews. Don’t forget about the social
media behemoths either: you should be on Twitter and Face-
book anyway, talking about your restaurant, but if you’re not, go
there today and get started!
2. RESPOND TO YOUR CRITICS AND THANK YOUR FANS. The
internet is all about conversation. You’ve listened. Now it’s time
to answer. No matter how you respond, do it with a healthy dose
of common sense. All the things that annoy you about people at
a dinner party are the same things that are going to annoy your
customers online. So avoid them.
3. TAKE THE INITIATIVE. Don’t let the naysayers define your
restaurant’s reputation online. If you’re not offering an alternate
narrative, then people will start to think everything they read
about you is true. Here’s where Twitter and Facebook come in.
These services are free. These services are popular. These services
are also considered culturally important. Take the time to learn
how to use them and then start talking about how great your
restaurant is. You’ll be amazed how many people want to listen.
All this costs you is your time, and the potential for new customer
development is virtually unlimited.
4. GATHER INTELLIGENCE. This goes hand in hand with Step 1,
but you can’t really gather effectively until you’ve started the
conversation that follows from Steps 2 and 3. Once you’ve es-
tablished your own presence online, you can start to really learn
exactly who your customers are and what they want. This is the
revered Holy Grail of marketing: knowing customers better than
they know themselves. You can achieve this through effective
online reputation management.
8. How To ROCK Your
Tip #
Marketing Efforts
Denver based Smashburger, an emerging fast casual chain, has shown just how effective tapping into
the local music scene can be for a new restaurant. The company’s Rock Your City program encourages
local bands to submit their videos via YouTube prior to the grand opening of a new location. Smash-
burger then selects the best applicants and posts their videos to the company website so that fans can
vote on the best one. The winners get to play at the new location on opening day in exchange for free
burgers plus a local radio broadcast.
If you’ve got the space and an inclination for live music, keep
these tips in mind before you rock out your own establishment:
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE BAND’S EXISTING INCORPORATE LIVE MUSIC INTO YOUR OWN
MARKETING EFFORTS. Any band even remotely MARKETING EFFORTS. Include links to YouTube
serious about their prospects will have at least a clips of the bands that are going to perform in
preliminary marketing effort online. And since both your establishment on your website. Post live
you and the band want people to show up for their music schedules throughout your restaurant
gig in your restaurant, this is a great opportunity for and email your customers when their favorite
you to advertise to the band’s fans through their bands have a gig.
existing online presence. Live music is a great way to connect with
LET YOUR CUSTOMERS TELL YOU WHO THEY your customers and turn them into reg-
WANT TO HEAR. Smashburger’s strategy of taking ulars. It doesn’t take nearly as much
submissions and then allowing fans to vote for the work as you might think, and the payoff
winning gig is the perfect way to get the most mile- in new business can make it more than
age out of a live music gig before the band ever a worthwhile endeavor.
steps foot on the stage.
Tip# Completely Change Your Menu
In recent years smart restaurateurs have turned the psychology Place the items that fall into best seller and high margin groups
of perusing a menu into a science designed to get customers in the prime locations at the top and bottom of your app, entrée
ordering your best menu items on a consistent basis. and dessert lists. Place
high margin items in the
HERE’S HOW TO GET STARTED OPTIMIZING YOUR MENU:
top right of the menu
DROP DOLLAR SIGNS. Anyone who has sat in a res- and lower margin items
taurant trying to decide what to order is a liar if they tell you in the lower left as well.
they don’t look at the price for help in making The customer’s eye will
a decision. So if every customer is going to be track to the upper right
looking at that number beside menu items, you first, giving items placed
might as well make it as appealing as possible. there a much higher
viewing percentage.
A study by the Culinary Institute of America
showed that menus without the symbol “$”
MASTER THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
or the word “dollars” saw an increase in sales of over 8% per
person. That’s enough to make anyone scrambling to get the When someone looks at a menu, they will inevitably compare
white out! prices. That’s where the Theory comes in. More often than not,
customers will choose a middle-of-the-road option. The trick is to
STRATEGICALLY PLACE BEST SELLERS AND define “middle-of-the-road” for your customer.
MONEY MAKERS. Customers scan lists of appetizers, en- That’s why a smart restaurateur will create one entrée that is ri-
trees, and desserts in a predictable way. Naturally, they look
diculously expensive – absolutely and shamelessly high end. You
at the top item first. Maybe not so logically, they check out the
may never sell a single one, but it doesn’t matter. That unafford-
very last item second. Then a customer will usually go to the
able entrée will give your customers a compass by which they
second item from the top, then second from bottom, until they
will judge the rest of the menu.
get to the middle.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW THIS, TAKE THE MENU ITEMS OF
EACH CATEGORY AND SPLIT THEM UP INTO GROUPS:
9. Tip# Nothing Sells Like A Good Secret
It all started as an attempt to perk There are some complications for independent restaurants.
up January sales. If you’re in Every state has rules for sweepstakes promotions, and it’s
the restaurant business, you probably not very cost effective to give away a Caribbe-
know how quiet January an vacation. Additionally it can get complicated decid-
is. To combat that trend ing how to value different prize levels and how to distribute
Houlihan’s, a well-known them evenly.
casual dining concept That doesn’t mean your restaurant can’t implement a se-
based in Kansas City, MO, cret envelope type campaign, especially if you make it a
decided to play Secret raffle. Instead of a sweepstakes, hand out raffle numbers to
Santa during the holiday customers and then collect their numbers when they come
season by giving customers back a second time. Drop those numbers into a hat and
a “secret envelope.” hold a drawing on a set day. There’s a good chance you’ll
In every envelope was a prize collect a lot of numbers the day you hold drawing.
– and some envelopes had
Make sure you have sweepstakes-worthy prizes, like No matter how you decide to implement a secret envelope
campaign, make sure it gets picked up on the internet and
some prizes with real a Caribbean vacation. Others the local media. The best part about a campaign that has
value to them. contained Houlihan’s gift cards an air of mystery to it is its potential to go viral. Make sure you
for different amounts. The catch take advantage of this tendency to the fullest.
was that to redeem the prize, the customer had to return for a meal
in January. Also make sure you have some prizes with real value to
them. Naturally you can’t afford to give away a Caribbean
The response caught everyone at Houlihan’s by surprise. The secret vacation, but you should focus on variety and include some
envelope promo added an element of adventure for the customer big prizes with a lot of value. Nobody will care if all you give
that really drove excitement. Sales soared, a lot of buzz was gener- away are $10 gift cards to eat at your restaurant.
ated, and soon Houlihan’s decided to make the secret envelope
promo a regular twice-a-year event.
Tip# Serve Fast Food For Lunch
“Fast food” is a successful promotion more than one
national chain has used to grab new customers:
QUICK LUNCHES FOR PEOPLE ON THE GO.
It works like this:
Step 1 Guarantee your customers they’ll get their lunch in 15 minutes or less
after they order from a limited lunch special menu or it’s FREE.
Step 2 Make sure lunch is served in 15 minutes.
Weekday lunches can be a hard shift to watching the clock tick while you scram- If you get busy enough to be forced into
nail down for any restaurant. Sometimes ble to get their food out. That’s why you’ve giving away a couple meals here and
it’s busy, sometimes it’s completely dead. got to make sure this baby doesn’t back- there, then consider your speed lunch
One thing is certain, however. Most peo- fire on you. To start, stick to high margin, promotion a success. That’s why you keep
ple are at work and are busy. They want easy-to-prepare favorites. That way you the menu to a limited number of high mar-
to know they can get in and out of a res- can price them aggressively and know gin specials. No one will be disappointed
taurant quickly without having to worry that your line can whip them up quickly when their food arrives two minutes too
about being late for whatever it is they even if it gets hectic out there. late.
need to do next. Guaranteeing a quick
lunch is a great way to let your customers
Turn Your Restaurant
Tip#
know you understand their busy schedule
and are ready to meet their needs. Into A Hot Spot
Customers love the idea of getting any-
thing for free, and rest assured - they’ll be
10. Tip# Turn Your Restaurant Into A Hot Spot
Turning your restaurant into a hotspot is Make electrical outlets scarce. Boost Lunch Sales
relatively easy and has proven to help When WiFi hotspots were first brought Up To 8%
boost lunch sales by as much as 8%. It also in to restaurants, many owners wor-
encourages customers to come in during ried that patrons would turn into
that extremely slow period between lunch serial “table campers,” hanging
and dinner, and helps facilitate business out for hours on end without or-
meetings, which can translate into some dering anything more than a
good sales for your establishment. cup of coffee and surfing the
net. The reality has been that the
If you are considering setting up
vast majority of customers do not
a WiFi hotspot in your restaurant,
overstay the standard table turn-
keep a few key things in mind: over time, however, the best way
Give away internet service for to ensure this is to make sure they
free. First of all, that’s what most other can’t plug in their laptops.
hotspots do, and so your customer al- Create separate networks for
ready expects to get service for free. Sec- Carefully consider who you want to tar-
customers and internal use. Just
ondly, you’ll be increasing sales and cus- get with your WiFi service and what kind
because you already have an internet
tomer loyalty by giving away free internet. of customer is likely to use it. Obviously, a
network set up for your business’ comput-
fine dining atmosphere targeted towards
Password protect the network. ers doesn’t mean you should make that
couples out on dates doesn’t jibe well with
Have servers give out the password to same network available to customers.
a WiFi service. On the other hand, if that’s
patrons when they are seated. This helps The last thing you want is some creative
your dinner crowd but you want to jump
prevent people from neighboring build- patron getting in to your POS system or
into the business lunch market, advertising
ings from pirating your connection and other important information through your
a WiFi network could make a lot of sense.
slowing it down, and you can at least limit network.
access to paying customers at the same WiFi isn’t for every restaurant concept.
time.
Harness Email & Ride the Gravy Train
Tip #
Email marketing is usually something most people associate with retail,
but it can be a very effective marketing tool for restaurants as well.
Email is a great way to reach your customers because it’s version rate. Does a 10% off coupon on any meal work better
cheaper to send than print advertisements and much easier to than a buy one, get one free drink during happy hour deal?
manage as well. If done right, email can quickly become one The only way to know for sure is to get customers who heard
of the most effective ways for you to about the deal through your email
connect with your customers. Don’t send emails unless it’s requested campaign to use a code when re-
deeming their discount.
However, there are definitely some Offer something every time you send an email
do’s and don’ts when it comes to email Use a proper email marketing sys-
marketing: Track conversions tem. Don’t try to send emails out
Use a proper email marketing system from your Hotmail account. For
Don’t send emails unless it’s requested.
one thing, it looks unprofessional.
Sending unsolicited email is also known
For another, you will get labeled as
as SPAM, and we all know how annoying that is. That’s why the
spam sooner or later. There are a variety of options out there.
best way to collect email addresses is to offer a little something
in return and get your customer to volunteer their email address. Make sure you do your research first.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to email
Offer something every time you send an email. The hard truth is
marketing is to experiment. Best practices only take you so far.
that your customer really doesn’t want to be bothered reading
Try different types of offers and presentations until you find the
an email about a restaurant. What they do want know is when
one that gets the most customers in the door. This is also why
your happy hour is and what days you offer specials. Don’t send
tracking is so important. If you can’t tell if you’re having a busy
an email unless you have something to offer. Otherwise you’re
Tuesday night by chance or because of last week’s email, then
just clogging up an already busy email inbox.
you can’t improve and refine your campaigns.
Track conversions. Use coupon codes or some other system to
track the success of your email marketing campaign. Try differ-
ent types of offers and see which ones have the highest con-
11. Tip# Recharge Your Happy Hour
These aren’t the happy hours you might remember from five Once you’ve got ‘em
years ago. It isn’t just a couple domestic beers on tap for $2 any-
more. Many restaurants are taking their happy hour all out, with in the door, keep ‘em!
special tapas style menus at bargain-basement prices and pre-
mium cocktails for $5. Happy hour has also gotten much longer,
from 2-3 hours to 4-5 hours of deals.
If you’re considering adding a happy hour or spicing up
the one you’ve got, keep a few key factors in mind:
Happy hours should make the customer happy. These days, your
customers aren’t looking for a dollar off a domestic beer. They
want more, and they’re getting it as restaurateurs continue to
fight for business. Make your happy hour a smokin’ deal if you
really want to ratchet up the buzz and the traffic.
Create a special menu. There’s no need to lose your butt on your
dinner apps just to stay competitive. Take your highest margin
apps and entrees and turn them into smart, fun, finger-style dish-
es that can be prepared fast and efficiently, preferably with a
margin you can’t lose on.
Spend some money advertising. If you’re changing up the menu
Once you’ve got ‘em in the door, keep ‘em! Customers are
and slashing drink prices, you need volume. You’re not going to
there because you’ve gotten their attention with some good
get volume if you don’t get the word out. Start with your regu-
deals. There’s never been a better opportunity to get them
lar customers and then hit the rest of the market with whatever
to stay. Use happy hour menus to advertise dinner specials
you’ve got (and whatever you can afford): email marketing, lo-
and train your staff to drop some great deals on happy hour
cal ads, flyers, etc.
patrons before they leave. At the very least, they may come
back for dinner another time after learning your deals don’t
end at 7 pm.
12. Take Your Restaurant Marketing
Tip #
Underground
“Underground fine dining” is a trend that is spreading
throughout the U.S. like a fire in 60 MPH winds.
It started in
San Francisco,
where a chef What is underground dining? It can take
many forms, from sumptuous seven
known only as course meals served in an abandoned
The Dissident warehouse to super-secret, invite-only
Chef launched seats in a chef’s home kitchen. The
a series of common threads binding this move-
ment together is five star cuisine served
events known in a novel environment, prix fixe, and a
as Sub Culture limited number of lucky invitees.
Dining. Social media has also played a huge
role in the success of the movement,
with many underground chefs posting
coded messages on Twitter, Facebook,
and even Craigslist informing members
where the next event will take place.
The combination of superb food and a
sense of exclusivity and adventure has
fueled the success of underground din-
ing. For traditional restaurants, the phe-
nomenon has raised the bar of diner ex-
pectations. On the other hand, there is
incredible opportunity here to do some-
thing exciting and fun that will market
your restaurant well and help you ex-
pand your culinary horizons.
Some ideas for taking your
restaurant underground:
Theme nights. No, don’t put up a
couple plastic palm trees and call it Gil-
ligan’s Island. Transform your restaurant
into something completely different.
Dress your staff differently. Serve some
unique specials and really take things to
the next level. Make your regulars feel
like they’ve never been in your restau-
The ultimate take-out. Abandoned warehouses? Defunct
wine cellars? Just because those underground chefs have start-
rant before.
ed making weird places cool places for eating doesn’t mean
Interactive dining. Your best cus- you have to be stuck in your restaurant for all time.
tomers probably have a little chef envy
Take what you do, sign up 50 or 100 of your best customers, and
hidden somewhere deep inside, and
put on a prix fixe meal extravaganza in some cool, quirky place
it’s just dying to get out. Help them con-
outside your restaurant. If it can work for a rebel chef it can work
nect with their inner chef by putting on
for you, and your customers will love the unique experience.
an event in which your customers par-
ticipate in the preparation of a prix fixe The underground dining movement has spread across the coun-
dining event put on by your restaurant. try so rapidly that it has quickly become mainstream. Incorporat-
This is the latest and hottest trend in un- ing a few exclusive underground events of your own into your
derground fine dining, and foodies ab- repertoire is the perfect way to build solid relationships with your
solutely love the opportunity to live like very best customers while also creating buzz about your restau-
a chef for an evening. rant in the local community.
13. Effective restaurant
marketing doesn’t
have to be expensive
marketing.
In fact, the best kind of marketing you’ll do for your restau-
rant is the kind that doesn’t require a big check up front. In
the competitive environment restaurants find themselves
these days, big spending on marketing is almost surely out
of reach for all but the very largest chains.
For the rest of us, strategies like customer engagement
through social media marketing (p. 8), creative promotions
like secret envelopes (p. 26) and hot happy hours (p. 46 )
are a much more effective (and affordable!) way to reach
customers and keep the dining room full.
Focusing on affordable marketing solutions doesn’t mean
you can’t harness the power of technology. Using Wi-Fi to
pump up slow afternoon business (p. 32) and email mar-
keting to reach your customers directly (p. 39 ) when they
aren’t dining in your restaurant are two great examples of
ways technology can be put to work.
Whatever tactics you incorporate into a marketing strat-
egy for your restaurant, make sure you track the results as
accurately as possible. Only by testing strategies, measur-
ing results, and then continuing with those that work and
discarding ones that don’t will you be able to settle upon
the most effective marketing tactics for your restaurant.
TIPS OVERVIEW
1. Social Media Marketing 6. Serve “Fast Food” For Lunch
2. Manage Your Online Reputation 7. Turn Your Restaurant Into A Hot Spot
3. ROCK Your Marketing Efforts 8. Harness Email & Ride The Gravy Train
4. Completely Change Your Menu 9. Recharge Your Happy Hour
5. Nothing Sells Like A Good Secret 10. Take Your Restaurant Marketing
Underground
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