What type of restaurant marketing will it take to get you on the map? How about putting 21 live scorpions in his mouth for a world record? Think of all the free marketing you will get should you be number one!
Michael Hartzell, on 1/30/17 4:57 PM
What type of restaurant marketing will it take to get you on the map? How about putting 21 live scorpions in his mouth for a world record? Think of all the free marketing you will get should you be number one!
Michael Hartzell, on 4/2/15 10:07 AM
Restaurant marketing gurus this information about fundraising programs is for you. How can your restaurant take advantage of this traditional marketing method while also serving the community:
Michael Hartzell, on 2/13/15 11:04 AM
Have you ever been to a strange restaurant where you are so perplexed that even bad service would not keep you from sticking around to see more?
Michael Hartzell, on 5/20/14 1:06 AM
Restaurateurs don't sell food, they sell eating. In fact, if you watch very closely, you will see people eating in restaurants and nodding - smiling, shaking their heads, pointing and on occasion they will not eat... they will poke their food.
Meanwhile, the beginning of today seemed like any other with products to be checked and inventoried, cash to be counted, employees to motivate and restaurants to clean. The very detailed restaurant checklist is full of "have-to's" which can be a grind for a management team and staff. There are aspects in any restaurant operation which are a heavy burden on the mind, body and spirit of even the most disciplined and experienced person.
Enter Charlie Hopper. He wrote a book, but not just any book... Charlie redefines what restaurateurs are all about in Selling Eating: Restaurant Marketing Beyond the Word Delicious. After twenty years of restaurant communication experience, he has a deep well to pull from as he offers recommendations that range from brand positioning and the “The Seven Very Specific People Your Restaurant Needs to Reach,” to actionable advice like “Three Things Every Menu Should Do,” “Eighteen Separate Restaurant Marketing Moments,” “Fifteen Forbidden Food Words to Never Use,” and many more insights.
Michael Hartzell, on 5/2/14 7:05 PM
What does it take to make a profit in the restaurant business? Is it possible to give away a free lunch and stay profitable? How about 300 free lunches? For many smaller restaurants, it is believed there is no such thing as a “free lunch” and every transaction must be profitable. It is a stretch to believe that having a drawing where 300 people win “the prize” of a free lunch will help business enough to make it pay and yet this has been done successfully.
Michael Hartzell, on 2/19/14 10:15 AM
Restaurant marketing with low tech is very effective. With tools as simple as "a card, a pen and a friend", you can have a very high rate of return.
The downside for personalized marketing is that it takes time.
Compare two marketing options:
How this will pay off in sales dollars will depend on the average transaction amount and if there are discounts included.
Michael Hartzell, on 3/5/12 2:36 PM
Loyalty program options for marketing a restaurant have leaped ahead faster than any restaurant owner can possibly understand. While the opportunity for anyone to have a loyalty program grows, consumers (guests) have a dim view of loyalty programs since 93% believe they are more a marketing tool and not truly intended to be a benefit to them.
Michael Hartzell, on 7/4/11 12:00 PM
Guerrilla marketers see big opportunities every year when it is time for neighborhoods to celebrate with fireworks.
Michael Hartzell, on 4/15/11 7:53 PM
Guests who come and go from a restaurant continue to be forgotten before the food is even served. To change this reality, my preference is to think beyond "restaurant marketing" and instead turn to guerrilla marketing.
The term was coined and defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary and marketing textbooks.
The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget.
Guerrilla marketing is about using time, energy and imagination. This applies to the touch points in a restaurant. Let's look at the many touch points a restaurant has.
Michael Hartzell, on 12/10/10 8:55 AM
Excuses. You hear them daily. Excuses can become a habit, an instant response or a "profound reason" as to why there is no time, no money or no understanding for how to do restaurant marketing.
Here is a prediction, one of two scenarios will occur:
Both are a symptom of restaurant marketing activities. Both can be influenced.
A restaurant marketing strategy will consider opportunities for the short term while laying a foundation for long term growth.
For example...
Michael Hartzell, on 8/11/10 11:21 AM
Everybody is a critic and if you are a restaurant owner, you have a target on your business. Restaurant review sites are growing and there is more than just Yelp to consider.
Each day can be spent chasing comments on the Internet to protect your restaurant reputation. While this article is not about restaurant reputation management, the long list below may make you nervous enough to look for a solution.
Reminder: When someone makes a comment online, you will not feel it or hear about it anymore than you would in the old days when people would talk. The difference is in the permanance of the comment and the whole world is watching and listening.
Turn the comments and restaurant reviews online into a restaurant marketing opportunity. Instead of waiting for something to happen and wonder "Will it be ok?", be pro-active and influence your destiny.
Michael Hartzell, on 7/21/10 3:39 PM
True story of how restaurant marketing success happens when you least expect it and appear as if it were magic marketing.
Twenty years ago or so...
Table to table, family to family, I walked through the dining room.
I love this aspect of the dining room cruise and look at:
To test the second, it is necessary to capture a glance and maybe even a few words need to be exchanged. Those words can’t be canned. They must be sincere. The body language must scream “I care”.
Table by table I walked the dining room cruise.
