Restaurants and Institutions

Stu Stein

Marketing to Your Base (or Has Anyone Seen that Guerrilla I Misplaced?)
November 30, 2007

Will "Tuesdays at Terroir" bring in winter stay-at-home customers? Stu Stein's going to take that gamble.

Back in business school (go Fighting Illini) and even as recently as when I taught restaurant management, the marketing buzzwords were focus groups, market segments and ROI (return on investment). We in the hospitality industry (and especially those of us in the independently owned restaurant segment) do not always have the money, time and external expertise needed to mount traditional marketing campaigns.

I’m not just talking about guerrilla marketing, which Jay Conrad Levinson defines as “unconventional ways of pursuing conventional goals. It is a proven [marketing] method of achieving profits with minimum money” (“Guerilla Marketing,” Houghton Mifflin, 2007). That sounds great in theory but how can a small restaurant simply “try out” a different service period such as lunch, brunch or an additional day of the week? Yes, we can do break-even-point analysis and demographic research, but what happens if that doesn’t translate into actual customers in the door and butts in the seats?

If we suddenly decide to put out a “Now Serving Lunch” sign and find out after six months that, oops, it’s a bad idea, what will our guests think? My guess is you might find out that Marge and Homer would like to come to your restaurant but can’t figure when and what time you’re open. Or, even worse, that something must be wrong if you keep changing things every two minutes.

Soon, my fair city [Portland, Ore.] will turn into a customer ghost town. The holidays will be over. I’m already hearing about the actual or perceived economic downturn that turns normal restaurant-going patron into stay-at-home shut ins. The snow, cold and just plain bad winter weather are starting to descend. All that adds up to reduced customer counts and higher overhead percentages.

One of my solutions is to spend the most money, time and effort on cultivating my existing customer base. Some say this is great because it costs much less than acquiring new customers. That may be true but it relies on our customer base knowing what we do, trusting us because we have earned it over time and being receptive to hearing from us.

Anyway, starting after the first of the year, Terroir is offering Tuesdays at Terroir:

Tuesdays at Terroir is a feast for all of the senses, a multicourse meal that is based on the Bounty of the Season, the Artisans of the Pacific Northwest, the Whim of Chef Stu Stein and the Palate of Cole Danehower.

Tuesdays at Terroir dinner is a multicourse menu matched with a flight of beverages composed of the best the season and the Pacific Northwest has to offer. Each menu is carefully designed so that each course lays the foundation for the next. It is a perfectly balanced meal that continues to satisfy afterwards.

There is no expensive cross-media marketing and advertisings campaign. There is no giant billboard or talking Terroir mascot on a late-night infomercial. We’re marketing internally via check presenters, waitstaff training and signage. We’re using our electronic newsletter. We’re using free media in the form of “What’s Happening Around Town” sections of various local publications, electronic billboards and Web sites.

Mathematically and logistically, Tuesdays at Terroir pencils out. The marketing gives us the time to build a following and flush out what our clientele is receptive. It also, hopefully, sounds like fun, is appealing and a “special” experience that we can start and stop to suite everyone’s needs without mass confusion.

And the journey continues.

Cheers!

Stu

Posted by Stu Stein on November 30, 2007 | Comments (0)