Restaurants and Entrepreneurs Surviving in this Economy

Hi everyone.

I hope you are doing fabulous today.

There are a couple of news articles dealing with the current economic climate outlook for the restaurant business that I think are worth your time in reading if you are a restaurant owner or managers.

The first is from The Wall Street Journal and shows how an entrepreneur can succeed in reshaping his or her business.

Recipe for Success

What's on David Burke's fine-dining menu? A lot of in-your-face discounts.

Mr. Burke, it seems, has figured out a way to navigate the downturn. His strategy is to throw out the high-end-dining playbook that says discounting should be subtle. Instead, he is offering dramatic, attention-getting and significant discounts. By engineering the menu carefully and keeping labor costs in check, he is able to slash prices without losing money, he says.

The other article that I believe you will find of interest if you are considering starting a restaurant is from USNews:

Yes, You Can Start a Restaurant in a Down Economy

So you're thinking about opening a restaurant. The allure of fame and fortune seduces you, your love of food drives you, and you want to heat up your life in an exciting industry. That's all fine and well--just as long as you make sure the flame isn't turned up too high. Even in a healthy economy, the restaurant failure rate tells a grim tale, but in a recession, the industry is even more unforgiving. Expensive food spoils, labor costs are high, restaurant-goers are harder to come by, restaurants close and life goes on.

Lastly, here is what I think is one of the best articles because it details the power of cultivating your local customers loyalty.

JUST LIKE HOME: Some neighborhood restaurants thrive despite poor economy 

Omelet House co-owner Kevin Mills said the location at 2160 W. Charleston Blvd., which is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary, has been in his family "since the beginning," and responds as if by instinct when asked to define a neighborhood restaurant.

"Someplace that knows your seating preference when you walk in and knows what you want to drink without having to ask, and has your special jelly or sauce in the little cabinet for you," Mills said. "More along the line of mom and pop."

One customer, he said, comes in every weekday; they've asked him "if he's not going to make it in by noon to let us know so we don't worry about him," Mills said. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is another regular, coming in a couple of times a week, Mills said.

Read the full article, and you'll see how the worth in getting to know your customers.

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out our website and the video at SellMoreMeals.com for how we can help cultivate your loyal customers and reward them. The results will show in your business.

Some Helpful Twitter Marketing Tips and Other Restaurant News.

Good Friday!

I hope this blog post finds you well today. It is Good Friday and the weather here in Florida is beautiful.

I came across a great blog article today that all restaurant owners and management need to read when it comes to entering into marketing on Twitter.

7 Tips For Restaurants To Attract More Twitter Followers.

It's a must read.

Here are the points.

1. Build a relationship  with your followers and also one who you follow as well like @SocialNetworkTV
2. Study before following any body and make the first tweet very personalised like @iRestaurant
3. Try to inject humour with your twitter to give a different flavour like @PopeyesChicken
4. Ask questions rather than just tweeting a plain statement like @mikefilsaime
5. Tweet in relation to your subject topics and also other occasional personal tweets like@geekpreneur
6. Don’t try to promote only your blog or your product or service in every tweets. Recommends @sethgodin
7. Humanise your tweets like @chrisbrogan

Click over to the full piece by Nash at MarketingRestaurantOnline. He goes into detail on each of the 7 points.

Also, here is some good news:

Restaurants may see diners spending more

Sarah E.  Lockyer reports:

According to new data from Atlanta-based RBC Capital Markets, fewer consumers plan to cut back on restaurant spending in the next three months and a larger number of consumers than in previous months actually plan to spend more at restaurants. 

And check out this marketing campaign by the Colorado Restaurant Association.

Colorado restaurants say 'Fork the Recession'

A $170,000 promotion, with the slogan “Fork the Recession … Feed the Recovery,” started this month and runs through May, with TV, radio, print, billboard and web ads. The campaign also allows restaurants across the state to offer their own “Fork the Recession” menu deals. 

I'm not sure that the double entendre is always the best marketing idea as it can back fire. But it's interesting to check out.

And here's some interesting news for restaurants about Yelp.

Yelp Will Let Businesses Respond to Web Reviews

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend and a wonderful holiday. Until next time.

And remember to check out SellMoreMeals.com for how we can help market your restaurant cost effectively so that your business can double it's referrals and increase the number of meals you sell by 15-20%.

Expenses Reduction tips for Restaurants and Hotels.

Here is some great information for people in the Restaurant biz from someone I met at LinkedIn. His name is Jorge Calderon. He is looking for a work so if you like what you read you might want to check him out.

Expenses Reduction tips for Restaurants and Hotels.

As an experienced hotelier and restaurateur, I've came up to several ways to reduce expenses. 
Among many other things I've done, I believe that the following will "light up the spark again" guaranteed: 

1.-Plan ahead, you cant drive a business like a headless chicken, you need to focus on "getting back to basics" to project the future, but beware, you can't do this on your own, there's a team involved and it's one of the most precious resources you have, you have always tree major elements that need attention: 
+Client satisfaction (comments and mouth to mouth advertisement campaign). 
+Owners satisfaction (financials). 
+Staff satisfaction (if you have a well motivated team, service will surface on its own). 

2.-Walk throughs, if you don't know what is going on on your floors, you won't be able to transform and to cutt down expenses (this comment goes mostly to Controllers and GM's). 

3.-Get your executives to work the floor (it may sound strong), but if the executive team works as one, great things can happen, it's a task, would the Customer be waiting for a Sales Director or the Chief Engineer or even the GM to greet them while checking in and WALK THEM to their room??? that will be for sure a pleasant surprise for the Client, it will give them a sense of team effort, concern and warm hospitality (this gets translated into mouth to mouth marketing allowing you to reduce marketing expenses). 

4.-Use a sustainable way of thinking, it's cheaper to get local ingredients, materials and resources. Just think about it, Guests are looking for local experiences, why don't deliver it to them? 

5.-Cross training, why does a Maid or a Waiter have to concern on other departments activities? because every action a department performs will for sure affect other departments operation and expenses (remember that a Restaurant or Hotel is like a big family and everything you do comes around). 

6.-Use your vendors, be on top of them for the best quality at the best price, negotiate, build a relationship with them, as businesses are made among people and not companies (companies are the pure result of it). 

7.-Enhance seasonality, you will buy better quality at the best all year round costs, be present at local events, boards and associations, you will demonstrate that your hotel or restaurant is present and open for new deals (this reduces travelling expenses). 

8.-Turn around your inventory, I can guarantee that your warehouse is full with "long time no see" elements that will allow you to reduce cost, effectiveness, plus you will have more space for the important materials that will add value to your Client. 

9.-Energy is one of the most common sadly missunderstood expense, don't look at the meter, look over from where is leaking (burning stoves all day long, water fawcet open for defrosting beef (it should have been taken out from the freezer yesterday but somebody forgot it), aim the sprinklers directly to the plants, not the pathways, turn computers and printers off while not in use, don't turn all light when waiters are setting their tables, turn them on for your Clients (those are the ones that pay for it), don't wash your pots and pans with extra super water pressure (I'm sure that with a nice scrub and the correct detergent will do the magic), use the nature elements, open up the windows if a nice breeze is blowing, if it rains, you can take advantega of it to clean halls and some floors and can refresh the landscape without further effort. 

10.-Get everybody involved, by having your staff with their feet on the ground, you will be getting ideas from where you thought you couldn't get any. 

I hope you enjoyed this posting as I did writting it, if you have any question, please don't hesitate on contacting me directly, I'm sure I can help you achieve the success you are looking for. 

Best regards, 

Jorge Calderon 
chefcalderitas@hotmail.com

Good advice, don't you think?

Remember to check out what SellMoreMeals.com can do to help market to your restaurant customers in a cost effective campaign that will increase your business by 15-20%.