Several months ago, when finishing The Restaurant Ebook, I wrote an Epilogue to the book that outlined a marketing program that we implemented at one of the restaurants. To briefly set the stage, I reported that through September of 2007, the restaurant had lackluster results with only a 2% increase in sales for the year. Even the 2% was questionable if price increases were factored in.

During September, I challenged one of our Managers to choose four or five new low cost marketing ideas from Chapter Seven, 100 Ways to Increase Sales and Market Your Restaurant, of The Restaurant Ebook and implement them. We wanted to keep track of costs and results. The goal was to report the effect on our sales and keep readers and buyers of the book informed of the progress. At the end of February, 5 months into the program here are the results;

• Sales over the same period in 2006-07 have increased a total of $60,312.
• Total restaurant sales have increased over 10%.
• The month of February had an increase of over $17,000 alone!

There is more great news;

• None of the marketing programs used discounts, coupons or margin cutting ideas.
• The total cost so far is less than $200.
• Not a single newspaper ad, magazine ad or other form of media advertising was used.
• It should be noted, although undocumented, most other restaurants in this area are reporting a difficult time as a result of the economy, cost of fuel and consumer’s reduction of luxury spending. Our restaurant is considered upscale casual and guests could certainly find less expensive alternatives.
• We firmly believe we are building solid repeat business, not some promotion that lasts for a few days or weeks and ends when the incentive wears off.

How was it done? Very simply. We created a six month Marketing Plan using the checklists and instructions in The Restaurant Ebook. We planned and implemented each step. We involved staff and kept our commitment to get this done.

There are no quick fixes to marketing. No gimmicks, no overnight magic and if you ever find a quick fix, please report it here for your fellow restaurateurs!

You can listen to the restaurant “witch doctors” or use your common sense to spend a few dollars on knowledge to build your business. You can be in the process of opening a new restaurant, buying a restaurant or just re-vitalizing an existing operation - solid marketing and planning works, even on an eight year old restaurant!

Larry Edger, Author

The Restaurant Ebook

P.S. Come back in a couple of months to get the final report before we begin our next six month plan.