2023 Year In Review

2010 to 2023

I just finished our 2024 projections and wrapped up 2023 look back, and that got me reflecting on where this company came from WAY BACK in 2010 when I started tracking things.

Here’s a our year over year growth since 2010:

2010 = 1st year tracking #s
2011 = 95% growth
2012 = 22% growth
2013 = -9% shrinking (had too many eggs in 1 clients basked)
2014 = 11% growth
2015 = 11% growth
2016 = 22% growth
2017 = 26% growth
2018 = 71% growth
2019 = 65% growth
2020 = 4% growth (cancelled division)
2021 = 65% growth
2022 = 78% growth
2023 = 84% growth

A friend of mine, Cris Rodriguez, made a post a few weeks back to look back 10 years and write down where you were and where you are now. That got me looking ALL the way back in my business journey with this company. In 2008 I started this company and in 2009 I thought “hmmm I guess I should start tracking things” and my 2010 Goals google sheet was born.

Here are the highlights for the different years.

2011 I hired Ashley Sparks Mullins my first employee (who’s my director of opps today). This allowed for the 95% growth you see.

2013 I realized the dangers of having larger clients that accounted for a big chunks of revenue and what happens when the relationship ends. This is our ONLY year of no growth in 16 years.

2016 we decided to shift away from being a local marketing firm and launch our nationwide restaurant program.

2018 we launched a restaurant agency training program, somehow I thought training my future competition was a good idea:)

2020 It’s NOT what you think, it wasn’t the pandemic. We cancelled the agency training at the end of 2019 and that accounted for 26% of our revenue. So while global #’s show only 4% growth, the restaurant division grew by 100%.

2021 to NOW is a product of focus. We got rid of a lot of distractions and focused 100% on our restaurant clients.

From 2021 to 2023 we also built the America’s Best Restaurants media company at the same time as the marketing firm. So when people tell me “it’s hard” to run a company and focus on growth this is why I have ZERO sympathy. You either run hard, or don’t run hard enough.

In 2023 we scaled in a BIG WAY. With lots of people, now 56 employees, and moving parts with our ABR Roadshow.

In the late Summer of 2023 I almost crashed. My stress levels were insane and I honestly wasn’t sure I knew what I was actually doing with the business. My October I was in a bad place mentally from the stress of what I built. I didn’t know how to fix it. But the funny thing was, every day I’d wake up REALLY early and the solution would HIT ME!

Literally, many nights I’d wake up a 2am and start working. The ideas would flow and 1 by 1 each solution would come to me. This was 100% from stress and it sucked, but it’s what pushed me to the solutions.

OH and in the middle of these stressful months I was in the midst of negotiating the acquisition of a software firm (we closed on that Nov 3rd).

By November I’d figured out the problems and put a plan in place to right the ships by early 2024. By December the plan was in full swing and working great. And now as I stare down 2024 I’m beyond excited.

2024 is going to be UNREAL and now I can’t fall asleep at night from excitement, because I don’t want to go to bed and stop thinking.

So, there you have it, my end of the year thoughts.

My goal for 2024 is simple, run the company how it’s built to be run and get Christy’s dream home under roof by December 2024.
When I’m able to do that, it means a lot of other great things have happened.

Good luck everyone, I hope you can find some vision from the past like I have.

Restaurant marketing expert Matt Plapp reacts to GENIUS Coinbase Super Bowl ad and goes in-depth on how the independent restaurant industry can take advantage of their same strategy.

I frequently recommend that independent restaurant owners choose to outsmart their competition rather than outspending when it comes to developing their restaurant marketing strategy.

Let’s take a look at some of the commercials on this year’s Super Bowl… More specifically, let’s look at the big boys… Pepsi, Mountain Dew, General Motors, Doritos, Taco Bell. You know… the ones that make your mouth water?

These big boys spend upwards of $6.5 Million per 30-second commercial!

While 99% of small businesses are worried they can’t outspend the big player… it’s time to start brainstorming how you can outsmart them!

Let’s Talk About The Coinbase Ad & Building An Unstoppable Brand

I would go as far as to say Coinbase outsmarted every other business that advertised during this year’s Super Bowl – I mean really! The QR code floating across the screen was genius… my dad thought his TV was broken! (Talk about gaining attention)

I talk about attracting attention, building a database, & retaining customers in almost all of my content. But In this case, we’ll talk about spending to build, not to sell… just like Coinbase did on their Super Bowl Ad.

They’re paving the road for all independent restaurant owners & small businesses – a company that understands the power of comprehensive customer data.

You should be spending your marketing efforts & dollars to build a database of customers or a loyal customer following.

Coinbase didn’t spend money to sell Doritos or Mountain Dew. They spent money to get people to take an action. In this case, it was to scan a QR code, that took you to a website with two options.

It was cool because, for me, I’ve been talking about a track, build, retain and, finally someone is listening! 🙂

Attracting & Retaining Attention

One of my biggest issues with standard restaurant acquisition marketing is that businesses and what I’ll refer to as “ordinary” marketing companies tend to focus your attention on a location where consumers can get too much.

We humans enjoy clicking things. So, when you run an AD and there are lots of buttons on the page you’re sending traffic to, people become confused and click away from the actual purpose of their visit!

But, as Coinbase nailed in their Super Bowl commercial, there were only two buttons…

Sign up and get $15 free…

OR

Opt-in to win 3 million dollars…

They attracted attention and they built a traffic pattern because of the viewers who scanned the QR code can be re-targeted from backend Google and Facebook pixels.

PS… You can do this within your 4-walls with a QR code that takes customers to your menu on your website!

They then built the database of the new customers who opted in for the first time, while reengaging their current Coinbase subscribers by getting them to join a sexy contest.

Red Ocean Marketing VS. Blue Ocean Marketing

So for me, little ole Matt Plapp, it’s pretty cool because when I talk about restaurant marketing, I often use the red ocean & blue ocean analogy.

The red ocean is all about playing the same water all the sharks are in – a blood infested pool of sharks and their prey.

Whereas the blue water is calm & peaceful where nobody else is swimming. 

The independent restaurant industry isn’t playing in the blue ocean. They’re stuck in the bloodbath of sharks.

At America’s Best Restaurants, we preach all the time to our clients:

Attract.

Build.

Retain.

Page 41 of my book, Restaurant Marketing That Works, published a year and a half ago, covers what I call spend to build, not sell. Don’t advertise to your product or how great your restaurant is.

Your marketing strategies should build a database of engaged customers.

In Conclusion…

If this doesn’t show that the content we’re producing is teaching small, independent restaurant owners at a local level to get the confirmation that they need to let businesses like ours help, I don’t know what will.

We’re here to give you the restaurant marketing ideas you need to swim in the blue ocean. The best restaurant marketing strategies you need to succeed don’t mean you have to out-spend your competition… only out-smart.

You’re one marketing campaign away from a 6 figure wave.

So, as an independent restaurant owner, how will this Super Bowl Commercial impact how you create your restaurant marketing strategies in 2022 and beyond?

Work with Me by clicking here: CLICK HERE

 

More About Me: CLICK HERE

Restaurant Author Interview With Cliff Bramble

Today we are LIVE with Cliff Bramble, the author of The Business Side of Restaurants and CEO of Hungry Hospitality Consulting.

We’re going to dig into his book and a few key topics like:
Step 10 – Page 88 = Human Resources
– This is a key reason I think restaurants are struggling to find employees in 2021.
Step 12 – Page 112 = Inventory
– This kept me up at night when we had our boat dealership.
Step 3 – Page 45 = Marketing
– DATA DATA DATA

You can find chip on his social links below:
www.linkedin.com/in/cliffbramble
www.instagram.com/thebusinesssideofrestaurants

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Live With Chef Max Santiago

If you don’t want to be hungry all the time, don’t follow this guy on IG 🙂

Max has founded three different companies (1) Batch Cookie Co. (2) Max’d Out Donuts (3) Consulting By Chef Max. He has 27 years of experience in both award-winning fine dining restaurants and 5 Star, 5 Diamond hotels.

Let’s find out what’s got him to this point and what’s next for Chef Santiago.

www.linkedin.com/in/chefmaxsantiago

www.instagram.com/chefmaxsantiago

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MP TV – Episode 88 – Let’s Distribute Some Knowledge On Food Distribution With Aaron Croghan

It’s been a while⌛️ since we talked about distribution🎁. Good thing we have Aaron Croghan, the District Sales Manager at Performance Food Group with us today😮‍💨! Aaron is a self described foodie🍔, with 12 years of experience with food distribution under his belt👖. He originally got into food by accident😳 but all it took was making a few bagels🥯 to build a life-long passion in the food and hospitality business. 👥Matt and Aaron get to dive into:

🥯Results come from what you put into them
🥯Relationships are earned
🥯Set your menu up for prosperity
🥯 Are your best items hidden in your menu?
🥯What are you famous for?
🥯You aren’t actually competing with your neighbor

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Restaurant Expert Deep Dive With Author Bruce Nelson

#s are what you need to know, more than likely don’t dig into deep enough and probably analyze wrong!

We’re going DEEPER into restaurant MONEY with author Bruce Nelson.

Bruce is the author of “Restaurant Management: The Myth, The Magic, The Math”, a 40 year restaurant veteran and the current CFO of Nova Restaurant Group.

You can find Bruce on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-nelson-295a47149

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A Client Cancelled Our Services – Who’s Crazy Me Or Them?

Last week a client cancelled their marketing agreement with us, and I think based on the results they are not only CRAZY but out of their mind! Overall our client retention is about 98% month over month, and at the end of the day the cancellation isn’t a huge deal, but it still drives me crazy when I see a terrible decision being made.

Restaurants traditionally suck at marketing and sales, and what we were doing for them was CRUSHING it in every aspect. When a client cancels our services, I look at it as us failing to show them the depth of our value. I also view it as us contributing to their closure at some point, since I know without a doubt, we are their best option.

BUT, maybe it’s me that’s CRAZY? It’s possible 🙂

So I decided to bring in a non-biased set of eyes. I’m going LIVE with the best mind in the business, David Scott Peters, to dig into the results and spend to see what he thinks.

DSP is by far one of the smartest restaurant consultants out there and I know I’ll get his unbiased opinion.

I’m not prepping him AT ALL, when you see the clients results live, it will be the 1st time he’s seeing it as well. I’m looking for another set of eyes on something that absolutely floored me so that I can get someone else’s perspective and find out WHO’S OUT OF THEIR MIND….me or the restaurant owner.

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WHY Do Restaurants Struggle SOOO Bad With Technology – Let’s Ask An Expert

Restaurant Expert Roundup

Today we’re going to talk with Jeremy Julian from the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast about why restaurants SUCK when it comes to getting into the amazing technology that exists in 2021!

Jeremy is the COO at Custom Business Solutions, a business that sells, services, supports, and develops TECHNOLOGY for the hospitality industry and a host on the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast!

You can find out more on his LinkedIn and Podcast website below:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-julian-0495345
Website: www.restauranttechnologyguys.com/

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