While they are nothing new, Prix Fixe Menus are a hot trend right now. At least in St. Louis, they are cropping up everywhere! In a downward economy people still want to eat out, but are looking to save cash. Prix Fixe Menus bring in business and help your customers out. Here are some quick reasons why:
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Location is EVERYTHING, right? Of course it is! Will you always be slammed? Not necessarily. The Field of Dreams idea “if you build it they will come” doesn’t really pertain to real life. Mondays, cold rain, lack of exposure, and poor marketing are all factors that can kill a business. Therefore “location is everything” doesn’t always hold true.
Let’s say you’re in a relatively high traffic area and you normally do well. Today just happens to be one of those days, and you’re abnormally slow. How can you increase street business? Google Favorite Places may be one way, but I am a bit skeptical. Let’s ditch advanced technology for a second, and get back to our roots. Below are 5 tips for hustling street traffic:
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Office buildings are freaking hilarious (at least mine is). It’s not uncommon for the question “What’s for lunch” to spring up around 8am. That sounds ridiculous, but if you forget lunch at home then you’re eating out. It’s a great idea to get that ball rolling early.
If you work in a restaurant, you might not understand the politics behind a lunch break. It’s the highlight of the day! Everyone has to eat, and you’ve got one hour to do it. The power is that offices order food in groups. Do most restaurants understand this culture? It amazes me that local restaurants never stop by our office to offer incentives. They could be killing it! Here are 4 quick office promo tips:
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Remember the movie “Field of Dreams?” It’s about a middle-aged guy named Ray Kinsella living with his family among the vast cornfields of Iowa. While farming the yellow fields one day…Ray hears a voice. The voice softly whispers “If you build it, he will come.” Taken by surprise, he continues laboring and tending his precious crops to feed his family. As time passes, the voice starts booming louder and louder – “If you build it, he will come” – “If you build it, he will come.” This sparks relentless ambition into Ray as he realizes what the voice is telling him: Build a baseball diamond. Thus starting the worst movie ever made…
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I see restaurants join Twitter everyday, and that’s incredible news. Then it happens…that new restaurant begins tweeting nothing but specials. Their entire feed becomes a rotating spam bomb of happy hours and ½ off appetizers. No engagement. No personality. Just spam.
Tons of people have expressed this problem to me. They hate when restaurants only tweet specials, they even unfollow them. I agree. People join Twitter to talk and meet people, not to be bombarded with advertising. Is your restaurant making this deadly mistake?
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Recently a shiny brand new site sprung up called UrbHub.com. It’s a rockin niche site that encourages users to talk about what’s happening in their city. I think it’s a great concept that we also encourage on this site. So naturally you can understand why UrbHub and UrbanBacon make great partners.
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting the founder, Brad Hogan, at Park Avenue Coffee in St. Louis. He is a really cool guy that shares similar ambitions and ideas. Right now we are working on collaborating UrbanBacon with UrbHub. It’s going to be sweet! Here are some ideas we are tossing around:
Right now nothing is 100% set in stone. Brad and I both agree integrating the sites will provide more value for our users. In the end, it’s all about providing you guys with more value. I will keep you posted on our progress. Right now, get over to UrbHub.com and start talking!
-Phil Novara
The majority of my life I grew up fishing private ponds, streams, and rivers in Missouri. There is nothing like the serene stillness and peace of a bright summer day on the crystal water. This is my element, at least as a kid it was. I remember tying neon green and construction orange lures in hopes of landing that monster 8lb large mouth bass. Constant casting and reeling while my lure danced across clear water taught me a great deal of patience. In a way, fishing is like social media. Are your customers biting your lures?
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Its official, we are full blown Vayniacs at UrbanBacon. Can you blame us? The guy is flat out awesome! Yesterday Gary Vaynerchuk posted a video calling out spammers on Facebook. You can watch the video here. One particular winery directly posted blatant spam on Wine Library TV’s Facebook Page. They even had the audacity to link emails and offer a discount to customers. Gary was not impressed by this marketing fail…
According to Vaynerchuk, this is happening more on Facebook. As his example proves, the food and hospitality industry are also among the spammers. Which brings up a logical argument. Are restaurants more likely to spam? A unique battle restaurants have is the constant need to get the word out about daily specials. Typically, unless people are actively looking for specials, they consider pushing them spammy. Just like Gary implies, it’s time to stop spamming your customers.
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Totally pumped! Our new design will roll out this week on April 18th, 2010. Here is what you can expect:
We are opening the floodgates and offering our basic package for free! What does that mean? Any restaurant can join UrbanBacon and start posting happy hours, food specials, and venues. We want you guys (local restaurants) to see how fun and easy it is to use UrbanBacon.
We have added more white space to the site and moved things so they are eye level. Now it’s easier to sign up, post deals, and understand how UrbanBacon works. These are big changes our old design did not accomplish.
The best way to use UrbanBacon is to search for deals. Search your city, date, and see what’s restaurants/bars are offering. We have changed search parameters and will continue to add search features as the site develops. That means it’s easier to find deals in St Louis or Chicago.
We are freaking pumped for this new design. Right now we are focused on getting restaurants/bars active and posting deals. We need your help to spread the word, please tell your friends. If you know a restaurant owner, tell them to check it out. Every little bit helps to create awareness. Last, we want to personally thank all of our followers and supporters thus far. You guys freaking rock! Thank You.
We have been following the Yelp lawsuits closely at UrbanBacon. As promised, we will occasionally keep you up to date with recent happenings…Check out their blog here for the full story.
This week Yelp decided to change their advertising structure. Businesses advertising with Yelp were previously allowed to highlight their favorite review at the top of their profile. A monkey could figure out why a business would want their best review displayed at top of the page. They are now removing this feature from their business model. Is it too late?