If you're like most independent restaurateurs, you're in it for love a lot more than you are for money.
Perhaps you love to cook. Or maybe you love to entertain and share in your patrons' special moments.
Anyway, one thing's for sure. You certainly didn't go into this business to make a fast and easy million.
You don't need anyone to tell you that this is a tough, tough business.
There are plenty of challenges:
* Hours are long
* Margins are low
* Capital investment is high
And according to the experts at Ohio State University, the failure rate is up to 60 percent in the first five years.
Here's a marketing secret that can help you supercharge your results while cutting your costs at the same time:
The great majority of your customers will come from an area, centered around your restaurant, of less than five miles radius.
You might think you run a "destination restaurant" that attracts customers from miles around. You may indeed attract diners from a larger area than most. But statistics show that 87% of customers drive less than 8 minutes for lunch and less than 15 minutes in the evening.
To take advantage of this fact, your first step should be to get a neighborhood map. Then draw a circle of about 5 mile radius with your restaurant at the center.
Hang it on the wall in your office.
That's your trading area. That's where most of your customers will come from.
Most advertising media charge you more money to reach more people. So a classified ad in a newspaper with a circulation of one million subscribers is a lot more expensive than one in a newspaper with a circulation of 25,000.
And let's not forget that expensive half-page ad in the Yellow Pages which reaches one million people.
99% of whom will never become regulars at your restaurant, even if you sell your food at a loss.
That's good news for you, because you don't care about paying those high prices to reach large numbers of people. All you care about is reaching prospects in your trading area. And if you want to dominate your trading area, to become the restaurant of choice, you'd better make it your business to know everything about your neighborhood and where to find your prospective customers.
That means you need to know all the subdivisions, all the major employers, the churches, government offices, military bases, sports facilities, etc, etc.
You also need to know who to contact in each of those places to get business for your restaurant. As well as the best way to reach those prospective customers – whether it be a community newspaper, bulletin board, e-mail, or a joint promotion with another neighborhood business.
Put it all in a spreadsheet like Excel.
Yes, it seems like a lot of work. And it is, at first.
But once you've finished, you'll find that things will change very slowly, so you'll easily be able to keep up.
And think how easily you'll be able to crush your competition because you'll have a hundred ways to increase business. Why? Because you'll have an intimate knowledge of your trading area, where to find customers, and what they care about.
Your competition will typically only have one: blind hope.
Oh, and that expensive ad in the Yellow Pages.
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