Who is your target customer and how would you design your restaurant, menu options and advertising to attract that customer? How will your advertising be different than a national chain like McDonald's or Applebee's?
Part of your answer might depend on the location and what void needs to be filled (for example, you might have a more high-end restaurant near Jordan Creek or you might not want another Mexican place if there a bunch of others nearby).
I still currently live in a small town and from what I have noticed it is who you know and how willing that person is to stand up for you. Word of mouth travels and spreads within seconds and news of your new business can be exciting and old news all within the same day. Then comes opening day and the whole town has to visit and inspect every inch of your new store. I would say by personally asking for opinions and maybe even giving dishes personalized names of the towns most well known, is a really smart idea.
ReplyDeleteIf members notice that their ideas were incorporated along the store walls or even, the local high school principle orders two orders of himself, the town will have a more "homey" feel and leave with positive feedback. The only true way to succeed in a small town is start within the small town, otherwise it is almost a hassle to drive anywhere now n' days.
I too live in a small town and the "restaurant" here is a place that just got going within the past few years and is slowly growing in popularity. The don't really advertise at all with the exception that once in a LONG while, they hold small concerts featuring Jason Brown. Their only advertising is word of mouth and their menu is pretty much aimed at adults and they even have a small section with chicken strips and all that jazz for kids. It's a little country style place where everybody knows everyone else and is just a great family setting.
ReplyDeleteI would open up a all home grown vegetable stand for late night snacking. I would grow the vegetables at home and use homemade everything where I could. We would sell zucchini dishes like fried zuchinni and grilled zuchini and others like fried ocra and friend gren tomatoes. There are not any competetors in the area for this type of food. It would be practicle for people to eat right on the street because with all would be finger foods. My marketing angle would be the one of a kind type. where we can state how we are the only shop like it and it is my grandma's acient recipes. We would also sell them by the peice so people could order exactly how many they want. There would also be a free sample girl who is there to give small smaples. This would atract people to the area of the shop and get the a chance to try the product be fore buying. All of my advertising would be done in bars and aimed at the bar crowd, as well as the food and Bev crowd. These are the people who work the bars and restaraunts. A semi healthy food product easy to eat with hands open late is a sure way to get every drunkw ho is leaving the downtown bars to buy a batch of grandmas famous fried veggies.
ReplyDeleteI like that idea, Amanda.
ReplyDeleteCory-- so how would you compete with that place?
Jacob-- I like that, too... although they might demand some meat (maybe gyros too?) -- so it would be downtown?
My business would be a small little bar/slash cafe.I would like to set it downtown and the hours would be evening to early morning so i could attract people drinking downtown and also catch the people getting up early to go to work.I want it to look like you just walked into the late 50'S early 60's and i want the menu to consist of classics like the double bacon cheeseburger with a large milk chocolate shake and we'll also have some chicken sandwiches and a club sandwich or two but that's it for the evening hours.We will serve alcohol with our food so you can go to the bar and get yourself a drink or watch your burger get cooked. It will be a very layed back place the staff will be completely informal and will talk to you like their your friend and not someone who's at work. Also the names of the burgers and sandwiches will have names like " The Frank Sinatra Slider" or " Hendrix's Watch Tower of Onion Rings" "The Rat Pack Combo" things like that. I plan on making my burgers so big and delicious that everyone will be talking about them an well if you've ever been downtowm drinking and a big cheeseburger walked by you.... you would want to know where it came from, also small ads on the radio and in magazine like "Juice". I don't have a main target audience mostly anyone older then 21.
ReplyDeleteI would target college kids if I was in a college town. Design my restaurant with kind of a sports bar look, but nicer. I would definitely advertise the most during football season. Probably have drink specials during the towns college team games. I would advertise over the radio and maybe facebook if I knew enough people would see it.
ReplyDeleteI would open up an I-State Sports Bar in Ames around campustown. I would target the ages of 18-30.I would want my restaurant to display darker colors like gold instead of bright yellow,dark red,black,an ext. No bright kid theme colors. I wanna give it a shade of color that woould make you just wanna relax and enjoy sum good food. Appetizers, Beer, Sandwiches, an several entrees would be on the menu. Especially a hot wing special during football games.Most important thing for me would to make the prices on the menu match the average income of a college age student and so having alot of selections under $10 would be a key to my success.It would have an all out Iowa State theme inside with sports apparrell,and plaques of famous alumni an ext.
ReplyDeleteI would open like a country kitchen where people from my small town can come in and have coffee and eat a hot breakfast but then also enjoy a lunch and diner. I love to catch fish and cook fish so that would be the theme of my restaurant kind of backwoods and friendly with a whole bunch of menu choices from fish to steak and potatoes,huge burgers, homemade sides like coleslaw and baked beans. I would target the hardworking family man and retirees. I would offer affordable prices, mass amounts of really good food and have it be family friendly. My advertising would be much more family oriented and original. I would count on word of mouth and having a good reputation over commercial time or ad space.
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