These Guys Boosted Sales 400% With Creative Marketing

Photo by Dean Rutz, Seattle Times Ivar’s Seafood Restaurant in Seattle, Washington pulled off a brilliant piece of restaurant marketing recently, resulting in a 400% increase in clam chowder sales.  The story was...

80/20 vs. 4: Restaurant Marketing By The Numbers

The Pareto Principle has long been hailed as the Holy Grail of marketing, the one rule by which all marketing efforts succeed or fail.  The principle itself is pretty simple: 20% of your customers drive 80% of your sales.  There’s always a core group of loyal customers who not only spend money in your restaurant, they...

8 Restaurant Marketing Tips

In these tough times, restaurants can use all the free marketing they can get. If a pricey restaurant marketing consultant is not in your budget, read on to discover ways to get your eatery in the customers’ minds, without spending a dime. 1. Talk to your customers.  Ask how they found you. If it’s not your usual source, follow up to see if you can connect with that niche market. 2. Don’t play by the rules.  How...

Restaurant Marketing: Your Focus Shouldn’t Be On Social Media

I arrived in Madison, Wisconsin last week to do a restaurant marketing workshop for Sysco and was looking for a place to eat. Obviously in a strange town and no one around to make recommendations, I pulled out my trusty iPhone and downloaded the Yelp app.   Immediately, I got hundreds of restaurants with thousands of reviews. I searched for some...

The Holidays Are Coming: Is Your Restaurant Going To Give Back?

As the holidays approach, giving back to the community is something that should be important to any business, and not just as a shameless marketing ploy.  Being authentic about your business’ involvement in charity is something that only time and commitment can communicate.  Having a genuine passion for charity work is a huge plus, and well-run businesses of any type aren’t shy about showing it. But all too often it’s easy...

Eat Your Own Dog Food, Restaurant Style

Last month, Rohit Bhargava published a post with a compelling title, “Forget Eating Your Own Dog Food – Just Try Buying It …” His premise is built around the adage that the best way to understand your customer is to experience your product as they would and...

20 Restaurant Marketing Tips

Here at The Back Burner we try to provide as many resources as possible for your success.  Over the past six months we have published a treasure trove of restaurant marketing tips that can help you get more butts in seats.  I don’t have to tell you that it’s been a tough year.  The good news is, if you’re still here, you’re obviously doing something right. This is also the time to grab more customers. ...

Restaurant Marketing: The Hunting Season Is Over

So, your sales are down and you decide to send out a direct mail piece into your zip code, expecting your usual response of 2 to 3%. I’ll bet you’ve never ever thought about those other 98% in the zip code who never responded to your offer. You see, they just threw it in the trash. Yes, that’s your money they threw in the trash. Why? Because they don’t care about you. They’re not interested in being spammed with your...