Restaurant marketing is not top of the mind for most restaurateurs. In any larger restaurant company there is a need to execute consistently, control costs and protect their brand. Only a small portion of time is committed to focusing on the most important piece of the business: Profitable Sales Increase.
Most restaurant owners did not wake up one morning with the thought: “Marketing is my favorite daily activity” which then led them to open or buy their restaurant. (This not true for yours truly.)
Restaurant management is not prone to putting restaurant marketing at the top of their list each day. The barriers to success are many and while sales are expected to grow, the amount of time and effort invested into growing sales relative the goals is mismatched. (Cut labor and improve sales)
If you work for a large chain, you may rely on a centralized marketing system, location, brand name recognition and reputation. If you are a franchisee, you are looking for leadership from the national chain and hope the national TV commercial or banner ads will help your local business grow. The national campaigns may fall short or not be the right message for your local community which leaves to you to build more: Profitable Sales.
If you are a restaurant owner with one to five locations, you can wear 20 hats any given day and while the larger chains hire people to fill each of these roles, those on YOUR team wears at least five to ten hats at any given time. Time is precious and focusing on one particular aspect of the business difficult.
The barriers to improving flat or declining restaurant sales are many and TNT = Today Not Tomorrow is the mantra for fixing the problem. Which is why “emergency sales campaigns” become the band-aid and restaurants are sadly turning to Groupon and the like. Profitable sales must be the objective.
Restaurant management will need to know the issue quickly. Why is there a sales issue?
Rather than doing an investigation and analysis, “gun to the head marketing results” strategy is applied. Even today there are restaurant leaders who use the threat as a means to take a short cut to get results.
“If you don’t get sales up 5%, your job is at risk.”
“Why are sales down at your location? If the trend continues, you can kiss your job goodbye.”
“I am writing you up. Your sales are down and it is your responsibility.”
“If your sales don’t improve in the next 60 days, I am going to ground you.” (kidding)
There are many ways to put a proverbial gun to the head of someone on the team or leading a team. Even those responsible for multiple locations are reminded that sales results are their responsibility. The pressure to “fire the manager” or “go run the restaurant yourself if you have to” is heard.
This strategy can give restaurant management the message and have an immediate impact. If threatened, the response can shed light on what might be an issue. It is a quick way to understand who has the skill and not following through. It is also possible that the person responsible does not care and no amount of threat will move them.
Since the original motivation to begin a career in the restaurant business (or buy a restaurant) may have had little to do with a passion for marketing; persuading them to do more restaurant marketing is an uphill battle.
Once the “gun to the head marketing results” strategy is used, there is a mark left. Relationships are damaged and the memory of the threat can linger for years. If there are too many on the team with this lingering memory, the goal will be to meet the quotas and do what is necessary to “keep the job” vs. shooting for the sky and leapfrogging the competition.
If skill and knowledge is the barrier to success for the restaurant team then role plays, videos, training and plenty of support are necessary. New habits and paradigm shifts are not easy adjustments to make and “gun to the head marketing” will make many hard working teams implode. Threats are a sign of danger and most often leads to “fight of flight”.
Avoidance is a sign of flight and arguments a sign of fight.
Thinking Ahead:
- The best solution is to hire or promote leaders who not only understand the importance of daily restaurant marketing activities but show a history of success.
- Lesser important than the ability to cook, serve, clean and do administrative duties.
- Lesser important than the ability to cook, serve, clean and do administrative duties.
- The second best solution is to have a calendar which prioritizes the marketing activities with weekly follow up just as there is follow up with cost of sales, cash control sanitation and mystery shoppers.
- The commitment of time and effort must directly relate to the expected results.
- The commitment of time and effort must directly relate to the expected results.
- The third best solution is to include in the monthly management meeting public role plays. Hand shaking, social media tools, email, presenting are but a few areas to include. Also equally important is “how to lead a team to prioritize restaurant marketing”.
This is not a new concept nor just another restaurant idea. It is a proven concept. “Expect what you expect” and “Measure frequently where you expect to see better results.”
The good news: Success breeds success. Once positive results are seen and there is an understanding as to why the results were achieved;, those responsible will no longer resist what originally appeared to be more work. They will pursue the possibilities with a passion.
