The Heroes of Hospitality | Episode Four – Analyze

In this episode of “The Heroes of Hospitality,” Matt Plapp visits Virginia Beach to meet Dean Gonsior, owner of FIREBREW Bar & Grill. With a diverse background from Navy Master Chief to franchise management, Dean shares insights from his multifaceted career and the daily challenges of restaurant ownership.

For four years, “Restaurant Marketing That Works” has successfully driven customer acquisition for Dean. Now, combining this with “Repeat Returns” for the last 45 days has revolutionized his approach by providing the data and insights needed to understand the true lifetime value and retention of his customers. This powerful combination gives Dean a clearer picture of how to engage and retain diners more effectively.

Tune in for an exploration of marketing strategies that are transforming the way restaurants connect with their communities. Don’t forget to subscribe at www.theheroesofhospitality.com to follow our enlightening series!

#restaurantmarketing #customerretention #RepeatReturns #independentrestaurant

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Day 129 – The Puzzle – The One Page Restaurant Marketing Plan

I’m working on building the Ultimate Restaurant Marketing Guide.

Imagine a straightforward, one-page marketing plan that you can easily build on, followed by a weekly 1-page plan. That’s the essence of the Ultimate Restaurant Marketing Guide I’m developing.  

I’m doing this a little differently than you might expect, though.  Everything I’ve created that’s worked well was something I built for my own use.  As an example, back in 2015, I needed a tool to build a database for my client’s restaurant that showed trackable results.  I didn’t make it to sell; I built it to fix the problem we saw with the marketing plan.  Well, that tool, the ROI Engine, launched this company nationwide and worked exclusively with restaurants. 

When I started on this project, I was building a plan for you, restaurant owners.  Then I thought, “I’m not happy with our marketing plan; it sucks!”

With that in mind, I thought, what if I outline this plan and then relate it to what I need for DRYVER and America’s Best Restaurants?  

I’m not going to lay everything out in this one blog; this is simply my start.

First, I start with a mission, “Massive Attention & Excitement.”

Attention is what every one of us needs.  If our ideal customers saw our brands 100x times more than they do now, they’d spend more money with us.  And on top of that, if they were excited about what we were doing or what we could do for them, they’d spend more money with us.

And let’s face it, our customers spending more money with us is ALL WE ARE AFTER!

Second, WHERE can I get that attention & create excitement?

From here, I list these opportunities in order of importance and ease because EASY makes things more repeatable. 

#1 In-Store – By a mile, this is your #1 opportunity to grow your sales.  These people have made the most significant commitment to you, yet you all ignore them.  Research shows that 95% of consumers are never engaged verbally with an “ASK” to get their information.  And to make that even worse, 95% will give you whatever you want when propositioned correctly.  Why is this data so important?  Well, you know they’ve at least visited once, and it’s the only way you can guarantee a future conversation through email, text, and messenger.  

#2  Website—I’ve been preaching website optimization since 2010, which is how I got into the marketing consulting and agency world. In 1999, I created a website for an online-only boat and RV dealership that my brother, dad, and I started. We took that website and built a three-location $15 million per year dealership. That was over twenty years ago. The importance of the web today is one million times more important. 

#3 Email List – I was told in 2010 that email was going away.  During this time, I was doing seminars monthly on the power of email marketing and this thing called “Facebook.”  We all know that email did not go away, but it is alive and doing well.  Email is your lowest-hanging fruit with regard to reaching your customers; you have to use it carefully.  

#4 Text List—We all live on our phones, and text alerts are. the easiest notifications to see daily. The textthrough rates are insanely high. The only issue with texting is that you must use it with caution. Consumers don’t want texts as often as emails, and you should limit texting to high-value CTAs (calls to action).

#5 Messenger List—Messenger is the same as texting. The issue is that most of you don’t have software hooked up to your Facebook and Instagram accounts that will help you take advantage of it. I’d say Messenger is a cross between email and text because you can get away with more than text, but not as much as email. 

#6 Organic Social Media – It’s free, easy, and a MUST!  But you can’t post your damn food every day. I’m creating an easy-to-implement plan that offers you the variety you need to build a social media following that’s paying attention. 

#7 Paid Social Media Ads – Facebook and Instagram ads are the BIGGEST innovation in marketing EVER!  You can target anyone, anywhere for any reason.  The cost per engagement and lack of waste make this a GOLD MINE!  Plus, no one uses it, so you’ll dominate it quickly for a few hundred dollars monthly. 

#8 Community Marketing—My friends, this is as important as #2, but it’s not easy and duplicatable. And for many of us, it’s not something we can do every day. So that’s the only reason it is way down here. 

The second column below is for my company.  I don’t have “in-store,” but I do have a sales team, so that’s the closest thing I have.  After that, we are both the same.  The third column will become YOU!

Stay tuned,

MP

Keep Customers Coming: Engage Your Restaurant with Local Community Events!

The Olympics may be over, but don’t worry! There are countless other opportunities to engage your customers with the community around your restaurant. You have to tap into what’s happening locally to get your customers’ attention and get them through your doors!
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Tune in to my daily podcast, ‘Restaurant Marketing Secrets,’ for all the tips and tricks you need to elevate your restaurant marketing game.👊
https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/686f7962-44af-40e0-9559-7c93e4e096de

#shorts #restaurantmarketing

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Day 128 – The Puzzle – Why You Don’t Need Google Ads For A Restaurant

Google just proved me right!

Recently, I did a podcast on why restaurants should not waste money on paid Google ads.  CLICK HERE to listen to episode 695.  

This topic arose recently because a large restaurant marketing firm was touting this as a better option than Social Media.

Let’s start with a simple question: when was the last time you Googled to find a restaurant nearby? Chances are, it’s not a common practice. Even as someone who dines out 10-15 times a week, I can recall only a couple of instances over the past decade when I’ve used a search engine to find a restaurant. We tend to know what’s around us.   Our dining decisions are often influenced by what’s on our mind, which is where social media comes in-a powerful tool to capture attention more frequently.

As I was writing this blog post, I thought, “I’m going to Google restaurants near me and see what ads come up.” 

Surprisingly, no ads were displayed in the search results.

Think about that. Google ONLY makes money on ads. I posted that Google search above. The first piece of evidence is that Google showed me the FREE listings of restaurants near me. So, if you were buying ads, you would not be first, which is the goal. The second piece of evidence is the image below. This is what was listed after those listings—NO ADS!  So the fact that NONE OF YOU are buying these ads is even more evidence that it’s not a good idea.  

A much better place to spend your hard-earned dollars is on paid Facebook and Instagram ads.

See you tomorrow.

Restaurant Marketing Advice from a HOOKER🍆 #restaurantadvertising

Sometimes reading the comments can be beneficial for you or your business. Occasionally, someone a hell of a lot smarter than you will offer advice that could lead to massive improvements… Not in this case😂 Careful who you take advice from!
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Check out my daily podcast ‘Restaurant Marketing Secrets’ for all of your restaurant marketing tips & tricks👊
https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/686f7962-44af-40e0-9559-7c93e4e096de
#shorts #restaurantmarketing

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Day 127 – The Puzzle – My 5 Day Fast & Why

My blog title is “The Puzzle.”

The motivation for The Puzzle came from studying how businesses are built. But also from a childhood memory of a puzzle my mom and I made.  A puzzle that, like many businesses, we never finished.  

WHY?  Because we could not find one piece.  We ended up taking a similar colored clay and making the last piece. 

I can still picture that puzzle.  We bought a frame for it and put it up on the wall.  I can still see that spot we filled in with blue clay.

I’m just like all of our restaurant clients, trying to build my puzzle every day, and I can’t say that we’ll ever have every piece in place on one given day.  

One of the puzzle pieces is you and I.  As business owners and visionaries, we are a key piece of the puzzle.  

Every day, I think about improving myself.  I think about what I can do to make my mind, body, and spirit unbreakable.  Becoming unbreakable is impossible, but you might as well aim right, right?

Now, to why I’m fasting.  We’ll get into my current five-day fast, but first, let’s talk about why I’m not doing my planned seven-day fast.

Last Thursday, I decided to do a seven-day fast. Then, around 5 p.m. on Friday, around 23 hours into the fast, I thought, “That means I won’t be able to grill with the family tomorrow or eat with the family when we move my daughter back to college that Sunday.”  So, just like that, I canceled the planned seven-day fast and said, “I’ll start a five-day fast on Sunday.”

You see, while I can create some goals and stick to them, I can also “reason” with myself.  I’m all for getting healthy and creating a better me, but being happy is also a part of that.  And I wasn’t willing to give up those weekend moments (and meals) for that.

So, on Sunday, the five-day fast started around 12:30 pm.  

This year, I told myself I’d do a five-day fast every quarter, along with my daily intermittent fasting.  This is my third one.  There are many benefits to fasting like this, the biggest one being your body getting a reset.  That reset has been proven to kill cancer cells.  On top of that, your body goes into a state where it burns off your stored body fast as energy since there’s no new energy coming into your body in the form of food. 

Funny fact: They say your body has around 100,000 stored calories. So, if you need around 2,000 daily, you have 30-50 days of stored calories. Crazy, right?  

Of course, besides the reasons above, there is also weight loss. I lost 8 pounds the first time and five in the second. I’ll lose 3-5 pounds this time.  

Last but not least for me is brain health.  Research also indicates that a part of your brain gets bigger, a good part, when you do things you don’t want to do, and let’s face it, none of us want to go five days without eating.  

For me, a person who’s done many one-day fasts is better than it may be for someone who has never fasted.  But it’s honestly not bad.  The most challenging part is thinking about eating.  As I type this, I’m halfway through and not hungry.  All I’ve had the past 2 1/2 days is water, water with electrolytes, salt water, and coffee.  I’ve also chewed four pieces of sugar-free gum, which is fine.  

Tomorrow evening through Thursday morning is usually the most challenging time for me. I did have a rough spot around 5 pm today while working out. My energy was low, and my mindset needed to be corrected.  I tend to notice I let negative daily items impact me more during this, basically slight mood swings.  I also think I had too much coffee today, which might be to blame for my rough afternoon.

But I know what you’re thinking. You’re working out while not eating!  Yes, it’s proven that HIT workouts are an excellent combo for fasting.  In fact, on day four of my first five-day fast, I had the best workout I can recall in years.  At that point, your body is tapping into immense stored energy, and you can do much more than you’d ever thought.  

Friends, especially restaurant owners and parents.  It’s your job to lead your tribe, and if they see you being unhealthy, overweight, and not caring for yourself, ask yourself, “What kind of example am I setting.”

Talk to you tomorrow,

MP

This restaurant is CRUSHING on social media | Wooden Paddle

I get asked all the time about what restaurant owners should be posting instead of their food… and my answer today is the same: YOUR JOURNEY!

@wooden.paddle is a fantastic example of this. They have some of the best pizza in the country, but that isn’t all they show on social media. They’re telling the story of opening a new location, highlighting their staff, and getting involved in their community!

If you want some FIRE inspiration for your restaurant’s socials or just want some awesome pizza, I highly recommend dropping them a follow and going for a slice!
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Ready to dive deeper into your restaurant marketing and take your business to the next level? Check out my daily podcast and blog linked below: https://lnkd.in/gsbtjhzg

#shorts #restaurantmarketing

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Chipotle Caught Skimping Portions??

Sometimes the haters are right! and that’s ok. Thousands of unhappy customers at Chipotle took to social media to voice their concerns and it turned out that 10% of Chipotle stores were dropping the ball. Now it comes down to Chipotle making the corrections and coming back better than ever!

Want to stay up on everything restaurant marketing? Check out my daily podcast and blog linked below:
https://lnkd.in/gsbtjhzg

#shorts #chipotle #restaurantmarketing

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Day 126 – The Puzzle – New Sleeping Routine That’s Working

This is the easiest hack of all; it’s like going back to 2006 before our smartphones ruled our lives.

One rule we’ve stuck to as adults we’ve never had a TV in our room.  

WHY?  Research shows that when you train your body to lay in bed and ONLY go to sleep, versus watching TV, you properly train your brain about WHY you’re in your bed.  

Well, that worked great for me until the past few years.  While we never added a TV to our bedroom, I did add one to my hand, my iPhone.  Up until a week ago, my nighttime ritual became to lay in bed and find every reason possible to play on my phone and obsess about the next day.  

So I came up with an idea.  I would no longer take my phone to bed and work towards being off it and a laptop for an hour before bed.  The only problem was I love my iPhone alarm. 

I’ve found the ring I love and a volume that doesn’t wake my wife when I get up a few hours before her daily.  

Then it hit me.  I had two extra iPhones on my desk that I’ve collected through the years.  I took one and deleted everything possible from it and did not hook it up to wifi.  And I left it in airplane mode.  As you can see in the picture above, there’s only one icon on it: the alarm clock. 

Well, I’m six nights into this idea, I’ve had zero issues falling asleep, and I’m waking up more refreshed.  

So there you go, my simple sleep hack.  Back to the basics: no TV and no smartphone.

Day 125 – The Puzzle – Why Are So Many Restaurant Owners Cheap Asses?

Sorry, but not sorry, for the title of today’s blog. 

I’ve been at this game since 1999, and I’ve heard it too many times: “We can’t afford it right now.” Unfortunately, the outcome is almost always the same: OUT OF BUSINESS!

This is the topic of today’s podcast, and there’s more context there, but I’ll give you a little here as well.

A restaurant we work with was bought recently, and the message above is from the new owners regarding continuing our service. Now, to put this in perspective, their revenue accounts for about .00002 % of our company revenue, so I’m not salty about losing a client.  I could care less about losing that revenue; it’s insignificant.  My anger is rooted in the fact that this small business owner, a new one, is making a grave mistake.  The few hundred dollars per month that,’ “is not in the budget” sales attached to it of $100,000.  

My anger, or as you can see in the emoji above, crying, is due to watching another restaurant owner make a terrible business decision.  

I always compare fitness and marketing because they are so similar concerning their lifespan.

I can’t tell you how many friends of mine tell me they are “too busy” to go to the gym and eat right. Meanwhile, every day that goes by with them ignoring taking care of themselves is THEM contributing to their death.  You can almost see the counter above their head, a chalkboard with lines being marked off each day. Grim, right?

Well, this is the same thing with your marketing.  

This conversation plays out for me and my team daily, hundreds of times per month, thousands of times yearly.  Restaurant owners who signed their names to loans and personal guarantees, borrowed against their 401K, and stressed out their spouses.  So, with all of that on the line, why in the hell are you being cheap on the only way you’re going to survive, MARKETING?

Over the past ten years of my company working exclusively with restaurants, here are the two scenarios I see from the owners who say, “It’s not in the budget for us right now.”

1st – They are married to the restaurant.  They become employee #1 and work their asses off seven days per week.  They barely pay themselves, and personal debt stacks up while they wait for the restaurant to turn that corner. 

2nd – They go out of business.  

I wish I had better news for you, but when you fail to put oil in a car engine, it will eventually LOCK UP, and your car will stop running.  Marketing and advertising are the oil your restaurant’s engine needs.  

Another part that pisses me off in these instances is the banks or prior owners who let this happen.  

If a bank gives someone a loan to buy a restaurant, they should understand that the loan obligation will eat away at the profit the prior owner enjoyed, plus the prior owner had MANY years before chains filled the market to build a nest egg. 

And if the prior owner self-finances this, which happens many times, they should realize the same thing.  THEY are handing over a business that’s PAST it’s prime, and not the new owners are taking what small profits that were there and paying the prior owners.  

In both instances, they are partially responsible for the failure these restaurants are about to have.   

So if you want to succeed, you better not BE A CHEAP ASS when it comes to marketing.  If you don’t want to end up like #1 or #2 above, you better invest in marketing. Otherwise, you’re simply marketing lines of the chalkboard and counting down the days. 

And, of course, this was today’s podcast topic, too. CLICK HERE to listen to episode 693 of Restaurant Marketing Secrets

P.S. The crying emoji is ME. Because every time I have these conversations, a little piece of my marketing heart dies 🙁