John says “how many times have we all dined in a restaurant or café and felt the ambience was not quite right? Sometimes the owner gets it wrong right from the start, using the wrong colour schemes or furniture. I’ve been in seafood restaurants where the proprietor has made the cardinal sin by surrounding diners with rich warm colours. Conversely, I’ve been in steak restaurants which have cool colour surroundings, such as blues and greens, which hardly make me comfortable when I’m eating my beef dinner!”
John maintains that a huge part of the success of any restaurant is its general theme and ambience. John says “of course, the cuisine is of utmost importance, but today, people are looking for more. They want their dinner to be an experience, rather than just a means to satisfying their appetite. Indeed, the explosion around the world of themed restaurants is testament to the fact that people are looking for a somewhat theatrical experience when they are dining.”
So John’s advice is to:
1. After creating your cuisine choices, make sure you create the right colour scheme and ambience in your restaurant.
2. Get the name right and where possible, make it synonymous with your cuisine. (eg: South Pacific Seafood Restaurant.)
3. Create a “dining experience” for your customers, so that it becomes more than just a dinner for them.
4. Design a strategic marketing plan which:
a. Entices first-time customers to “trial” your dining facility.
b. Build loyalty and repetitive visitation through numerous ways.
c. Increase the average “unit-spend” by using various “up-sell” techniques.
d. Target “groups” or “parties”. (As this represents “volume” and high yield for you!)
GETTING RESULTS
There are far too many examples of John’s involvement with eating establishments to list the “execution” and “results” of each marketing campaign.
However, the print advertising samples here will give you an idea of some of his tactics.
In the case of a Club Brassiere such as Parramatta Leagues, the marketing tactic of specially priced “roasts” was employed in order to attract a demographic which had a history of spending big elsewhere in the premises.
In the same Club’s new Dining facility, Cafe 88, the marketing needed to reflect a more contemporary, sleek feel, due to its target audience profile.
In the instance of the Café St Tropez at the Gold Coast’s Sanctuary Cove, the signage of the restaurant needed serious updating and re-theming.(Note the “before” and “after” photographs here.)
And given that Sanctuary Cove is a prestigious “gated community”, John created weekly Direct Mail campaigns to the residents, offering them special privileges.(The campaigns continue to enjoy staggering success!)
Café St Tropez is an up-market restaurant / café in the Sanctuary Cove Village precinct, enjoying a waterside location with a relaxing ambience.