Bar & Restaurant Franchise Brand Marketing via Design the Planet

Bar & Restaurant Franchise Brand Marketing

We work with several local and regional Restaurant & Bar brands to help them get to the "next level" or to develop their concept. We are the team to call when you need a marketing partner that understands what is going on - the challenges that occur when franchising, how to budget and plan for internal promotions and external advertising, and how to use a web site and social media to reach your fans. Having worked with franchises with 2 - 15 locations we can help your concept improve and expand or reposition in the market.

Should your business be a “Location” or “Destination” to be successful?

January 26, 2012 – 10:36 am

Know the answer before you open another location!

Understanding the differences, benefits, and challenges between “Location” or “Destination” business is VITAL! So, it always surprises me when business owners don’t understand these concepts, or they don’t know which one best descibes their business. I’ve seen some locations fail because the owner didn’t understand. There are many decisions to make when opening your first business, or your tenth location, and determining if you are a Location or Destination will determine how you handle those decisions.

When I was in my late teens, living in Baton Rouge, I started training at a new restaurant concept for a waitress position. I learned a lot about presentation, expectations and delivery. After a few training sessions – before the place opened – one of the owners stopped by. I couldn’t help but ask them how they planned on getting people in the door – much less the right people.

The restaurant was new to the area and it was tucked back behind several other businesses – even other restaurants. I couldn’t imagine how they would generate any business being so far off of a major road with zero visibility. I’m sure the owner was wondering why a waitress in training would ask this kind of question, but he answered, “We are a Destination not a location. People will decide to come here and will drive the slightly extra distance. We don’t need drive-by traffic to be a success.”

At the time I thought they were crazy. Honestly, I quit the job because I didn’t know how I was going to make money at a restaurant that would have such little business. I also didn’t like the way they had us delivering certain dishes. The method forced us to almost burn our hands by holding the scalding-hot bowls a certain way so they could be delivered with style. I went to work at another restaurant in town that already had a proven track record, but in hind sight I probably missed out on a great opportunity. The “New Concept” was Semolina. It was very VERY successful in that location for several years.

That owner, or franchise owner (I don’t know which), understood what kind of business Semolina was. They had some specific and strategic advertising, and yes, people would drive the extra distance to a restaurant that was “off the beaten path” for well-prepared fresh pasta served in a dynamic atmosphere. They were a destination.

Now, deciding if you are a Location or Destination isn’t only a restaurant owner’s choice. All Business-to-Consumer companies need to determine what they are.

So, for instance, if a Destination business compels people through unique differentiation or branding to arrive there by making a conscious decision to do so – a Location business is one that is planted in a high-traffic area so it can take advantage of its visibility and convenience. Successful location-based businesses know a lot about what kind of “high-traffic” they need to be successful, and will only add locations that fit that model.

As I said, knowing if you are a Location or Destination is vital! This is because you have to make other decisions for your business once you determine which model your business will be. Marketing, Branding and Advertising are used differently for each. External signage is different. Your message will be different. Your peak volume of business, and at what time of day it occurs will be different.

If you have a highly successful “Location” it is challenging to then establish a “Destination” when opening your next store. If you open your first store and are relying on a specific kind of “high-end” or “hungry-in-a-hurry” traffic, for example, and you picked the wrong location, your success may be limited, or you will need to re-make yourself into a destination.

So whether this is your first or fifth store, figure out if you are a Location or Destination – knowing the answer may determine your success.

By DTP_adrienne | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Buy a Restaurant or Bar Concept – or Make Your OWN?

December 28, 2011 – 4:04 pm

Some Things to Know Consider…

I came across the story of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse the other day – it speaks of humble beginnings, Ruth’s desire to do “something” to put her kids through college, mortgaging her home, all to buy a business – Chris Steakhouse.

http://www.myneworleans.com/New-Orleans-Magazine/October-2011/The-Empire-of-Sizzzzzzzle/

We work with both kinds of Restaurant & Bar concepts. Some entrepreneurs have a goal and some kind of vision, or they love to make a special type of food and they want to share it with the world, so they start a new concept. Other restauranteurs shop around for a business that appears to be a good investment they can build on – like Ruth.

If you are working with an unique concept and zero experience in opening a restaurant or bar, you will want to enlist some help. Depending on what you are “good at” or what product or service your talents can create, you probably don’t have the ability to put all pieces of the puzzle together. A potentially successful concept needs several components to achieve successful – not just one. You need to have a few of the following:

1) Great “product” or ”experience”

2) good service delivery

3) some advertising or a ton of walk-by traffic. If you have the walk-by traffic, your exterior/interior will need to look inviting to the right kind of people. If your plan involves advertising to get people to your location, it needs to be focused and you need to deliver your product/service consistently.

4) Having a plan for problems that may arise, and pre-preparation for contingencies is recommended.

SO – figure out what you are good at – then hire specialists to help with the rest.

If you purchase a restaurant and/or bar, some of the key things you should have in the agreement and under your belt before the current owner exit the picture are:

1) Discover the “original” idea behind the restaurant or bar. What was the vision? Did it work?

2) Understand your strengths and be able to train new staff to maintain consistent cooking, serving and service.

3) Understand what the most loved, and profitable, items are and promote them.

4) Know what items are least purchased and consider phasing them out.

5) Get the full scoop on ALL business neighbors, and get to know as many as possible.

6) Understand how the Bar/Restaurant has successfully marketed in the past.

7) Find out if any campaigns were complete failures – no need to do that again!

Plan time to work elbow-to-elbow with the current owner for several weeks, if possible, as there are normally fine/subtle things that they may do on auto-pilot that they may forget to share or provide in writing.

9) Get introduced to suppliers, and understand why they were chosen.

10) There are tons of legalities to cover when purchasing any kind of company that I can’t cover here, so ask your friendly neighborhood attorney for help!

11) Make sure you will have access to the past owner for a good long while. A past owner who wants to cut-and-run may be hiding something.

12) Don’t change much in the beginning – you probably purchased the concept because it was successful in some way – if you change things too quickly you can disorient the fans who make the business thrive and pay the bills.

But back to Ruth – she purchased a concept, she figured out what they did very well, and improved on the rest. Now it’s your turn!

By DTP_adrienne | Posted in Advertising, Starting a Restaurant and Bar Concept | Tagged Brand Marketing, Buying a Business, Company Growth, Ruth's Chris, Starting a Restaurant & Bar | Comments (0)

How Inconsistent Service Happens and Business Suffers

September 27, 2011 – 11:53 pm

Do all of your employees “get” what your company is about? Do they understand the “promise of the culture”? Are they trained to share the desired brand “experience” with each and every customer? When some restaurant or bar concepts are born, the vision of what the company represents and how it should operate exists within the mind/s of the ownership. Often, the vision is shared with the first few people hired, then others who follow are trained by managers. The owner started off with a few solid ideas on service and theme, but by the time the third person in the chain is trained, vital key elements and characteristics can be lost. If the owner remains engaged in the day-to-day business, servers, brand ambassadors and representatives can be retrained to achieve the desired behavior that provides the proper brand experience.

Unless the process is systematized and well-developed, things can really break down when the ownership opens a second location, or attempts to back out of day-to-day activities. Without the day-in and day-out tweaks, supervisory help, and retraining from the owner, employees lose sight of what they are supposed to do. The service/experience they are supposed to deliver consistently will suffer and adversely effect profitability.

By DTP_adrienne | Posted in Problems In Restaurants & Bars, Small Ideas for Big Changes | Tagged Growth Problems, Service, training | Comments (0)

Don’t Pour Money in a Hole! Save Your Marketing Dollars

September 8, 2011 – 7:51 pm

If you’re establishment(s) offer food and beverage for sale, and you do it well, then you shouldn’t have to pump loads of money into an ongoing aggressive marketing campaign year round. if you do need constant marketing then you are probably pouring money in a hole. You are doing something wrong. Marketing a new concept or a special event is one thing, but ongoing aggressive marketing, year after year is a sign that something needs to be fixed.

We have had the pleasure of researching several companies to see: what they are made of, why they are successful, and where they are falling short. You can’t get to the next level or open the next store if your resources are squandered on pervasive marketing. You have to identify what isn’t working and fix it. It isn’t easy to look at your whole operation and say “what isn’t working? what can be better?”, but if you want to save money on advertising then get the magnifying glass out.

Some of the challenges we have identified in other companies are: Lack of Management, Lack of Training, Bad Signage, Bad Location Selection, Inconsistent Brand Message, Not Connecting to your Target Market, Bad Food or Product Delivery – or – Inconsistent.

So don’t keep pouring money in a hole – find the problem and fix it!

By Steve | Posted in Problems In Restaurants & Bars | Tagged Company Growth, Good Ideas, marketing mony | Comments (0)

Double Check

September 8, 2011 – 6:16 pm

Double Check all Items that are printed for your establishment – Signs, Business Cards, Billboards, Menus, Napkins, Purchase Orders, Job Offers, etc. Or if you aren’t a person to manage the details have someone else take a second look and Double Check.

Having a small text error probably isn’t a big deal – UNTIL – it’s on a billboard for everyone to see – or when a price is wrong and you have to honor it (and pay to have menus reprinted). Saving face and money are good reasons alone but there are also deeper implications when errors occur. So… Double Check!

By DTP_adrienne | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Brand Marketing, Good Ideas | Comments (0)

Two Kinds of Marketing!

February 26, 2011 – 7:58 am

Marketing is a big blanket term. To get your footing – here is the definition of Marketing:
Marketing is the process of performing market research, selling products and/or services to customers and promoting them via advertising to further enhance sales. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for customers and for themselves.
Marketing is used to identify the customer, to satisfy the customer, and to keep the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is a major components of business management.

With this generic definition of marketing in mind, I’d like to discuss two kinds of marketing all companies should be engaged in on an ongoing basis:

1 – Get Them!
Most business owners know they need to “market” their company, and often they spend loads of money on advertising – some good – some not so focused. Most traditional mass-media advertising (i.e. Billboards, TV, Radio, Magazines, Outdoor, and even Web Ads and SE Ranking) represents the category of “New Client Generation” marketing. This kind of marketing does three things for you
A) It Introduces your company to new prospects/customers.
B) It helps to make your company/brand recognizable, and
C) if you are lucky (and have effective marketing creative in place), it will help generate sales.

So… New Client Generating Marketing = Get Them!

2 – Keep Them!
To their detriment, many businesses ignore one of the most powerful forms of marketing at their disposal, and that is “Client Maintenance” marketing. There are rare occasions where Client Maintenance marketing doesn’t pay off, but in 99% of cases we have worked in, Client Maintenance marketing is cheaper, more effective and easier than New Client Generation. This kind of marketing does two things for you:
A) It keeps your company/brand top-of-mind so some other company doesn’t steel your customers, and
B) It creates a brand community of customers who spread their experience with your product/service to their contacts and connections.

Now there are tons of variables that effect how you initiate, integrate and implement Client Maintenance marketing, so the trick is developing something that works for your industry/client base. Some initiatives are simple, like publishing a company “newsletter” or blog to keep-in-touch/educate/inform. Others are more elaborate, like sending out emails so clients can answer a short survey about their experience with you. You get info and they get to feel like they are important and engaged with your brand (and may have the opportunity to win a small prize).

So… Client Maintenance Marketing = Keep Them!

You can see how the two kinds of marketing work together to first “Get Them!” then to “Keep Them!.” One without the other is like serving a cake without the icing. You may get some people to eat it, but you could offer a much more valuable brand experience, one they will be happy to partake of over-and-over again, if you sweeten it up a little. Don’t just spend lots of marketing dollars to reach new customers only to have to replace them over-and-over. Initiate the Keep Them! efforts, and you will improve marketing effectiveness and ROI dramatically!

By DTP_adrienne | Posted in Advertising | Tagged Advertising, Brand Marketing, Marketing | Comments (0)

Why Advertise? Or Do I need to Advertise?

February 26, 2011 – 7:52 am

Lets be clear – If you want to be successful, you need to advertise! Of course, the difficulty comes in deciding how to advertise and how much to advertise, but I’ll get to that later.

Why Advertise?
No matter what kind of business you are in, you should be advertising in some way to reach out to prospective customers. Advertising serves to pull new customers in while keeping you top-of-mind with current customers.Some prospective customers may want/need your product/service but are not aware it exists or that it’s available through you. Some prospects would buy from you if they knew what you had to offer and how “remarkably” you deliver their buying experience. But, if you are not advertising, then you are missing out on doing business with these people.

There are numerous advertising mediums to choose from, and each will yield different results from different audiences. Often, you get a better result by using a combination of mediums. Also, keep in mind, advertising doesn’t only refer to placing an ad, radio or tv spot, or web marketing. Advertising, from our perspective, means any external program or communication that works to generate business.

Here are the top two reasons to advertise:

1. If you want to grow – you need to advertise.
Growth can be viewed in several ways. Some companies want to grow their footprint of sales. Some want to add locations. Some companies only want better clients who meet a specific profile to help them grow, while some companies want to squash their competitors. Some companies need to grow to overcome customer attrition, or to get their product out “first”. Whatever the reason – if you want to grow by driving-in new customer traffic- you will need to advertise.

2. If you want to avoid contracting – you need to advertise
Some companies shut down their advertising efforts completely – especially in a recession - or when they think they are “busy enough”. The simple truth is that when you shut off advertising you will probably be okay for awhile, but eventually you will see sales slip due to attrition or adverse economic events.

Do You Need to Advertise?

NO, you don’t have to advertise (there is a “but” coming), but if you don’t you are setting limits to what your company can do and if, or how much, it can grow. Companies have the option to only “advertise” to their current customer base through branding or brand marketing. But, if you want to be a growth-focused company that has both client and market options, then you NEED to advertise.

By DTP_adrienne | Posted in Advertising | Tagged Advertising, Company Growth, Growth | Comments (0)

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