Day 74 – The Puzzle – Now I Know Why

NOW I KNOW WHY 

We all have those days, those days that wish life was simpler.  That we wished we hadn’t try to take the hard path.  

You see that guy walking down the street going to his 9 to 5 and think “I wish life was simpler.”  Then you realize you’re not built that way, you realize your hate for today comes from the deep understanding of what you can actually do, and it’s not being THAT GUY!

This went through my head all the time from 2022 to 2024.  It was mostly fueled by a lack of money, but constant cash flow issues.  Weekly I’d think WHY Matt, WHY!  

Then one day I was on my weekly hill run and as I struggle to come up the 1.2 mile hill for the 2nd time a song came on by Limp Biscuit that states “I know why you want to hate me.”  I thought, no one wants to hate me. My struggles are simply me hating the fact that I CAN’T take the easy route, I always run straight into the tough unproven one.

As the song hit the 3:49 part It came on really soft and slow with “now I know why, now I know why, now I know why, now I know why” and then LOUD HARD “NOW I KNOW WHY YOU WANT TO HATE ME!”

The HATE was coming from ME.

 It was me being angry at myself for not having that slow gear.  

For not having small goals.  

For wanting IT ALL and NOW!  

I knew where I could go and it was eating at me that I wasn’t there yet and that I had to wait. 

Patience is not something I’d ever learned.  Many times I’d been spoiled by having the ability to find the money needed to get where I wanted to go, faster than I should have.  Whether it was in 2004 when banks were throwing money at our boat dealership, or 2018 when I had enough profits to be dangerous.

But now though the money wasn’t there and my impatience was the root of my issues.

And when you combine cashflow issues and a lack of patience, it can be dangerous.  

Part of me would think “if we make through this” while the other part would think “live to die another day.”  I had this deep rooted belief what we needed was always around the corner, but I’d not learned how to control my mind and honestly believe it some days. 

During February of 2024 I made up my mind “FUCK IT” we’re making it and we’re only going to get there if I accept how I’m built and change it.  I had to trust my clique, the ABR crew I’d built where in it for the long haul.  They just needed a healthy MP.

On those runs the song “show me how to live” would come on as well and it was a constant reminder that the only person I had to prove it to was ME!  I had to be able to look in the mirror every day and be proud of how I was leading myself, my team, my family and my friends.   After all, I’m not leading from the front how can I expect others to follow?

This journey I’m on is tough, it’s brutal.  Just like Tom Brady has to shake off an interception, I have to be able to turn the page of every day.  

One bad day can’t effect tomorrow and a bad week isn’t an option.

I can’t allow yesterday to change how I live today.  This journey requires and unbreakable MIND.

“Wait Until I Get My Money Right!”

I recall hearing that in 2023 while driving to the office.  Just wait, just wait!  

The restaurant industry doesn’t know what was going to hit them.  The haters can’t fathom what we’re about to pull off.  The big brands won’t realize the little guy was coming to punch them in the throat.  

MP will become to the restaurant marketing game what Alex Hormozi was to marketers in 2023.

The past 3 years have taught me the world is at my feet. and it’s time to take this shit to another level. 

Day 72 – The Puzzle – 14 Changes To This Restaurants Website

On a weekly basis I’ll click a link and go down into a rabbit hole that is a clients website or marketing funnel.  My goal is two prong, to provide that restaurant owner with value and help, but also to train my team on what to look for.  

Here’s the most recent website audit.

1st – The menu bar – Is there an error, mine shows a “strange” word, possibly a niche word to fit their theme for what goes to the online ordering. I’m betting this is something to fit the theme, I’d recommend against that.

2nd – The menu – The term used for booking the venue is a very unique term.  This is just like #1, customers may be confused by Google also will be.   Those unique one off brand terms will not be something that shows up when someone is searching for a place to hold an event. 

3rd – Great Video on the home page, LOVE IT! SOLID professionally produced video

4th – Need to install FB pixel

5th – Can we get a pop-up for your VIP/Rewards program?  Many of your website visitors are just that, visitors.  They are not ordering, so give them an excuse to take an action.

6th – Email button at the bottom goes to inactive toast form. OWNERS, every week go to your website and other important online pages and CLICK EVERY WHERE.  You will almost always find a link broken or going to the wrong place.

7th – About Us home page box, can we get 2 lines about the owners in there? They have a solid area telling part of the story, but it’s missing the best part.  That it’s locally owned and operated and not a chain.

8th – EZ Cater link – What do they charge for you to use their form for catering orders from the website?  They have a link for catering that goes through EZ Cater.  I don’t know the costs a restaurant would incur with that, if any, if it’s placed directly with the restaurant through the restaurants website.  Two things that scare we there are the fees and introducing the customers to a new website like EZ Cater where they can look for other restaurants.  But, the value of having an online ordering platform like there’s might outweigh building one from scratch.  

9th – Can we get a catering contest pop-up on that page?  Same as #5, put a high value call to action button in front of this traffic.  Research shows that the majority of catering traffic to your website is for research purposes, so grab their attention and their data.  Then you can build a relationship with them through your catering sales program. 

10th – Can you create a “see our menu page.”   I think a few of those would look great on a dedicated menu page. They currently have the toast ordering page, but if I’m just poking around I might click a menu page before I click an “ordering” page.  

11th – LOVE that you don’t have a PDF of the menu.

12th – The tab that takes people to the toast ordering, have that open a new window not in the same one. That keeps people on the website after they exit that one if they are just poking around. (like the buy gift card button does on the toast ordering page)

13th – I love the Bios of the owners on the home page with 1 other employee, but I’d love a picture of the owners together (it’s seperate now) and show it’s owned by a local married couple.

14th – Contact us picture is my favorite, so 90s!  This page was LEGIT.  It’s at the top of this page. It ties in with their company theme of the 80s and 90s, the pay phone pic is legit!

15th – Love the join the team page.  You should always have a page and marketing running to find team members.  Make it fun, informative and easy to apply. 

16th – Their America’s Best Restaurants branding and ABR Roadshow Episode is missing.  This is a huge way to seperate yourself from the competition. When we list a restaurant on www.americasbestrestaurants.com for FREE, those restaurants get access to our branding for their website.  And when we film an episode of the ABR Roadshow they can embed the episode on their website.

Just a few observations, hope you can use some of these to make your restaurant standout and drive more sales. 

FYI, when I say that a link on your website, like in #12 above, needs to open to an external source, it’s like the one for the ABR Roadshow above and the podcasts below.  It takes you to that place, but keeps you on this website. 

Thanks,

MP

PS – I also did a podcast on this topic, go figure :). CLICK HERE to listen to episode 638 of Restaurant Marketing Secrets.

Day 68 – The Puzzle – Why I Don’t Do Social Events

If you know me, you know Matt Plapp doesn’t attend many social events, if any.

Weddings, NOPE.

Gym canoe trips, NOPE.

Graduation parties, NOPE.

Neighborhood parties, DOUBLE NOPE!

I work, workout, hangout with my family and attend business mastermind events, THAT’S IT!

But why?  Do I dislike people?  Am I anti social?  Or am I just a jackass…probably yes on the last one 🙂

Here’s why.

I don’t want to hang around or talk with people who have broke mindsets.  I don’t want to put myself in situations where I’m going to get dumber.  I don’t want to be around people that enjoy the gossip, drown their sorrows in alcohol and talk about shit that they can’t control.

CASE IN POINT

Last weekend my wife said “Sunday we have XYZ’s graduation party.”  I said “have fun, hard pass.  I’ll pass on the useless conversations that will happen there with people I don’t know or don’t see at all in life.”

That night Christy and I are on a walk and she says “well, you were right, the graduation party conversation was so stupid.  It was a group of parents and kids bragging about how they’d been out until 6am at another kids party the night before and how everyone was drunk.  It was pitiful.”

And THAT my friends is why I don’t go to those type of events. 

#1 – The fact that parents find it funny their kids were hammered at a high school party tells me all I need to hear about those people.  

#2 – How’s that conversation going to help me improve my mind, body or spirit?

#3 – Those aren’t the people that I want to surround myself with.

Instead, I opt to fly out of town every few months to business events like Josh Nelson’s 7FA in Miami (pictured above).  For 3 days, day and night, I’m in a room with like minded professionals.  Our conversations aren’t about politics, someone we don’t like, drinking all night, etc.  The conversations are all about how we can be better spouses, optimize our health, be an awesome CEO and how we can better serve our clients.

To some people what I described above is boring, and those are exactly the people I’m trying to avoid.

My goal is to AVOID at all costs BROKE ASS PEOPLE!  

And broke doesn’t always mean financially broke.  It means broke morally, financially, ethically, mentally.  

My friends, if you want to be the best version of yourself, you MUST protect yourself from these people.

One day soon I hope to start hosting a quarterly event for restaurant owners like I have with 7FA.  An event that will allow us all to fill that social void with the RIGHT people, conversations and energy. 

Day 67 – The Puzzle – How Social Stats Showed Me This Restaurant Owner Was An Attorney And Passive Owner

This is one of those moments you never forget.  One where you want to hop in your car and drive as fast as possible to show anyone, everyone what you’d found.  You see, for years I’d been preaching about the importance of social media to build a database and recently I’d discovered how the effectiveness of some of the campaigns were a product of the ownership and not our campaigns. But it wasn’t until this day that I had the proof.

Earlier that year we had started working directly with two pizza franchise locations on our Facebook Messenger VIP program. The goal of the program was pretty simple, use Facebook posts and ads to build a database and then drive those customers into the restaurant to buy pizza.

After 30 days of crushing it with these 2 stores the corporate office called to add 2 struggling stores to our program and another franchisee called to hire us as well.  Over the next few months all of the program operated at different levels and I could not put my finger on the WHY.  Our program was exactly the same at each location and the stores all had similar demographic and geographic profiles. Meaning, the customers and neighborhoods looked very similar.

Stores 1 and 2 were both crushing it.  The owners of the 2 stores were what you’d want as a restaurant owner.  They were involved in the store every day and very hands on.  They were also exactly the types of clients you’d want for a marketing company.  They had a positive mindset, were growth oriented and collaborative.  

Store 3 was doing decent, but the owner wasn’t like the first two stores.  She was negative, always complaining about customers and broke.  When I say broke, I mean mind and bank account.

Stores 4 and 5 were not doing well at all with our customer acquisition program. From dealing with the owner of store 3 I knew why her program wasn’t doing well, it was her and the way she ran her business.   But on these last 2 stores we worked with the corporate office.  They’d hired us directly to help 2 struggling franchisees, so we didn’t know the owners and they were not involved in our programs.  

A few months into working with all 5 stores I decided to pull the basic stats of each store for 2 months and compare the social stats to see if their was a story. 

I pulled the following stats for their social media campaigns over 60 days:

– Reach – unique people reached

– Impressions – this is a multiple of your reach based on your ad frequency.  If Matt Plapp saw your ad 3 times he’s only in your reach once, but here twice.

– Comments – commented on the posts and ads

– Shares – Shared the posts and ads.

Then I looked at the results of the campaigns.  All of our campaigns are built to get customers to give us their contact info and then we add them to a marketing funnel to drive them into the restaurant.

– Opt-ins – Email, Cell #, Birthday, Visit Frequency

– Redemptions – Customer came to the store and spent money

– Redemption % – The percentage of the customers who used their promotion

– Sales – Sales generated from the redemptions

The stats above are from the 5 stores.

You’ll notice the reach and impressions are very similar, which makes sense due to us spending the same amount of money on campaigns and the stores being located in very similar types of communities. 

Where the results start to show cracks is the comments and shares.  Both are a sign of the people around the community either loving your brand or not.  You see, excited customers of yours will see these promotions and go crazy. They’ll comment to show love, tag a friend and get the promo.  The hardcore ones will share it and announce their love for what you’re doing and encourage their friends to take action.

The lower your comments and shares are, the worse everything else will be and it’s honestly a true reflection on YOU and your product.

Here’s an example:

Both stores post a “Comment Below & Get A Free Pizza.”  

– Store 1 customers comment “this place rocks, I love the meat lovers pizza.  The employees are always friendly and the service is fast. ” and many of them will share the post with comments just like that. Many times they tag a friend.

– Store 2 customers comment ” I’ll take a free pizza” and don’t share.

What stores 1 and 2 saw is what makes campaigns go viral and what stores 3-5 saw is what makes campaigns NOT GO VIRAL!

Next up is the customer acquisition part.  The better your Facebook campaign works the higher your opt-in % and remption % is.  In this case, we’ll focus on the redemption % since that is what DRIVES SALES…what you all care about right?

See how store 5 is almost half of what store 1 is on the redemption %.  And see how their opt-ins are a 3rd.  Well, that lead to sales that were 4 times lower as well. 

As I gathered this data I thought, what do I know about the owners and what can I assume from this.  Well I knew stores 1-3 and the fact that stores 1 & 2 dominated was a direct reflection on the owners, the level of service they provided, the way they were viewed in the community and the support they had by their best customers.  

Store 3 had a little of that, but the owners toxic attitude was the big difference maker and it was visible in her online reviews.  

But what about stores 4 and 5?  Well, store 4 had awesome reviews, not a lot of them, but they were good.  Store 5 did not have great reviews.  As I said, I didn’t know anything about these owners.  So when I drove to the corporate office to meet with the CMO and owner I made a bold prediction.

Store 4 is owned by a person who LOVES back of house operations and who never steps a foot into the dining room to shake hands and kiss babies.  

Store 5 is owned by an attorney or accountant who bought the franchise as passive income and never comes into the store.

I WAS RIGHT!  The owner of store 4 was a former Chipotle GM who dominated the operations side of things and despised customer interaction.  Store 5 was owned by an attorney.

HOW DID I KNOW THIS?  The LACK of social engagement on their campaigns when compared to stores 1 and 2 showed me they treated customers like a number and had no relationships.  The crazy thing for me though, was seeing how it dramatically impacted the bottomline.  This was the first time I’d see proof at this level across the exact brand with the exact marketing campaigns.

Moral of the story, be an active owner and remember you’re in the sales business.  Sell your vision, your food and be kind!  And apparently it’s worth at least $5,000 per month in sales to do things right!

I also talked about this topic in episode 635 of my podcast, Restaurant Marketing Secrets, CLICK HERE and have a listen!


Day 64 – The Puzzle – Documenting Your Journey

Twice in the past 24 hours I’ve repeated this statement “stop using social media as todays money mailer and a place to puke your menu pics. Instead tell your story and become the reality show your community is craving.”

I want you to do me a favor so that you can understand what I’m talking about.  Look up the 3 local restaurants near you right now and go to their Facebook.  

Chart how many posts they made since May 10th and then how many were selling something, not selling something, solid community posts or telling their unique story.

DEFINITIONS

– Selling = Post about WHY to come eat and drink there.

– Not Selling = Happy Memorial Day & NOT SELLING “come celebrate with us”

– SOLID = Community oriented post (ex. one of the posts on Restaurant #1 was a little league team celebrating their big win).

– Telling Your Story = Exactly what it sounds like

The picture above is mine, on the back of a piece of mail that arrived today.

Restaurant #1

– # Of Posts = 32

– Selling = 22

– Not Selling = 6

– Strong Non Selling Post = 4

– Telling Their Story = 0

Restaurant #2

– # Of Posts = 14

– Selling = 12

– Not Selling = 1

– Strong Non Selling Post = 1

– Telling Their Story = 0

Restaurant #3

– # Of Posts = 16

– Selling = 15

– Not Selling = 1

– Strong Non Selling Post = 0

– Telling Their Story = 0

I’m not going to go any deeper than the numbers above.  If you can’t see the opportunity that exists and how BAD your competition is then that’s your fault. 

Day 63 – The Puzzle – The $15 Small Pizza And WHY I Keep Going There

Friday night was pretty normal for me this week, I left the gym and headed home.  On the way home I did what I do most Fridays, swing by Strongs Brick Oven Pizza in Union Kentucky.  On this night I was rolling solo since my wife was out of town with my daughter and my son was at kick boxing.  I think that’s why the dollar amount of this pizza stuck out, it was simply a personal size pizza just for me, my bill came out to $15.85 or aprox $14.85 before tax.

Think about, $15 for a small 10 inch pizza, seems kind of high right?  After all a small pizza is selling between $7-10 at most places. 

But this is the important part, the price was a non factor.  I asked myself, what if it was $20…I’d still buy it.

WHY?  Because the pizza I was picking up was a ONE OF A KIND creation by the pizza geniuses there.  I get the Almost Famous Hot & Spicy.  It’s got bacon, a spicy sauce, peppers and then the dump crumbled up bbq chips on top.  IT’S UNREAL!  It’s so damn good, and it’s the ONLY place I can get this pizza.

It’s kind of like Doc Style wings at Barleycorns, no one else was them.

So why is this the subject of this blog?  Because all of you are trying really hard to get people to spend money with you and more importantly you’re trying to get MORE money when they do visit.  So when you offer a product like this pizza that no one else has, price is removed.  It’s my favorite pizza, so whether it cost me $10, $15, $20 or $25 I’D BUY IT!  

Now I will say, when we start talking about $25-35, it’s going to have me thinking.  But honestly, it’s so damn good 🙂

OK, but you’re thinking “Matt, what’s TJ’s LinkedIn message have to do with this?”

TJ pays attention and he’s heard me rail on this exact pizza restaurant for being bad at marketing.  As I think about it, I can’t say a whole lot that’s good about their email, text and social media.  In fact, they don’t even email or text me.  And I’d be willing to be a large sum of money that don’t have me in any type of marketing database.  They do exactly the opposite of what I believe it, which leads me back to TJ’s question.

WHY am I still eating there?

It’s 100% due to the location of the restaurant, not the pizza or anything else.  

I’d had this pizza at their Newport location a few times per year, and LOVED IT.  That’s how I knew about it when they opened up a mile from my house and that’s why I’ve eaten in hundreds of times since they opened here.  BUT I never went out of my way to visit the Newport location, even though they had my favorite pizza.  WHY?  Out of sight, out of mind.  They were an after thought and we only visited when we were in Newport for another reason.  

But now, I drive by it MANY TIMES per day.  I’m typing this on a Sunday, and I’ve drove by it twice on the way to run this morning and twice on my way to dinner tonight.  If this restaurant was located a few miles in one direction or the other my visit frequency would be 75% less.  

They are getting my business due to their restaurant being in my line of sight 40-50 times per week, and they happen to have my favorite pizza.  Stack on top of that great customer service and a clean restaurant and it’s a dangerous combination.  BUT remove from that the Union location and I’m a 2 times per year customer vs 40-50!  

TJ, your answer is PROXIMITY!  

And to hammer this point home even more, 9 out of 10 friends of mine from the region tell me when I drag them along “I love this place, but never come.”  I ask why and the answer is always the same, out of sight…out of mind!

But imagine if they were running marketing like I preach, oh SNAP, they’d be dangerous.

Imagine the possibilities….

If they were running marketing campaigns with a 3 mile radius to gather data

If they had servers asking for data.

If they had a tech stack when I called into order my pizza that got my info.

IF they had my info and used it how many more visits they could drive, the catering they could sell me, the appetizers they could sell, the desserts they could sell….

TJ, you’ve got me on my soap box and for that reason this is also topic of episode 630 of Restaurant Marketing Secrets, CLICK HERE to listen!

Day 62 – The Puzzle – Handling Customer Complaints Online For Your Restaurant…STAND YOUR GROUND!

SCREAM THIS WITH ME…

WE MUST PROTECT HIS HOUSE!

You and only you can be the gate keeper for your brand, so do exactly what Michelle did here.

Before you read any farther into this blog, CLICK HERE and read the post Michelle made to defend her restaurant, Case & Bucks, from some online shade.  It’s absolute gold and once you read it you’ll have the context you need for the rest of the blog.

Ok, now back to the action.

DAMN, didn’t she freaking DOMINATE that post!  

First, let’s get this out of the way and I’ll warn you, this will go against everything you’ve ever thought.

HOPE & PRAY for some negative posts like this monthly.  WHAT!?  Are you crazy Matt, well yes a little 🙂

Let me explain, here are my 5 reasons you want this stuff in your life:

#1 – If you don’t get hate, then you’re not taking enough action.

#2 – Hate and people throwing shade will EXCITE you and bring out that fire (like it did with Michelle).

#3 – It will force you to take action and put on paper how you REALLY feel.  Because I know none of you really “FEEL” how your social media looks.

#4 – It will prove to you how awesome you are because you’ll get 10x the love than the hate garnered.

#5 – And last but not least, it will show you the power of using social media to tell your story. Then HOPEFULLY it will get you away from posting lame ass food pictures every day and instead get you on team MP and using the written word and videos from your heart.  The power of properly crafted content NOT around your food will draw in more and more people and help you finally market your restaurant correctly. 

Great job Michelle, now that I know what you have in the tank I’m going to be on the lookout for some more heartfelt content to connect you, your brand, your team and your food with your community.

The Puzzle – Day 61 – Opening A New Restaurant? Bring Locals On the Journey Like Bri And Jonathon Did

How should you market opening a new restaurant is a question I get all the time.  

My advise is ALWAYS bring the community along for the ride.  Show them them the construction, the craziness that is building out a new restaurant.  

You can do this pretty easily with a smart phone and Facebook live.  

OR you can go next level like Bri and Jonathon of Wooden Paddle did.  WOW is all I had to say when I watched this.  

I really don’t have much to tell you, I think you’ll get your biggest bang for your buck by simply watching their video and thinking “how can I do this.”

CLICK HERE to watch the video.

FYI there’s NOTHING holding you back from doing videos like this EVERY WEEK even if you’ve been open for 30 years.  It’s freaking free to create your own reality show online, JUST DO IT!

Day 60 – The Puzzle – Time Is On Your Side

Forget the picture above for a minute and read below before you look up.

We all have bad days.

We all have bad weeks.

We all CAN have bad months, if we allow bad weeks to add up and bring us down.

And I suppose we can have a bad year with what I mentioned above and with life events that wreak havoc. 

But right now I want you to focus on the big picture.  Whether we are talking about the sales in your business, the traction in your marketing or your weight loss journey, NOTHING worth doing happens fast and easy. 

Now LOOK UP!  Look at the picture and no it’s not an eye test but now that I look at it I’m getting dizzy 🙂

Each row is 1 year, 52 dots, 1 for each week (at least it should be, but I could have designed it wrong).

There are 15 rows, each representing a year. 

The rows are black, blue and orange to point out a 3 year increment.

FIRST = I like viewing any goal in a 3 year increment.  After reading the book Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold in 2019 I realized that was the right path for me.  WHY?  A lot can happen in 5 years, and don’t get me started on 10 or 15!  So when I look at a path to finishing a goal I know can picture what it looks like in 3 years.  Especially once you get 6 months to a year into it., you’re like “ok, 2 more of these”.  Today I’m going to run a hill twice, it’s 4.5 miles total.  When I get back up the hill after round one I’m always like “ok, 1 more time.”  I view looking at 3 year plans the same way.

SECOND = Each dot is 1 week to show you have insignificant a bad week, heck a back 5-10 weeks, REALLY IS!  Look how small of a sample size a few weeks is in 1 year, then 3 years and then 15 years!

THIRD & FINAL POINT = 15 years!  As an adult and entrepreneur I think we all have to be able to DREAM!  And I don’t know about you, but no dream I want is reachable in 3 years.  A goal, yes.  A DREAM, NO!!!!  So as I sit here at 48 years and say “I want this” I know it’s a big lift.  I know it’s a long road, but I also know I have a lot of DOTS that I can screw up on in route to this dream.  There are 52 weeks in a year, 156 weeks in 3 years and 780 weeks in 15 years.

So when I have a bad week I start to think, WHO GIVES A SHIT, it’s .0012 of the time it’s going to take me to get to my dream, it’s really really insignificant. 

FYI, go by the book Vivid Vision and READ IT ASAP!

Day 59 – The Puzzle – Rule Of 1/3’s With Restaurant Customer Acquisition & Conversion

It’s hard not to ask the question.

It’s hard not to question peoples sanity.

And it’s impossible NOT TO WONDER “where would my sales be every week IF everyone walked in?”

I get it, trust me, I REALLY REALLY get it!.  As a company we have 500 or so conversations with restaurant owners every week.  About 150 of those owners schedule a meeting.  About 100 of those owners SHOW UP (yes 50 of you skip the meeting without notice, the meeting you scheduled). And about 40% of the restaurant owners say YES.

It’s in our nature to wonder WHAT IF all 150 showed and all 150 became clients.  It’s our opportunistic side.

So when I say I can relate to you in this matter, I can.  

Restaurants that run customer acquisition marketing campaigns know my pain.  This past week I was in Virginia Beach meeting with a long time client, Dean of Firebrew Bar & Grill, and the question came up “where are the other 65% Matt ?! ”  

Dean is like you, a restaurant owner wanting to drive sales and grow his top line sales and of course net profit.  But when he looks at the prior 4 years of working with us he can’t help but think “what if the other 8,000 customers who opted into our marketing program walked into my restaurant for JUST 1 visit.  Heck, what if 4,000 of them walked in for 10 to 15 visits.  His restaurant would be double, maybe triple the size it is now and his sales problem would be GONE!

So the question comes up, why are those customers engaging in a marketing ad for the restaurant, giving us their contact information and NOT doing business with us?

At a basic level, it’s the rule of 1/3’s.  

Meaning, 1/3 of these people will NEVER be your customers, 1/3 are your best opportunity and 1/3 are stuck in the middle. 

Below is a link to a podcast I did on the topic that digs deeper into WHY, but in this blog I want to focus on another side of the equation.  I want to discuss what makes that main 1/3 easier or harder to get.

It all comes down to 3 factors:

– Type Of Food

– Level Of Service

– Location

In episode 629 of my podcast, Restaurant Marketing Secrets, we dig into this topic a little more, CLICK HERE and have a listen to the other side of this conversation

 

 

We’ve run over 100,000 restaurant marketing campaigns around customer acquisition.  I’d challenge more than ANYONE ELSE and what I’m about to cover is based on those results.  

This example requires to you think a little different about the bullseye.  Normally I’d show a bullseye and talk about how we are trying to build a marketing campaign to target our exact customer.  But in this example I’m going to talk about how the closer you get to the center the MORE to exclude people and the harder or more expensive it becomes to acquire customers for your restaurant.  

First is your type of food.  If you’re a burger, chicken or pizza concept then you fit to EVERYONE!  If you’re a Thai restaurant, your fit a lot less peoples taste buds.  And on top of that, the Thai eater (me) still will eat at the widely accepted food categories on the outside of the bullseye.  Think about it in the terms of 100 people:

– 80 to 90 of those people would eat anything in the orange area (burgers, pizza and chicken)

– 60 to 70 of those people would eat anything in the white area (Mexican, hot chicken)

– 30 to 40 of those people would eat in the blue area (Thai, Asian and other ethnic foods)

So if you’re running a marketing campaign for a Thai concept, you’re only relating to a fraction of the audience which leads to less opportunity and lower conversion rates.

Next, let’s dig into the type of service.  This also ties into the price of service too.  I don’t think we have to go to far into this.  Based on the economics, types of service and price point knocks people out. If you’re a fast food joint everyone is a potential client, whereas a fine dining establishment is probably only going to appeal to 10-20% of consumers.

Now let’s look at location.  I’ll use two examples here.

First is Shaheen’s restaurants.  Shaheen works for me, but before that he was a restaurant owner for 28 years.  From 2013 to 2020 when he was a client of ours he had 2 restaurants in downtown Cincinnati.  Both restaurants catered to the office workers. In fact one restaurant, Simply Grand Cafe, was on the 1st floor of Great American Insurance’s global HQ.  So 95% of his customers were always going to come from that company.  His other restaurant was Burrito Joe’s one block away.  That business had a broader range of office workers to choose from since his location was more central to other office buildings.  

BUT with a location that appeals to only office workers, you lose a lot of people, which is why Shaheen was closed from dinner and on the weekends. 

My second example is a former client of ours that had a fast food chicken tender concept off the expressway ramp where consumers live.  This location was EASY to get to and was off the exit people take to go home, in fact it was on the right side where you turned to head home, so they had the best of both worlds.  And they are located in a place where there’s also a decent amount of commerce and business traffic.  PLUS people who didn’t work near the location were passing it twice per day.  

Shaheen only has a chance at lunch for his downtown location typically once per week.  But the chicken tender spot has a captive audience all week.  Here’s the breakdown on 100 people:

– 80 to 90 of those people are around the chicken tender brand every day because they live in the area

– 50 to 60 of those people are around the chicken tender brand 5 days per week because they work there PLUS it’s an easy “take home to the family product for dinner”

– 20 to 30 of those people are around Shaheens downtown spot when he’s open. 

SOOOOO with the breakdown out of the way here’s an easy way to wrap a bow around this.

If you are advertising for customers and you are a restaurant with an appealing food type, service/price point and location you are RELATING to 80-90% of those people seeing your ads.  Whereas, if you’re a restaurant with a more specific type of food, with a higher price point in an urban area you are only going to appeal to 30-40% of the customers seeing your marketing. 

This does two things.  First, it costs you more to get the right people since you have waste on your ads.  Second, you have lower redemption rates on your offers since people don’t make it to your location as often or don’t dine in that segment as often as others.