The Ten-Minute Manager’s Guide to . . . Home-Grown Restaurant PR
Restaurant Public Relations and marketing
By Lisa Bertagnoli, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions, 2/1/2007
RESTAURANT PUBLIC RELATIONS efforts need not be expensive or time-consuming nor require services of an outside firm. Many operators have dreamed up (relatively) easy-to-execute promotions that draw customers, increase sales and have staying power, which means guests come back.
When brainstorming ideas, think long-term, suggests Cindy Kurman, president of Chicago’s Kurman Communications, which specializes in restaurants. For instance, don’t create a special dinner for only one night; offer it as a monthly special. And approach all business opportunities with an open mind. One idea: Restaurants near cemeteries should consider offering funeral lunches, "because everybody goes out to eat after the funeral," Kurman says. Finally, try to be different—but not too different. For instance, instead of doing another wine dinner, "offer a cognac tasting instead," she suggests.
Return Fare
There is such a thing as a free lunch, and for Atlanta-based Artuzzi’s, leveraging it is a promotional tool.
When a new unit of the fast-casual chain opens, a company representative visits businesses within a three-mile radius to give menus and a $5 gift card to the contact person. “It helps us get in with that business,” says Rob Caswick, co-founder of the seven-unit concept.
Caswick says that 80% of the cards are redeemed within three to four days, and within six months, that figure is better than 90%. The average gift-card bearer spends $8 (including the value of the card) at lunch; the average lunch check is $8.50.
The giveaway works because, once the gift cards have been redeemed, employees go back to the office and talk about Artuzzi’s. “Office environments are great for talking about food,” Caswick says. “It’s the watercooler effect.”
Caswick says Artuzzi’s dedicates two full weeks to visiting area businesses, then revisits them on the store’s first anniversary. “You see a lot of new faces the second time around,” he says.
Free for All
Almost five years after its inception, a kids-eat-free promotion still drives sales and traffic at Gold Star Chili locations. The campaign, launched in May 2002, boosts sales by as much as 26% and traffic up to 27%.
The 105-unit, Cincinnati-based chain launched the promotion to perk up sales on Tuesday nights, a normally slow time. It allows children 12 and younger to eat free from Gold Star Chili’s kids menu as long as they’re with a paying adult. Because mall locations share a dining area with other food-court restaurants, they do not participate in the promotion. The common dining room makes it difficult to monitor participation in the campaign.
In addition to providing free meals for young customers, the promotion includes a drawing for prizes. Kids fill out entry forms and drop them into a box; the winning entry receives a child-friendly prize. December’s first prize was a $50 gift card at an apparel retailer popular with kids; second prize was four passes for a family visit to Newport Aquarium in nearby Newport, Ky. Leveraging its sponsorship of the Cincinnati Bengals professional football team, Gold Star also regularly includes football merchandise as monthly prizes.
A barrage of marketing, including placements in local papers, radio ads and spot television, launched the promotion. Ongoing marketing efforts include point-of-purchase kits that include balloons and employee ribbons. E-mail blasts from Gold Star’s online E-Club also remind customers of the campaign.
The Fixed Is In
When casting about for a promotion, remember the locals.
Luna Park, a casual full-service concept in Los Angeles (with a second location in San Francisco), wanted to appeal to a large regional client base of struggling actors, plus perk up business on slow Monday nights. Three months ago, the restaurant began offering a “starving artist” fixed-price dinner on Monday.
Diners get a choice of one of two appetizers, an entrée of either chicken mole or macaroni and cheese, and s’mores or fried apple pie for dessert for $18; the 80-seat restaurant’s average check is $25.
The promotion has increased Monday-night traffic by 15%, says owner A.J. Gilbert. The starving-artist approach appeals to his clientele and also is easier to execute than a wine dinner or one focused on regional cuisine. “The trick is to find something that people will truly be entertained by or find of value,” he says.
Creativity Sparks Sales
Appeal to kids, and parents (along with their pocketbooks) will follow. That’s what 80-seat Nirvana Cafe and Grille in Roswell, Ga., has found with a monthly contest that challenges kids to create a new flavor of ice cream.
The contest draws about 200 entries each month, and all participants are given a free cone for their efforts. Winners receive $100, a free ice cream party for 10 friends, a photo in Nirvana’s Hall of Fame and notoriety from having their ice cream flavor served for a month.
The contest is “pretty sophisticated,” says Nirvana owner Scott Shickler, in part because kids have to come up with a winning flavor and a catchy name. June 2006 winner Emily Brittain (shown above, l. with Shickler) created Daddy Deluxe, a Fathers Day blend of chocolate ice cream, marshmallow cream and crushed graham crackers.
The contest works as a public-relations program because it gets both parents and kids in the door, says Shickler, who plans to open a second Nirvana in Alpharetta, Ga., this year. “They have to come to the restaurant to enter the contest,” he says. And because parents are supportive of their kids’ efforts, sales increase 10% to 15% when the contest is announced each month.
Shickler advertises the promotion via an e-mail loyalty club and by sending press releases to the winner’s school. “Everybody sees the kid who won, and they want to taste the flavor, so they come in.”
Goodwill Hunting
Public-relations efforts can work simply by building goodwill with customers.
Philadelphia-based Aramark discovered that with its PlanetEVERgreen initiative, which includes purchasing sustainably harvested foods as well as recycling and waste-management programs and using bio-fuel trucks and electric carts to cut emissions. In partnership with the Houston-based Green Hotels Association and others, the contractor launched the promotion in May 2002 at its eight U.S. National Parks accounts, believing that visitors to the parks would be likely to endorse the principles of sustainable cuisine.
Culinary aspects of the promotion, now at 20 of Aramark’s 3,000 accounts, encompass everything from offering shade-grown coffee and single-menu items made with locally sourced foods to a complete fixed-price menu. The sustainable-menu concept, introduced at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia—with dishes such as Smoked Virginia Trout with Horseradish Cream and Frizzled Sweet Onions at Big Meadows Lodge restaurant—soon will be rolled out to all eight park locations. The PlanetEVERgreen logo is used on menus to denote sustainable food choices.
When the program was launched, media response was huge. Aramark chefs were quoted in both business and culinary stories. Since then, the contractor has received requests to implement PlanetEVERgreen at other accounts, says Doug Bradley, Aramark director of culinary standards.
While there’s no hard data confirming that PlanetEVERgreen by itself has increased sales or traffic, it’s still the right thing to do, Bradley says. Sustainable cuisine “is a great story to tell,” he says. “We have a customer base that it resonates with, and we’re proud of that.”
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