Restaurant Masterminds

Marketing madness!!

Marketing…I love it! It is to the point now that my wife and kids don’t want to be around me because I market just about everything….I mean really, look around you, you really CAN market everything! One of my favorite things to do is come up with very catchy and appropriate “tag” lines for things….and guess what, you can put a tag line on just about everything too!

Last night I said to my wife, “I dare you to give me something that would be impossible to market”….and she jokingly said, “you’d market your own Grandma if given the chance….”
Well, Grandma, [God rest your soul], guess what? You’re about to be marketed.  So let me get some key selling points about dear ol’ Grandma. She was famous for her chocolate chip cookies and playing poker with her friends….now that’s a talented old lady!  But how in the world would you market BOTH of those? Well, here are my “off the top of my head” marketing ideas/tag lines for dear ol’ Granny…..

“Grandma’s World Famous Cookies….Made with a Chip on  her shoulder” – Flavors: Chocolate Chip, Cherry Chip, Mint Chip
“Grandma’s World Famous Cookies….Grandpa was lazy, someone had to make the dough”
“Grandma loved the family to play poker with her…..even my ‘ante’”
“My Grandma loved to make chocolate Chip Cookies AND play poker….if she ever burned the cookies they were just ‘discarded’”

In just a few short moments, I took a couple of things I loved about Grandma and turned them into a way to make people look at it and laugh with a potential to market Grandma’s cookies….and for game night at the nursing home.

My belief is that if you get people laughing, that’s the start to some of the best marketing around…your guests are laughing, which makes them feel good about your restaurant. You take that laughter, add some specials….now they are even happier….have them come in and give them top notch customer service…..even more good karma…..before you know it, your one little marketing tag line or promotion has turned into a word of mouth success!

Think about some of the marketing promotions out there…who would of thought that animals talking on the tail of an airplane would lead to one of the most recognized marketing campaigns around? Now the airline industry is hurting…it would be ideal for them to come up with a campaign for the ever so frenzied airline industry….now let me think here for a second….
“Fly Ben Airlines, we have friends in  high places”

Or now with gas prices the way they are it is the perfect time for this promo for a shoe company.
Filling up  your Hummer – $156.00
Lacing up some new Nike’s – $65
Getting 100mpg [water] in your new shoes and walking past the gas station….Priceless.

So, you see, marketing is one of the biggest success stories for your restaurant. It is up to YOU to want this for your independent restaurant.

I can’t wait for Pittsburgh, I am going to send you back to your restaurant with some of my BEST marketing ideas yet!!

From the desk of the Marketing Guru,
Ben Martinez

Back in the 70’s we had “the energy crisis.” I can remember my parents paying us kids 10 cents every time there was a light left on in the house. My brother and I would sneak around together turn on a light, while 5 minutes later one of us would take turns yelling, “someone left a light on, that’s 10 cents!” I’m not real sure my parents saved any money, but hey, they kept throwing it our way with the flicker of every light.

With a pocket full of change, my brother and I headed down on our bikes to the local gas station to buy some much needed gum. Ahhh…gum 5 cents. While I am showing my age, I am showing you that every few years there  seems to be a “prices crisis” brought on by something, someone, somehow. It takes clever thinking to generate what you need….I mean, come on, while my best friend said he couldn’t go with us to buy gum because he had no money, my brother and I managed to get a few dimes out of our parents…the energy crisis told us ‘no’, but our need for the Double Bubble said ‘YES’! We found a way, and so can you.

Today, I filled up my gas guzzler…that’s right, my 15 mpg SUV that I just HAD TO HAVE because of the terrible Colorado winters. Well, guess what?  I needed that ‘must have’ 4-wheel drive about two times last year. As I was filling up, I was thinking…someone convinced me there wasn’t a prices crisis when I bought this SUV, when in fact, the media had been screaming about the insurance rates on these “unsafe” vehicles and the rates sky rocketed….the dealership still found a way to get me to buy an SUV…. and so can you.

So, $100 dollars later at the pump, I am thinking…we are in a real prices crisis at the gas stations, but go ahead fellas  fill ‘er up, you  found a way to keep me coming back, so now it’s my turn to come up with a way to keep my guests coming back….it’s the “Prices Crisis Special”…..”Take that plate and ‘fill ‘er up’, because our  bean burrito special may be only $9.95, but our gas is free!”

I found a way, and so can you.

Prices Crisis….BAH-HUMBUG!

From the desk of the Restaurant Masterminds Marketing Guru,
Ben Martinez

     One of the first things I do when I arrive at my office in the morning is to scan the headlines and read the financial section on MSN. Can that be depressing or what, I think Jubak’s job is to scare the daylights out of the average person with his gloom and doom predictions about the economy. I know our economy isn’t great; but let’s be realistic, it isn’t that bad. If oil goes up two dollars a barrel, the headlines scream “Oil could reach $200 by the end of the year”. Sometimes I feel  as though the media is personally responsible for creating half the financial mess this country is in.

     As business owners we sometimes overreact when times are tough. I know some Restaurateurs who pare back their advertising budget, while others turn to frozen product because it’s cheaper, or even worse cut staffing levels or reduce portion size. I think  this is the exact opposite of what you should be doing. When times are tough you need to perform at your absolute best. Spend more time training, work on your systems, keep your full program in place. Work with your servers on upselling, have more wine tastings, create some special events to increase sales. This is where owners and general managers have to earn their money. Our employees depend on us to provide them with a sense of security. It’s hard enough to put together a great staff, why would anyone want to start cutting people who are already trained.

     We give all our managers 100% free health and dental, we offer a retirement plan with a 3% salary match, we pay our managers full salary for the seven weeks we close each year. I don’t want to lose managers and start over. We are a seasonal business and with the H-2B visa mess congress has created this year, it’s been difficult properly staffing for this summer. We’ve been fortunate and proactive and I can honestly say that we’re fully staffed for the season. As Independents we need to work together. We have an advantage over the chains, TGI Fridays just closed their doors last week in a neighboring town, Chili’s closed two months ago and Olive Garden is on the brink of closing. This is an opportunity for us as independents to take advantage of this economy and make sure we don’t lose our market share while times are tough. A chain has to support their corporate office and all their overhead, and in some cases, their shareholders. Without proper margins, they need to close. We can weather the storm, and when the economy turns around, we’ll be ready and in great shape. Take advantage of this situation, see the silver lining and get ready, I think that at the end of the season, when we press the total button, we’ll all be surprised.

    Most people are hunkering down in a defensive mode, keep your foot on the gas pedal and stay on the offensive. You might just surprise yourself, as you pass your competition.

Free birthday dinner, buy one get one free and senior discount…..we want it ALL! Oh the joys of the “multi-discount beggar.” Don’t mind that it says on every coupon I put out that the coupon is “not valid with any other offer”, guests still try. I had a guest in the other night, and they wanted exactly that…it was his birthday and had his grandsons free “Honor Roll” certificate, he wanted the senior discount applied to the check even though he was the only senior, AND his daughter had a 20% off coupon! While my server was outstanding trying to point out the “not valid with any other offer”, he still demanded to see the Manager.

“Oh boy”, I thought…..my first reaction is to just go run and hide….if I would of done all that he would of wanted, I think the bill would of come out to be $9 for 3 meals and drinks….but he pulled just about every look, line and tactic in the book. Facing this many time before, I got up and gave it a go.

Trying to avoid making a scene on a very crowded Thursday night, I  wished a very Happy Birthday to  Mr. McNamara (called him by his name from his birthday card my server brought me…compliment #1), told him there was NO WAY he could be a senior (compliment #2), and asked him if he enjoyed his meal. This “feel good” situation helped bring the steam down…and right away I said, “I see you have the 20% off coupon, would you like to have the server apply that to your next visit?” To which he firmly said, “No, we want to apply it tonight!”….oh boy…here we go…..time to dig into those Masterminds and give them this dilemma.

Multi-Coupon offender 101 – It’s right there in black and white. Not Valid with Any other Offer….oh how I would love to name my dog that for as much as I use it daily! I jokingly tell my guests that I have thousands of birthday dinners I give away yearly, and would love to combine offers, unfortunately that would cut into my wife’s shoe collection….okay, I don’t say that…..I say, “I would love to combine these coupons, especially for honored guests like you, but I have to follow the rules stated by my attorney’s….if it makes you feel any better I make my Dad choose one or the other also.” If you can get them to “lighten up” and make them feel special all at the same time, it helps. People seem to be less demanding when they are laughing….remember if you come out swinging, more than likely they will too. Another solution is to offer to “honor” that coupon the next time they come in….and sign it…..it gets them through the door ONE more time!

So, while we can’t always please our Multi-coupon offenders, we can encourage them to come back by offering a little more…free drink, free dessert, whatever it takes….you can’t blame them, the economy is telling them to dig for the deals or not go out at all.

From the desk of the Marketing Guru,
Ben Martinez

    Oh boy. Here we go. It’s Sunday lunch, well, luckily, just shortly AFTER our lunch hour rush, but yet, still fairly busy…in walks a large party. You guessed it, a local soccer tournament was in town and they all decided they were hungry and headed out for lunch……TOGETHER! Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a joy to all of the sudden see 8 cars pulling into the parking lot at once, but just as our afternoon shift seemed to be slowing….here comes the big unexpected party of 25! (Hold off on rolling the silverware for now, all hands on deck!!)

No problem. I’ve got the staff immediately working on setting up the area, sure we’re having to throw some tables together, no big deal. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s  not that I don’t love kids, because I have 2 of my own that I love dearly….but the perfect mix…..teenage soccer boys all trying to outdo each other just walking through the doors of the restaurant!! We managed to get them seated in a fairly decent amount of time. Immediately I put the staff on high alert and the kitchen back in full swing. Everything appeared to be going well until the dreaded, “we need separate tickets, please”….arrgh…I worried to see if I put the right server on the job, and of course, all of my systems came in place and multiple tickets….not a problem!! Excited, to see things were moving along quite easily, we had quite the job on drinks coming out together because it was a mix of the children’s drinks, adult drinks and orders for the bar. I became excited to see that the staff was trained well and all went very smoothly.

Boy, I can remember the day when a large party would come in and we would go in panic mode…..it was almost like a fire drill! People were running around and trying to get their usual tables done and balance the large party…it was crazy…then if they wanted multiple tickets, we were screwed…we had to go back and get who was with who, take 6 different credit cards and run them, make sure they went back to their rightful owners…it was chaos. Working with the Masterminds, I was so excited to be able to resolve all of my issues and create an atmosphere that didn’t change when a large party showed up….as a matter of fact, I send out marketing pieces that encouraged large groups!!

I’ve since learned that one of the other big problems with large parties with children, (children on one end of the table and adults chatting away not even paying attention to the kids on the other end), are the wonderful science experiments that are found by our staff…you know, the chopped up crayons from the children’s menu (complimentary 4 crayons) all  in the bottom of the glass of lemonade that has been filled with table salt and pepper…oh, and don’t forget the 15 packets of sweet ‘n low that they decided would be funny to add…(Oh how I would LOVE to charge them for those!)  I have to admit, I’m sure I wasn’t an angel at the restaurant with my buddies (you all remember the ketchup packets hiding under the tires in the parking lot), while it isn’t easy to handle a group like that, I remind my staff of the measures we take to prevent this situations from happening. I brought it to Masterminds and was pleased to be able to get “crazy kids gone wild” off my plate!!

I could go on and on with the large party issues, but instead, I look forward to them and handle them with ease.

I am so excited to see what our Pittsburgh meeting brings to the table, so to speak….I’ve got so much copy written for incredible marketing pieces that I can’t wait to share, I look forward to seeing you all there!

From the Desk of the Marketing Guru……Ben Martinez

Sometimes when we’re in our restaurants, we tend to forget where we are and don’t pay attention to our surroundings. Maybe we’re telling a joke to one of our co-workers, or talking about the party we attended last night. Unfortunately, we don’t realize that the table around the corner can hear your whole conversation and even worse, be offended by it. One of my biggest pet peeves in my restaurants is when the servers congregate and don’t pay attention to the customers. When a customer enters a restaurant, they should be made to feel welcome immediately, there’s nothing worse than walking into a restaurant and nobody says “hello” to you, or even acknowledges your presence.

I have a story to share with you that I recently experienced; it was on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I decided to try a new restaurant that just opened in the area. It was about four-thirty in the afternoon and we thought it would be a great time to go and get a quick bite for supper. We walked in the restaurant and there were about four hostess’ behind the desk chatting, the first one was yawning and said, ” I’m so tired, I want to go home”, at the same time the second hostess looked up at the ceiling and said, ” do I have something in my “friggin eye?” My wife and I hesitated and looked at each other wondering if maybe this might be a mistake. At that point the third hostess saw us and asked if there were two for dinner, we responded and she conferred with another hostess trying to decide where to seat us. After about two or three minutes and a meeting of the powers to be, we were seated in a dining room that only had two other parties in it. The place being brand new, my wife and I immediately began looking around checking out the layout and decorating. That’s when we noticed the food under all the tables, obviously lunch was busy, yet no-one had hokied under the tables and there were six or eight waitresses hanging around the bar talking and no sign of a manager. A server came over to our table and informed us our waitress had stepped out and that he had been sent over to take a drink order. I bit and asked him, ” What do you mean she stepped out?” He replied, “Well she sort of had a meltdown and is outside crying.” My wife looked at him and said, ” Do you mean that you’re only taking our drink order and when she gets back in she’s still going to wait on us”. ” Well I was only told to take your drink order and that’s it”. Sure enough the poor girl came to our table with red puffy eyes and alligator tears, wiped her eyes and waited on us. I felt so bad for the waitress. My questions are, where was the manager when all of this was going on? Why would the hostess seat us in her section? Lastly, why didn’t someone have the foresight to assign her table to another server? It’s not like there weren’t a half dozen standing around.

The restaurant was only a week old, and despite the fact it was a holiday weekend, the two owners took the day off and left the restaurant in the hands of the new manager in training. Who happened to be in his office, instead of on the floor where he belonged with his inexperienced crew. I don’t want to blame the staff; the blame squarely lies with the owner. As an owner, it is our responsibility to give our employees the tools to do their jobs, which includes proper training. I’m sure this restaurant will be fine eventually; the reality is meltdowns happen in restaurants, although I should have never been aware of the situation, it could have been handled a little more discreetly. With a little more staff training and attention to detail, my experience could have been just fine. Training is ongoing and never ends, add pride and professionalism and you’ve got a winning formula. As an owner, we’re responsible for setting the tone, as we go, so our business goes. If we project a lackadaisical attitude, our staff is sure to follow.

With a little foresight, some proper training and management paying attention, this story is a fairytale. Unfortunately, this happens all too often in our industry. Customers are savvier than ever, they don’t accept status quo any more. We are competing for disposable income dollars against the mall, or the movie theatre. Consumers don’t necessarily give you a second chance any more, just because you are new. The need to get it right is more prevalent than ever. It’s all about “paying attention”; it’s in the planning and the details. My number one rule in management is simple, “people do what you inspect, not what you expect.” It all starts at the top, if the owner is paying attention and holding management accountable, the rest usually falls into place.

     like many of you independent restaurant owners out there, we’re being inundated with the “fuel surcharges”, rotten tomatoes, health department rules and regulations….then to boot….tonight one of my servers decided, “you LOOK over 21″ and served up the beer…..only to find out it was an 18 year old undercover academy cadet working for the local police department (arrgh!!)….moments later, ticket in hand I thought, “Did I NOT just cover this in our employee meeting a month ago?” Was I upset because my employee failed to ask for ID just because they “looked” over 21….was I upset because I pound this into them 20 million times a year and they still don’t do it?
Yes, I was….but guess what, I have no one to blame but myself. I push so much on customer service and the need to make the customer happy, that in their mind by not nagging and asking for an ID is customer service. I mean, they probably look at me and think, my boss only looks 18, but he’s really 37…..(please humor me here, I am trying to make the $500 fine feel better)…..the fact is, we are all responsible for the employees we hire and their actions…but yet, we can’t babysit every move. I resolved the issue and was glad that it happened….did I just say that? Glad it happened? I am glad, because it helped me realize that I needed another step to assure this wouldn’t happen again, AND to help remind not only my employees but my guests that I AM a responsible owner. So, we may not be able to control the fuel surcharges or the rotten tomatoes, but we can fix the everyday issues that we face within our own business doors.

And with that, I leave you my outrageous marketing ploy…..you want TV coverage….why not take your rotten salmonella tomatoes and throw them at the rotten gas prices….oh, and you might get more than TV coverage, you just may end up with some jail time too….so, on second thought…for as much as we would like to throw those tomatoes….you’d be better off figuring out a way to market it….and boy do I have it….

From the desk of your marketing guru…..Ben Martinez

I love quotes. I’m always looking for a new quote to motivate me or make me think.

Not long ago, I was browsing through one of the many Marketing/Making Money Online forums that I frequent, when someone said something that struck me…

Poor people have big TVs. Rich people have big libraries.

I wish I could remember who and where I saw that quote so I could give proper credit, but unfortunately it will have to remain anonymous.

Now, this quote is not meant to be taken literally. Not all people who have big TVs are poor and not all rich people are avid readers.

The point is that people who are rich and successful usually make better use of their free time than poor people. And I’m not talking about the Hiltons and the Lohans of the world. I’m referring to business owners and self-made success stories who had to work for what they have.

Think about it. Isn’t there something more productive you could be doing than sitting in front of the TV?

Need some ideas?

• Read a book. Preferably something that teaches rather than merely entertains.
• Take an online course to learn a new skill.
• Take night classes to get a higher degree or learn a trade.
• Learn how to start your own business.
• Learn how to invest and collect passive income.

I know, I know…you work hard all day and you’re tired. I’ve been there and done that.

It’s a lot easier to pop in a dvd and grab a bag of chips, and sometimes thats fine…you need to take a break once in awhile too!

But if you want to stand out from the crowd and make something out of your life you’ve just got to grab the reigns and do it!

Work through the exhaustion and start taking little steps toward your goals. Make an effort to get a little done each day. This builds momentum and consistency.

Before long the first rewards start to come in and you’ll be even more motivated to keep plugging away. Then your successes really pick up and you wake up to find yourself living the dream life.

It all starts with a simple decision to make yourself more than you are now, the faith to believe in yourself when things don’t go right, and the discipline to make it happen no matter what obstacles you face.