Excerpt from a forum post to an Indian restaurant owner:
A unique selling point stays away from claims about “better food” and “better service”. Those are minimum expectations of your customers, not reasons to choose you over your competition. Sure, you may be able to get that very small market of people looking for Indian food by being the only Indian restaurant around, but you’ll starve to death if you’re depending on that market. Your market must be bigger and transcend your food. Good food and service don’t make restaurants profitable. They’re not even a necessary ingredient though they help. Having good management systems and marketing, then consistently meeting the expectations of your customers whether high or low is what makes restaurants profitable.
I’m not saying all of those points aren’t important to the success of your restaurant, I’m just saying none of them provide your target market with a reason to go to your restaurant over the one down the road.
People DO NOT buy products, they buy emotions. A USP expounds on whatever emotion you are offering to your customers. Talking about your food, and your chef will win over a small amount of people, but the majority of people are looking to get some sort of feeling by visiting your restaurant, or in anything they do for that matter. If you market correctly, whenever they are in the mood to feel the way your restaurant makes them feel, they will think only of you, because your USP is truly unique. Now, you have to decide what feeling you want your customers to associate with your restaurant. Something unique to start. Then you do ONE THING (or more) that none of your competition does and give them that feeling you are selling them. Then, they’ll remember you and you’ll have a competitive edge on your competition. Then, your target market grows past people that just want great Indian food, to people that want to feel the way your restaurant makes them feel.
Think more along the lines of some of these feelings other restaurants sell:
“I’m selling stature, not food.”
Roll out a red carpet. Use crystal glassware. Real silver. Have a valet. Call every guest by name. Make sure the name of the restaurant suggests “stature”. TELL your customers visiting your restaurant will impress their friends.
“I’m selling speed. Not food.”
Offer fast service. Put a time limit guarantee on getting your product to them. Arrange your restaurant to cut steps out getting food to the customer. Have your restaurant’s name suggest “speed”. TELL your customers you are the fastest place in town to eat.
“I’m selling sex. Not food.”
Hire attractive waitresses. Dress your waitresses in short shorts and tight tops. Teach them to flirt. Name your store a sexually suggestive name. TELL your customers it’s the place to go to be waited on by beautiful women.
“I’m selling nostalgia. Not food.”
Collect memorabilia from a certain era or genre. Display it in your restaurant with stories about the pieces. Decorate the store in the style of the era or genre. Give your restaurant a name that suggests “nostalgia” for that era or genre.
“I’m selling accomodation. Not food.”
Encourage your customers to customize your menu items. Allow substitutions and many choices. Adopt a moniker that says you’re accomodating and market the heck out of it. Use a name that implies “accomodation”.
“I’m selling fun. Not food.”
Build a playground in your restaurant. Use cartoon characters and marketing partnerships with kids movies in your menu selections and marketing. Use colors in your restaurant that appeal to kids. Use a name that implies “fun”.
Well established brands realized long ago that only a few people come to them because they like their food better than any other restaurant. They know that people have to be thinking about you when they’re hungry to keep you at the top of their mind when they’re thinking of places to eat. They know that feelings and emotions create stronger memories and associations than any of the 5 senses.
What are you selling? If it’s food and service, don’t expect too many people to get very excited about it. They can get that anywhere.
Brandon O’Dell
O’Dell Restaurant Consulting
www.bodellconsulting.com
blog.bodellconsulting.com
brandon@bodellconsulting.com
Office: (888) 571-9068
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Unique selling point - vol. 2 « O’Dell Restaurant Consulting’s Weblog // Jan 31, 2008 at 4:18 pm
[...] 31, 2008 · No Comments See “Unique selling points – vol. 1 I hear all the time from owners and operators that companies like Applebee’s are successful [...]
2 ngawang // Feb 21, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I do agree that food doesnt make much difference .I am running a restaurant which is 30 years old it had good reputation .For last 5 years theperson who was runing the business has spoilt the business and reputation the property is our family oproperty so I took over the restaurant and in last two years I could gather quite good number of old clients .that could happen becos of my personal efforts of personal marketing men to men and good service but last not least food quality ofcourse. I just wanted to know form you the basics of marketing and profit making tht is management .my profit margin as on date is 25-30%
please help
ngawang
3 admin // Feb 22, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I don’t mean to convey that the food doesn’t make a difference ngawang, it does. My point is that “great food” is not a unique selling point, because it’s not unique. EVERYONE claims to have great food, so by telling your market you have great food, you effectively make yourself sound like everyone else. What you need to do to market your restaurant is to find something SPECIAL about your restaurant, and concentrate on being different than other restaurants, not the same. That gives customers a reason to come to you instead of the other restaurants.
As far as what you should do to market your restaurant, start by building a customer database. Gathering contact information from existing customers to send them promotions that will bring them back more often, will yield much better “bang for the buck” than trying to pursue new customers. Make offers that encourage existing customers to bring in their friends, then gather their information too, and turn them into regular customers.
Is your 25-30% profit margin a gross profit, or a net profit? If that is your net profit, then you are already outperforming most restaurants. The national average net profit for full service restaurants, according to the National Restaurant Association, is somewhere around 4%. Quick service restaurants average around 10-11%.
If 25-30% is your net profit, then you should focus your efforts on marketing. Start a customer database by forming a VIP club. Tell customers if they sign up for your VIP club, you’ll send them special offers that you don’t send other customers. Get as many emails as possible. Email marketing is much cheaper than direct mail marketing. Use both types, but you’ll be able to do more email marketing because of the price.
4 Ajay Shirole // Aug 14, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I own a multi-cuisine restaurant in one of the prime locations in India. The surrounding is dominated with multiple colleges and I.T Offices. My problem is that ,my food cost is around 40%, the rent is more than 10% of my total gross profit, on paper after deducting all the expence,overheads & food cost from my gross profit in have 15% net profit … but there is no money in my account… how is it happening ?
5 admin // Aug 15, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Something must be wrong with your numbers Ajay, OR you could have someone stealing cash. I would warn against accusing anyone until you know for sure though.
Do you do your own books or do you have an accountant? If you are keeping proper records, you should be able to see where your money is going. Do you create a profit and loss statement and a cash flow statement each month?
6 rick // Mar 8, 2010 at 4:48 am
our restaurant is a bit hiding location.now our food sale keep dropping.please give me the idea how to fix it and make more sale
7 admin // Mar 8, 2010 at 5:52 am
I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “Location, location, location” when people talk about what is important to the success of a restaurant Rick. Having a location that isn’t very visible is a huge hurdle to try and overcome with a restaurant. However, you can’t blame a bad location for food sales dropping. People choosing not to eat at your restaurant again after eating there once is indicative of a problem that marketing cannot solve.
When I hear of a restaurant whose sales are trending down, there are a few things I look at specifically. The first thing to consider is whether or not the quality of your food has slipped. Have you started cutting corners to cut costs by buying cheaper ingredients or doing too much prep ahead of time? Has there been a major kitchen employee change that could have affected the consistency of your food? Is your food coming out of the kitchen as fast as it used to? Has your level of service declined for some reason?
When asking about quality, the owner or the chef is probably the last person who should be asked. Normally, your opinion is going to be very biased because your pride is involved. You need to get input from other professionals in your area, or directly from the people who are eating in your restaurant, and not just the regulars.
If your sales are declining, people are coming in but not coming back. There is a reason why people are not coming back and you need to find out what that reason is. Don’t trust your gut. Swallow your pride and survey your guests, all your guests. Do you have a comment card program? That would be a good place to start. Put out comment cards with every tab. Encourage your servers to instruct the customers to fill them out. Have the customers rate your food, service, and facility, then track the results. Watch for trends in the satisfaction of your customers.
I would bet that if your sales are dropping, there is some aspect of your business that isn’t what it used to be.
Once you have whatever problem is causing the decline fixed, THEN you can work on a plan to better market your restaurant and increase the customers. Bringing more customers in before you find out why the existing customers aren’t coming back is like trying to row a sinking ship. Better to plug the hole first.
8 rick // Mar 8, 2010 at 7:44 am
.had many promotion made such as happy hours and we also served sample tapas food to encourage customer to order but still not work.we have walk in customer but food sale still slow .walk in customer just more to baverage not food.why?need the idea
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