Kicking Butt in Restaurant Marketing

We were right next door to the Villa d'Este Restaurant. The smell of garlic being sautéed in butter would sneak into our tiny ad agency.

Convenient, 'cause when my partner Tom and I would work late, which was just about every night, we could be seated by the host/owner in minutes after realizing how hungry we were.

And the food. Nino, the diminutive chef with only a few words of English ... his cooking was incredible. His Chicken Saltimbocca could bring a tear to the eye of the most discerning gourmand.

One evening, Tom called the owner over to our table and said, "We love the food. You guys should have more customers. How 'bout we trade marketing and advertising for meals?"

It was a good deal. The restaurant got busier. Our cash flow improved and we loosened our belts a notch.

And a buzz about our agency started circulating in local restaurants. We started doing a brisk business with menu re-writes/redesigns, logos, signage, and ad concepts/production/placement.

We learned a fair amount about the restaurant business. Probably the most important was "Cash in advance. No exceptions."

As the demand for our services grew in this sector, we developed a 15-point checklist we we'd use in "secret shopper" visits before meeting with owners to determine whether or not we would pursue the business. If the restaurant got too many checks, we'd pass, knowing  that it had issues that marketing and advertising couldn't fix.

If you're working with local restaurants, or want to, maybe our checklist will come in handy:

1. Parking lot littered, building and landscaping uncared for

2. Restaurant not clean (dirty surfaces, smell), in disrepair, neglected

3. Dirty bathrooms

4. Dirty glasses, silverware

5. Old, stained, torn menus

6. Menu too long, too many items

7. Too many themes (French restaurant inside, Florida beach themed patio outside, Italian entrees on the menu) 

8. Mismatched theme (Italian decor, Indian cuisine) 

9. Staff unengaged (host/hostess, wait staff)

10. Chaotic kitchen (more than busy ... out-of-control and messy) 

11. Long wait time for food

12.  Mixed up orders (wrong appetizer, side, sauce)

13. Food doesn't look appetizing, not well arranged on plate

14. Portion size wrong (too small, too large)

15. Food not delicious

The more we made good restaurants busier, the stronger our reputation became. And word got out to owners of other local businesses, and our little shop got bigger. 

The moral of the story: If you want marketing and advertising to work, start with a good product that provides a positive impression on/experience for the targeted consumer.