Restaurant Marketing Ideas

20 Years: Restaurant Marketing, Balloon Man, Own a Restaurant

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It was twenty years ago today that I walked into a restaurant and said,  "Hello, I am the new owner," to six employees.  The restaurant averaged about $4000 per week in sales and had a history of losing $30k per year.  Twenty years have passed.  What was I thinking?  Why did I buy a restaurant that was losing money? 

That was before fancy computers and everything was tracked each hour by hand.  I remember the goal:  Next week make at least $1 more in sales each and every hour.  There can be no going "backwards".  Every step forward, no matter how small, was still progress.  (I am sure I drove the staff nuts.)

How did sales double in six months and then double again?  The Five Essentials to Business Success comes to mind along with the fact that I am addicted to smiles.  (Do I need to see a business psychologist?)  I love to do whatever it takes to create a smile.  "Make someone's day" has never been just a phrase.

Twenty years have passed.  I remember:

• Deciding that there would be no waste because of slow business.  All food would be consumed--the product turned into a marketing tool.
• Making a commitment that no one would dine in, carry out, or receive a delivery without personal contact from me.  I met every customer.
• Chasing people who would park in my parking lot and then proceed to talk a bit outside my door only to proceed to the restaurant across the street.  I RAN to them as they crossed and invited them (with extreme enthusiasm) to come back and allow me to make their day.  (They did so and we became good friends)
• Giving up doing inventory except for once a month and using that time to do marketing instead.  If a business is so slow it loses money, every minute is about marketing. (Not recommended, just remembering.)
• Having a "clown / balloon person / down on his luck / man" walk  through the dining room one Tuesday night making balloon animals and hoping for a hand out.  The corporate style of thought processing?  Kick him out!  As an entrepreneur?  I met him, listened to him and asked him to return every Tuesday night for two hours in exchange for dinner.  He made amazing animals with the balloons and returned each week.  
• Creating a 'yes' whenever a guest asked for something special.   The rule was: There is no such thing as "no".  There is always a 'yes'.  
• Giving the authority to every staff person to fix any issue for a guest.  Everyone had the power to please and create smiles.
• Saying "anything goes" for marketing during the first year.  Test, test, test was the motto as I became my own marketing expert for my community.
• Meeting people who were so amazing that to be in the same room left me humbled. 
• Sitting in a workshop in the early 90's given by Jay Conrad Levinson, the father of Guerrilla Marketing.  That day changed my life.
• Purchasing the first POS System that pushed the business farther.  Big investment of $25K back then but it streamlined operations and put us ahead of the curve.
• Continuing to expand my team and add more options to the menu as other restaurants in the area closed one by one.
• Giving young kids applications at 10 years old.  Seeing  them return 5 1/2 years later with their application in hand, eager to work.  (WOW!)
• Building my first website for the restaurant (during dial-up), lowered marketing costs by 50%.  Began using the Internet and Fax machines along with targeted marketing which I now refer to as "Unique Personal Invitations".  Sales continued to grow.
• Buying hundreds of sweaters that said "#1 in the Nation Because of Me", giving them to my staff, and selling them to very eager guests.  It was because of them and I celebrated how amazing they were.
• Purchasing restaurant equipment at unheard of prices on newly opened ebay.
• Learning and applying new processes, systems, technology, and paradigms each and every month.  Good enough today is not good enough tomorrow.

Sure, there were tough times.  Two 100 year floods, WAR, economic depressions, personal health issues, divorce, and my own failures to make "best decisions."  Can't spend the day worrying about failure or criticism.  Success has temporary failures and roadblocks in the recipe.  Can't stop now!  It ain't over yet.

Twenty years ago today I stepped from the employee arena into one of business owners.  My hormones must be off a bit.  There is a tear in my eye as memories return of those who sacrificed as they grew from young teenagers to adulthood.  There were sad moments as those on the team lost loved ones.  My thoughts wander back to those moments in time.

All in all, I am blessed.  Twenty years ago I had the chance to prove once and for all that the principles I believed in were not just idealistic fantasies.  There is something to be said for the five essentials to business success.  I am also blessed that the best of the best worked on my teams during those years.  I could not have asked for better.

To celebrate and mark a new period of time, my new book:  "You?  Own a Restaurant?  How Ready Are You?" begins the countdown for release.  April 2 is a milestone date again, as it is the day the release clock started to tick.  No worries, there will be more to come about the new book.