I originally had another post ready to rock tonight, but my attention shifted. @EvanBenn forwarded me an awesome article from the NY Times today on Twitter. You can read the article here.
Without going into major detail, it involves chefs and their struggle with social media. Some are lashing out over Twitter, others prefer Yelp. Regardless of the platform: they’re pissed. Welcome to Fight Club Gentleman!
I was privileged to sit down with Wes Aiken from @Schedulefly. The people at Schedulefly are doing amazing things for the restaurant industry. I cannot thank Wes enough for taking time from his busy schedule.
This is a must read for restaurant owners! Enough of me yapping, lets get to the interview:
It’s no secret, chain restaurants are ultra successful business models. They work. They work extremely well. Have you ever asked why?
Look, we are not promoting large corporate chains. We love local restaurants and bars! Helping every local restaurant in this country is our goal. That doesn’t mean we can’t analyze chain restaurants and learn from them.
In 1955, Ray Kroc started a little chain hamburger joint called McDonald’s…maybe you heard of them? McDonald’s was an instant classic. You can read their story here.
The success of McDonald’s did not happen overnight. Two brothers wanted to streamline their small hamburger stand for efficiency. They started drawing out the flow of their kitchen on a tennis court. Everything was strategically placed to maximize efficiency and consistency. Then they took it a step farther. They developed an in-depth how-to manual that someone in high school could follow. Viola, fast food is born!
Here are 5 strategies independent restaurants can learn from McDonald’s:
Where is the one place every guest visits? If you think it’s the bar, think again. We are all human, we all use the bathroom. Are you utilizing this super secret advertising spot?
Think about it. Your restaurant is a busy atmosphere. People are preoccupied with food, friends, and drinks. They rarely pay attention to advertisements for upcoming events. Bars are notorious for restroom advertisements. Beer/Liquor labels usually provide them with free promotions.
So how does a fine dining restaurant adopt this strategy without looking too much like a bar? Here are 4 simple tips to using bathroom advertising:
Foursquare is a social networking game that allows users to “check-in” at their current GPS location. There are 2 ways to look at this:
You could be missing out on significant customer traffic by ignoring Foursquare. It is tremendously powerful. Getting customers into your restaurant is half the battle! Here are the top 5 reasons your restaurant needs FourSquare:
I love talking with restaurant owners through social media. Over this past year, I discovered the 2 deepest secrets that most restaurant owners fear:
1. Keeping staff motivated, consistent, and happy.
2. Getting or maintaining a repeat customer base.
We can view this from 2 different business viewpoints: Operations and Marketing. Here are 2 quick tips to kiss these fears goodbye, forever.
Your friends begin talking at the office. Forwarding emails, sending texts, and g-chatting. You guys decide to hit up $5 buckets…bonus!
6pm rolls around and happy hour ends. The last thing you remember eating was a bag of Doritos from the vending machine. That was 5 hours ago. What do you do?
A couple of your friends are ready to rock. It’s Thursday night, and we all know Fridays are pseudo work days anyways. One problem: Where should you go? Do you know of anything going on? Welcome to mobile advertising my friends! Read more »
I get so pumped when local restaurants join Twitter. Their first tweet is usually irrelevant nonsense. Then the second spouts off a happy hour special, which is fine. Then the third, fourth, fifth…until their entire feed is nothing but promotions!
You’re a restaurant, I get it. You have daily food specials, happy hours, and live bands. How many times have you seen a newbie restaurant join Twitter and immediately start spamming?
STOP….PLEASE!
Below are the top 5 ways your restaurant should be tweeting:
Do you remember 10 years ago? Remember dial-up? Remember that annoying crunching sound?
Most kids these days will never hear dial up, or experience the agonizing hours it took to load pictures. Amazing what 10 years of technology can do.
Technically, people like you and I have only been using the Internet for 15 years. Can you imagine another 15 years?
Our lives are going to change. Our children will be tech gurus. Our entire social networks will move online.
Read more »
The doors of your new restaurant fly open. Linens freshly pressed, candles glowing, lines filled, bar stocked, and your staff is pumped to rock it out.
Embrace yourselves for an AMAZING grand opening!
Then it happens…
You turn 4 tables and chalk the opening up as defeat. The staff is bummed and the lack of customers is a buzz kill.
What went wrong? What could you have done differently?
Now I understand, this is an extreme situation. But does it happen? You bet.