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Skip Way Inner circle 3771 Posts |
I need your brainstorming thoughts, friends.
One of my clients and strongest word-of-mouth supporters hired me to perform at his restaurant on Sunday evenings. I traditionally reserved my Sundays for my family and for a well-earned day off...but, since he is such a strong supporter and seemed to need my help, I offered to give it a try for six months. (okay, I confess...it was the money that got me!!!) His family-style restaurant is very busy through the week, but nearly empty on Sunday nights. He was hoping that a "Family Night - Kids Eat Free" promotion with magic & balloons would draw people in. So far, we've advertised on Radio/Newspaper/Parent newspaper, hung banners and sent out coloring pages to the local schools & daycares. We promoted the night at a local "Taste of Raleigh" event and I hand out promotional flyers at local fairs and PTA shows. We've put up full color posters and table tents. I'm featured on their menu and on the side of their catering vehicles. Part of my promotion efforts included a collectible series of magic tricks - 24 in all. I bought several cases of magic kits from the local Dollar store. Each kit had four nice quality magic tricks. I broke the kits down and repackaged the magic tricks individually. I numbered each type of trick as #-whatever of 24. The advertising promised a free magic trick for each child on each visit. Cost to me, including repackaging, was about $.30 per trick. I charged the client $.45 per item. Nothing is working. We're averaging MAYBE 3 families each Sunday from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. And tehse are the same three families who return each week or so. I think it's the night. People just don't go out to eat on Sunday nights. When I was growing up, we ate a big lunch after church and sort of snacked on leftovers through the evening...as we watched Lassie, Bonanza and Disney's Wonderful World of Color. (Dang...I'm feeling older just mentioning that!) My other restaurants have all seen a steady increase in business on my appearance nights...with less than half the effort that we've put into this Sunday campaign. Do any of you have any other ideas or suggestions? Or do you think it's simply time to admit defeat, throw in the towel and suggest that he turn off the lights and lock the doors on Sunday nights? I frankly wouldn't mind getting my Sunday nights back. Thanks for the thoughts! Skip
How you leave others feeling after an Experience with you becomes your Trademark.
Magic Youth Raleigh - RaleighMagicClub.org |
Kent Wong Inner circle Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 2458 Posts |
Skip,
Are all of the other restaruants in town dead on Sunday nights? If so, you may be correct in your assessment. But, if they're busy, they must be doing something different to attract the crowds. This is going to sound crass, but in business, it's a lot easier to steal someone else's ideas than invent your own. By simply creating a Kids Night and trying to promote it for all it's worth, your friend is "pushing product" without necessarily understanding the needs and wants of his customers. A little bit of market/competitive research may be in order. Kent
"Believing is Seeing"
<BR>______________________ <BR> <BR>www.kentwongmagic.com |
Jeff Inner circle Orlando, FL 1238 Posts |
Skip, perhaps a brunch performance is better on Sunday?
Jeff
Available for order now:
http://www.thecardwarptour.com See new, used, and collectable magic and books for sale at: http://www.jeffpiercemagic.com |
andrew martin Veteran user 394 Posts |
Maybe try early like 5:00 to 7:00
That's what I did. But remember Halloween coming up and that maybe one reason. I think Nov. will be better christmas shoppilg ect... |
Skip Way Inner circle 3771 Posts |
Kent, valid point...and no. The other restaurants in town are also relatively slow on Sundays. The few exceptions are the sports taverns with the games on the screens and the taps flowing with the golden brew. This restaurant has neither tellies nor a liquor license, so they are at a disadvantage there. This is a Carolina barbecue specialty house. One of my other restaurants, an upscale Italian restaurant, decided to close on Sundays altogether for similar reasons. A market niche review would be a good idea...but not my call to make.
Jeff...his after-church brunches & lunches are packed wall-to-wall. No need for a drawing promotion. Good thought, though. Andrew, all of the restaurants are hurting here with the increase in gas prices, commodity costs, shipping costs and so on. Even the top draw joints are well behind last year's gross income mark. With prices dropping again and the holiday season starting, this may change. We also discussed a 5:00 - 7:00 PM trial and may give that a shot. Good idea.
How you leave others feeling after an Experience with you becomes your Trademark.
Magic Youth Raleigh - RaleighMagicClub.org |
RicHeka Inner circle 3999 Posts |
Hi Skip:Wow!You sure put in a lot of work to try to get this going.I can't speak for your area,but in NY Sunday nite can be a good family night.In fact,I have been performing at a large restaurant on Sunday 4-8PM for 16 years.
I agree that if the other restaurants in you area are slow on Sunday night,that may something that cannot be overcome. You said it yourself,you wouldn't mind getting your Sunday nights back with your own Family.The afternoon thing may be your only hope left.Is this a small restaurant?How many does it seat?I never have had much 'long term' luck with small family restaurants. My Sunday gig seats around 400.So even on a fairly slow night,I am sill busy enough to justify my being there. Keep us posted.All the best. Rich |
Skip Way Inner circle 3771 Posts |
Thanks, Rich. The place seats 170 with two private meeting rooms. On Sunday afternoons it is packed with a waiting list. The owner wanted to see if there was any way to salvage the slower-than-death Sunday evenings. I accepted it more as a personal challenge to test my own marketing and entertainment draw theories, frankly. I asked for a 6-month commitment to give the effort a fair test and the owner agreed.
I put the same theories to work for a small 120 seat upscale Italian restaurant a while back. Wednesday nights, 6-8 PM. He was averaging 2-3 families a night. Last night, we logged 19 families (47 kids) during the 2-hour Kid Night. Eleven of the 19 families were regular guests. The theories seem to work, but I need to test them in other settings and restaurant types. Frankly, I'm kinda hoping to build enough tested material for a book. That said...any suggestions that are used with any level of potential success will be duly accredited should said book ever see print. What a ride! Skip
How you leave others feeling after an Experience with you becomes your Trademark.
Magic Youth Raleigh - RaleighMagicClub.org |
Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
Skip, your answer may lie within your original post. If I am correct in this geographical assessment, North Carolina is technically within the Bible Belt, as is Alabama, where I live. When we were kids, growing up watching Lassie, etc., families did spend quiet evenings at home. Today, many of the churches have evening services on Sundays. Research that timeframe a bit, and you may be close to a solution. (10% off, or free appetizer, dessert, or collectors' series magic trick with your church bulletin).
Your other marketing tactics seem real solid, except for the fact that you may be pitching in a vacuum. Find the people where they are. ~michael
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
Skip Way Inner circle 3771 Posts |
<Slapping forehead> Church bulletins! I completely overlooked church bulletins! Rule number one for circus promoters - Find the crowd then draw them in! Michael...you're a genius! <Slapping forehead again>
:o) Skip
How you leave others feeling after an Experience with you becomes your Trademark.
Magic Youth Raleigh - RaleighMagicClub.org |
bsears Inner circle Cincinnati, Ohio 1040 Posts |
I work two restaurants each Sunday. (for six years) One is brunch, the other is 6-8. Both are usually very busy. The brunch crowd is almost ALL church goers, eating together after service. Th evening gig is more mixed and often includes families coming to dinner after sporting events.
My guess is that the slowness described here has more to do with the particular restaurant and/or its location and the competition it has. |
Skip Way Inner circle 3771 Posts |
Yup, Bsear, that's the general idea. To draw customers out of our competitor's dining rooms and into ours. Thanks for the input.
Skip
How you leave others feeling after an Experience with you becomes your Trademark.
Magic Youth Raleigh - RaleighMagicClub.org |
procyonrising Special user New York 698 Posts |
Hi Skip,
I don't perform in restaurants; only colleges (and sometimes a specialty fair or convention). However, I own a few restaurants--and part of a shopping mall--and have seen the exact same problem. They're all busy now. None of the problems were solved by hiring a magician. I can't tell you what to do here; we don't really know each other. However, if I had to do it all again, this is what I'd think about: 1. Magicians are great. Just about everyone loves them. But they're generally too into themselves. I know plenty of magic and magicians. If I'm hiring a magician, I want them to care about one thing: bringing in more customers. That's it. I don't care if they do Nickels to Dimes all night, as long as it fills the tables. I've fired many magicians over this one thing. They all seem to think magic is the answer... it's not. "Wow factor" is the answer. I want everyone who goes home to talk incessantly about my restaurant (not the magician). That's a simple formula: truly delicious food, a clean and fun environment, and a good time. Nothing more, nothing less. To this end, I think your promotions are all wrong. THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION. Personally, I think putting table tents at empty tables is a huge mistake. I fired a very likable magician over something very similar. 2. Promotions. The only thing I like about paying magicians to do things I can probably do better is that it opens up the possibility of getting on TV. Radio and print ads are a waste of money. Value-pak works, but can get expensive, especially for a restaurant with no money to spend. (I do like direct mail very much, however.) If you want customers lining up through the door, you need to harness the power of TV. I like magicians that can get one of my places featured on TV. I don't cook, so I usually partner with a chef. The key to a successful restaurant is being known for one dish. Just one... and it has to be super. If a restaurant doesn't have something like that, it'll almost always deal with slow tables. Again, it's not about the magic, it's about the food. Whenever I hear about a restaurant that's having problems, I always ask, "is the food amazing?" Everyone can eat ****ty food at home; there's no reason to go out and pay for it. 3. Customers. Like it or not, most customers come in because of word-of-mouth. You can get a lot of customers in the beginning just because you're a new restaurant, but they'll leave if they don't like your place... or your food... or your service. You can't force them to come back to a place they don't like, regardless of how good the promotion is (unless you're feeding them for free). I wish more magicians would focus on focus on the customers and not themselves. For instance, I have seen plenty of magicians who tell me about how great their magic is (and it is truly great), but they take a "band-aid" approach to foot traffic. The real trick, for me, is to re-build a restaurant from the ground up, thinking about every detail. An example. I know a very wealthy restauranteur. He got me into the restaurant business. All he does is open Chinese buffet restaurants. He hires local people to cook the food, but they are taught his recipes so all the food tastes the same. I've seen this guy open restaurants one block away from other Chinese buffets--in way out places like Baton Rouge, LA. Yet, he always manages to kill the competition. Why? His restaurants are clean, very clean. It's the exact same food, but he realized if you put a very clean restaurant next to several dirty ones, you can dominate the entire area. This is thinking from the ground up. And it's simple. Skip, I don't know what's wrong with your restaurant. It sounds like you're spending a lot of time and money promoting the place. However, to me, I think there needs to be more thought and planning--not promotions--applied to this. JS. |
RicHeka Inner circle 3999 Posts |
JS:You make some valid points,however,are you not overlooking the fact that an entertaining and personable Magician can be an important part of the overall WOW factor.It seems to me that any resturanteur would love to have guests go home and discuss:how good the food was;how good the service was; how clean the the place was;And,oh by the way..they had this fantastic magician,that amazed us and had us laughing.
I am approaching two decades at one restaurant,and I can confidently say that I am part of the Wow factor.There is no bible for restaurant success(or any other business).Things are much more fluid than that. Oh,by the way I use table tents. Rich |
Joshua Lozoff Inner circle Chapel Hill, NC 1332 Posts |
Hi Skip,
Not sure where your advertising is, but I hadn't heard about it, and I'm just down the freeway. Do you advertize in the Independent? Josh |
Skip Way Inner circle 3771 Posts |
JS, Wow...and thanks. Very enlightening to see things from a restauranteur's perspective. Altough I co-managed a chain restaurant for a year, I do not consider myself a restauranter. My heart wasn't into the daily grind of the business. I sort of fell into it because my passion is customer service. I moved on because the local chain district management was more concerned with bottom lines and business issues than they were over customer satisfaction. I was the type of manager who greeted guests as old friends, resolved problems with a smile, found ways to make each guest's visit special and drove my staff to remember who the VIP's were.
I can't be offended where no offense exists. You and I agree far more than you may realize. My performance hours are 6-8:00 PM. And yet I generally walk through the doors at 5:30 at each of my client restaurants...to catch the early families and "warm up the room." I always stay until the last child or interested adult is satisfied... whether it's 8:00... 8:30... or 9:00... sometimes even later... at no extra charge to the client. I guarantee satisfaction. I always carry in fruit snacks or snack-size candy bars for the staff and customers. This past week I gave hallowe'en pom pon figures to the kids...and some adults. I always focus on the children with indirect humor for the adults. I honor every practical request and go out of my way to insure that every customer leaves with a huge smile, a balloon or napkin creation and a warm feeling to compliment the sated palate. I am not a magician...I am an entertainer and an experience-enhancement specialist. I absolutely love what I do...and it shows. When customers talk about me...and they do...you can bet they're also talking about the restaurant, it's food and it's service. So, we also agree on the issue of word-of-mouth. The growing success of the smaller Italian restaurant's Kid Night has been largely due to word-of-mouth and the return of loyal, appreciative guests. The food hadn't changed...the ambiance was the same...the service was as good as ever. The only thing to change on that weekly evening was the addition of a guy with a bag of tricks, a warm smile and a quick wit. Except for my business cards, giveaways and website, I do not personally advertise my services. No yellow pages. No parent newspapers. My client base is 94% one-to-one referrals. Even so, I am as busy as I want to be and, so far, exceeding my goals for this year by nearly 30%. As far as the operation of the restaurant: the ambiance, the menu, the food & service quality and the type & level of advertising; this is all the domain of the owners and general managers. I know that, as an entertainment attraction, I am a miniscule part of a vast & complex package. I can only control that small part that I am personally involved with. I approach that miniscule part as I do everything else, however... I do whatever it takes to help my client reach & exceed his or her goals. I expect them to know the restaurant business. They expect me to know the entertainment business. So we agree. It is not my goal to make the restaurant a success or to drag it back from failure. My goal is to make my two or three hours a success...nothing more...because this is what my client expects. This is what I am good at. Table tents, church bulletins, premium gifts, banners, posters...it's all focused, from my perspective, on those 2-3 hours. So, what do ya think? Are we on the same page? Skip
How you leave others feeling after an Experience with you becomes your Trademark.
Magic Youth Raleigh - RaleighMagicClub.org |
Skip Way Inner circle 3771 Posts |
Josh...the restaurants all have activity listings in Carolina Parent and Kidville News. We sent notices to the Indy, but they have yet to be inserted. As for other advertising...you'd have to check with the owners. I personally don't advertise my services at all. I rely completely on my exposure at my restaurants, public events and referrals from my client base.
I do know the restaurant we're discussing ran a quarter-page ad in the N&O for a month and they advertise on several local radio stations. I don't know the specifics since that is the owner's domain. You and I have met a few times at "The Corner". I think we may have also crossed paths at Southpoint on a few occasions. Good t' see ya. Skip
How you leave others feeling after an Experience with you becomes your Trademark.
Magic Youth Raleigh - RaleighMagicClub.org |
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