Restaurant Marketing School

Complacency within the 4 walls of your restaurant will negate all of your marketing efforts. Today we discuss how to nip it in the bud.

It is so easy to get into a routine.  Go thru the motions.  Your restaurant is like the worst game of telephone…  remember that game? You are the start of the message… it is only going to get worse.  So the more you “mumble” the worse your staff and execution will be. 

Remember your passion and why you got in the business.  Don’t lose that!  Figure out ways to remind yourself.  Paul Saginaw – hand out with employees or Customers.  If that doesn’t work… get out!

Discipline equals Freedom – seems counter-intuitive, but they reside right next to each other.

- Free Time, Financial Freedom, Freedom from Stress.

Take Responsibility – While that sounds amazing… Most people don’t.  Self improvement is critical to personal and business success… they are not mutually exclusive.

Have proper Training and Recalibrating.  Employees that know the expectations and procedures are many times more likely to achieve brand standard.  HAVE A BRAND STANDARD – Northstar delivery example.

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

________________________________

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Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Industry Town Halls

Your menu is your #1 marketing piece and should be updated to reflect new trends, fresh ideas and be costed and priced properly for adequate profit.  Today we run through how price fits into that equation.

Food Cost your menu: Amazing how many restaurateurs don’t know their food cost.

What does your menu run theoretically with your current pricing and cost of goods? This should be looked at versus your Actual Food Cost with waste, over/under portioning, potential theft, etc.…

Focus on Gross Profit on each dish and by category on menu.  You will never take Food Cost percentage and deposit it in the bank.

Menu price bench marking:  Look at what other restaurants that you would want to emulate, share you customers with or are just geographically close to you.

Look at their menu pricing versus yours and “Pattern” this price difference.

Raising prices in an uncertain world:  This is Pent up demand coming out of the Covid-19 Pandemic.  People want to get out and enjoy their favorite local spots again.

QSR Magazine did a consumer survey: Customers will spend twice as much money per month at restaurants that meet their cleanliness standards.  

Strategic changes:

Changing menu every 6 months you can add variety and give customer value with correct pricing.

If you never change menu and do price increase every 3-5 years… your customers will notice increases.  You are putting more attention on pricing the longer you don’t change.

Always provide Hospitality and EARN the money.  Don’t take customers for granted.

– Someone is spending their most precious asset with you.  Their time… Give them a value!

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

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CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh

Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

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Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Industry Town Halls

Employees are your most underutilized marketing asset! Here are ways to get the most marketing out of your team via Onboarding and training.

Onboarding

Training

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

________________________________

CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh

Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

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Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Industry Town Halls

Your restaurant is a reflection of you as an individual. Here are some tips to make sure you are you're at your level best.

Gratitude – Gratitude is a superpower!

Attitude – This one is easy…  Have a positive Attitude!

Law of Attraction – Positive Breads Positive, Negative Breeds Negative

Negativity Bias - The notion that, even when of equal intensity, things of a more negative nature have a greater effect on one's psychological state and processes than neutral or positive things.

It is actively hard work to be Positive.  Work baby!

Mindset – Culmination of your thoughts and beliefs

Fixed vs Growth Mindset

Fixed – Your talents and intelligence are a static fixe trait

Growth – Your talents can be developed (Reading, Meditation, Exercise, Mentorship)

What are you paying attention to?  Car analogy

Enjoy – Once you have the above 3 you can successfully enjoy life!

Have Fun. Enjoy what you are doing.  Be someone that people want to be around.

The Circle of 5: You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.

As you level up your G.A.M.E. your friends may change, your employees should change and your business will change for the better!

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

________________________________

CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh

Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

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Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Industry Town Halls

There's a formula to creating the perfect social media post. Today we unpack what that formula is.

A “hook” first sentence. Capture your audience’s attention with a fact, a question, or a “did you know,” or something interesting to get them to consume the rest of the content. Call to action

Digestible.  People are scrolling quickly on all platforms. Break up the text and use good formatting. Format the text to make it easy to read for your audience. Make the content easy to scan with the eyes by breaking up the text into short sentences and indented paragraphs.

Great Photos and Videos.  Use a good photo and videos. Add text and adjust the size of the image using easy-to-use Adobe apps: Photoshop Express, Premiere Rush, Spark Post, Photoshop Camera, etc. Upload to the platform.

Hashtags. Every post should have relevant industry hashtags to offer the opportunity for your content to trend in a specific industry.

Avoid outbound links. All platforms want engagement and for you on their platform. When it comes to social media, if you get it for free, you are the product.  Pro-tip: Limit outbound links to the comment section of your LinkedIn posts.

Tag someone or a company. If you tag a person or company, it will increase the engagement with your post.

Schedule and be Organic. Use a scheduling software like Hero Post, Hub Spot or Hoot Suite.  Be careful not to over do it. Don’t get overwhelmed…  figure out your best platform and become a student. Each platform has its sweet spot as far as frequency.

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

________________________________

CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh

Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

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Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Industry Town Halls

It's going to be hard to effectively market your restaurant if you get hacked. Protect your digital restaurant with these key tips.

A key requirement to managing your Digital Assets is to have a comprehensive list of all your assets, where they are located and who has access. Unlike your physical assets, it is not that easy to find your online account information. Without the proper authorization, it can take weeks to get a provider to give the legal owner access if that person did not set up the account.

A great inventory can take many forms. We put together this Digital Asset Audit to help you get started. Download: Digital Asset Audit https://restauranttopia.com/tools-ebooks/

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

________________________________

CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh

Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

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Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Industry Town Halls

We are faced with 100’s if not 1000’s of decisions everyday as people.  In today's episode we cover how to we make sure our employees make the best decisions in regard to our businesses.

As a Leader, we probably have a high level of decision making… hopefully.

The restaurant industry has a history of not being great place to learn and grow and have a career.  Especially in the Locally Owned and Operated

-  Hiring – Who is the employee we are looking for?  - Josh Cell Phone example

-  Training – How are we training?  Is it documented?  I should be able to come into your business and train your new staff.  Training should be that good!

-  Mission Statements – What is your Mission?  Delight the customer for loyalty, Everyone Leaves Happy, Love your Employees and Customers for Lifetime Loyalty.  – use Google and find something that resonates with you, employees, and customers.  Then Talk about it every day.

-  Firm and Fair Rules – what are your expectations and policies?  Is everyone treated same in regard to these rules? Almost half of Divorce happens due to Failed expectations.

-  Retaining – How are you treating your employees?  Do they feel safe and loved in your environment?  Professional Development Training for staff.

-  Recalibrating – This becomes so easy when you have the above items straight and communicated properly.

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

________________________________

CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh

Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

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Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Industry Town Halls

Today we review the many ways that exist to increase ticket size at your restaurant.

Notes:

Give options for customers to choose additional items to buy:

o  Low Entry points on Apps – Appetizers all at $10 – Salsa, Dips, Nuts, Olives,  Etc.

o  Lower Entre prices with add on sides. Options and Price Elasticity

Understand your day parts – Lunch – Speed, weekend – Eat, Weekend – Dine

Benchmark menu versus concepts you emulate.  How many items/price range in each category

Beverage options – have non-alcoholic premium options, Flavored ice teas, Mocktails

o  Leave main beverage prices off the menu – allows easy change with no printing

Dessert – Don’t phone it in… have some scratch or premium desserts.

o  Train your staff how to sell dessert – Freshly baked cookie example (get order before end of meal)

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

________________________________

CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh

Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

FULL COMP

Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Industry Town Halls

Are you talking with your audience or taking AT your audience. In this episode, the Restauranttopia team unpacks use cases for both and the differences between the two.

Broadcasting has its place…

Basics:

-  Weekly/Daily - Specials and Features

-  Holiday Hours or changes to service (pandemic)

-  Communicating upcoming Events

-  Share your menu

-  Hiring

Advanced:

-  Show off Customer reviews

-  Give customers the story - History

-  Give behind the scenes

-  Show off Employees

-  Video and Photos of food and Ambiance (Let potential customers “Feel” what it is like) ELO

-  Show the origins of your ingredients

-  Call out your sources – farms, distributors, partnerships

-  Share Staff recommendations

Engaging is most underutilized by restaurants:

-  Send direct messages to Loyal customers.  Thank them!  Offer Freebies!  Ask them to refer you!

o  Use video or voice messages (Challenge – One per day for 30 days)

o  Reach out to Josh and/or Restauranttopia with success story and we will put you on Podcast episode

-  Bad reviews/feedback – Give away whatever it takes to have that person never talk smack about your place!

-  Reach out to local influencers and have them do their event there.  They will ask for something, so get ahead of it and make an offer up front so no confusion.  Some people dislike this, but I think if done the right way you can have success and use their followings to benefit your restaurant.

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

________________________________

CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh

Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

FULL COMP

Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Industry Town Halls

Managing your time effectively is a crucial step in being healthy!

Balance is key to feeling good – if you’re good, you do good

As a leader your staff does better too (they’re your best marketers)

Your operation is not healthy if you aren’t

Ruthlessly pursue time for what you love

This is when your best “work ideas” hit you

Take influence from your environment

Get organized

Can be the difference between making great decisions and making decisions just so problems go away

As far as marketing is concerned

If your time is managed properly

Ultimately, the more you manage your time, the more time you have to manage everything else

To learn more about Restauranttopia, check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/

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Restaurant Marketing School

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