Building A Brand
As we head into the new year, you should think about what your brand is, or what you would like your brand to be. If you want to be a successful restaurant in this volatile economy, you better know who you are, and be ready to let your customers know who you are.
If you think that building a brand isn’t important to building a successful restaurant business, you haven’t been paying attention to what has been going on on the restaurant world. Despite all of the doom and gloom, and terrible business news, there are some restaurants that have been turning profits. It’s not just the fast-food chains, either. Restaurants from several different places on the spectrum have shown that they have what it takes to attract customers.
The restaurants that have gone against the trend and continued to be profitable do all have something in common. they have built a brand for their restaurant. I’m not talking about having a recognizable logo, although that certainly doesn’t hurt. What I’m talking about is having a name that customers recognize, and that name brings images and expectations with it.
Building a brand first requires that you know who you are. If you don’t, your customers won’t be able to figure it out either. If you did your business plan, you should already know this. One of the things you should have worked on was your restaurants theme, and your restaurants competitive advantage. If you never did this, you should really consider going back and working through this process. You need to know what it is that your restaurant does better than your competition, then you need to figure out how to let your customer base know what you do well.
You don’t have to try to be the best at everything. In fact you will drive your self crazy if you try. Start by focusing on a couple of areas and really work on excelling in those areas. that doesn’t mean you should aonly work on those areas at the expense of other parts of your operation. You should still try to be good accross the board. Consistently uccessful restaurant operationsdon’t have any part of the business that customers notice as being bad. They may not be the best in that area, but they are still good.
Figure out where you want to excell and be the best in your market, then work on improving it. Let your customers know you are the best, and they will reward you with their entertainment dollars. Then you can join the ranks of successful restaurant owners.
