Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Most independent restaurants don't actually have a marketing problem. I think they have a clarity problem. When owners tell me that their marketing, quote unquote isn't working, I think what they usually mean is that they're doing a lot of things without knowing why they're doing them. So posting on social media because they feel like they should, running promotions because traffic feels light, trying a new platform because someone else said it worked for them and that they should definitely try it.
And none of that is strategy. It's activity, but it's not strategy. And activity without intention is expensive.
On today's episode, I want to talk about why most restaurant marketing fails and what actually is working right now for independent restaurant owners all over. Don't go anywhere.
There's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown.
This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking.
Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in. My name is Chip Close. I am your host here of the Restaurant Strategy Podcast. We are almost at episode 600. We do two episodes every week. Market dieting one day, operations the other day. All of it is meant to help you level up. You can find not only back episodes of this show, but you can find me on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn. There's ton of content I put out there to help you build a better, more sustainable, more profitable restaurant. I also run a group coaching program. It's called the P3 mastermind. If you are ready to surround yourself with a whole bunch of other colleagues, restaurant owners, peers who are in the same position, you are looking to dial in profits so that they can grow.
Go to RSProfit.com learn more about the program. If you are interested, set up a call. It's zero pressure. 30 minutes where we get to ask each other a bunch of questions. You'll grab time on either my calendar or someone from my team to chat about the program and we'll see if you're a good fit. Again, no pressure. It's RSProfit.com I look forward to chatting with you Avi. You love to go out to eat. So as a guest, what's your biggest pet peeve when you're trying to choose a place to eat?
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Yeah, as the father of two children, I can't leave the house for less than $30 an hour. My wife has celiac. So when we're going to make a dining decision, I live and die by that menu. I'm in there researching what's available, what can my wife eat, what can we share, what do I get to eat off of her plate?
And so that menu is just a crucial part of all decision making for me as a consumer. It's why at Marquee, we focus so much on our menus, our menu integration, so that as operators, your menu that lives in your point of sale that you want customers to see is available and up to date everywhere.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: To learn more about Marquee, go to marquee.comm a r q I-I.com to learn more about this and all of the incredible features they have.
So when we talk about marketing, we have to talk about the myth of more marketing. See, there's a belief in this industry that if sales are soft, well then obviously the answer is to do more marketing, meaning more posts, more discounts, more ads, more noise.
But most restaurants don't suffer from invisibility.
They suffer from inconsistency and unclear messaging. See, I think a lot of guests know you exist. They just don't have a compelling reason to choose you tonight or this week or this month. So instead they go somewhere else. Think about when you're driving from here to work or from here to visit your friend or your, your mother, right? You pass dozens, maybe hundreds of restaurants over a 15, 20 minute drive. I know for me to get from my house to my son's school, I pass probably 30 or 40 restaurants. And most of them I've never been to. Not because I don't know they're there, I do know they're there, but because it's inconvenient. I don't think of them at a time when it matters or they haven't given me a compelling enough reason to get off the highway to come back to backtrack at a more convenient time.
So it's not about invisibility. I see them, I know they're there. It's about something else.
What I want to prove to you, or sort of bear out here, is that marketing is not just about volume. I think more importantly, it's about relevance. So if your message isn't clear, more exposure just amplifies the confusion.
And this is why I think a lot of independent restaurant owners are stuck, or at least they feel struck, right? The operators face a unique challenge. And I know you know this. You don't have a national brand budget. You don't have some big corporate team. You don't have the luxury of wasting money to quote, unquote, Test.
When it comes to you and your business, every dollar has to work. That's why copying what the big brands do almost never works. See, chains win with frequency, they win with scale. But I think independence win with connection with story and community.
But that only happens when marketing is rooted in who you actually are and who you're for, not who you think you're supposed to sound like.
Meaning your food, your people, your values, your place within the neighborhood, the community, all of those are assets. And most restaurants never articulate them clearly enough to actually use them.
See, when done right, marketing is a system, not just a campaign.
See, in fact, the most effective restaurant marketing I see is boring in the best possible way. It's repeatable, it's trackable, and most importantly, it's intentional. It answers three simple questions. Number one, who are we trying to reach? Number two, why should they choose us? And number three, how will we know if this worked?
And if you can't answer those questions, the tactic actually doesn't matter.
Social media, email, events, partnerships, all of them would fail without clarity way upstream.
See, good marketing systems don't chase trends, they just reinforce identity. I'll remind you, right, of Dave Ramsey. Dave Ramsey is probably the most popular, certainly most well known personal finance guru. And for three decades, he's just said the same thing over and over again.
Spend less than you make. Except he does it on stage, does it in books, does it on the radio, does it on YouTube. Over and over and over, repeating the same message. Spend less than you make. It is boring. It is, you know, repetitious, but it's also consistent, very clear on who he is and who he's trying to reach and what the message actually is. You need to be a lot more like Dave Ramsey.
Pop Menu has reimagined their restaurant. They're breaking the mold of the menu. Take the kitchen doors off the hinges, serving up their most comprehensive solution yet. It's called Pop Menu Max. So it's got everything you've already heard me mention, right? Websites, SEO, marketing tools, all of that. But now we get phone answering. Now we get third party online order aggregation, we get first party ordering, we get waitlisting. All of that is now in the, is now in the, in the bag. Pop Menu is phone answering, for example. That technology gets your ringing phones covered, right? AI AI helps the simple questions get answered so your phone line's not tied up right? So you don't have a staff member just answering the phone that can actually be there for your in person hospitality. No more missed reservations, no More missed orders, no more people asking for hours. Anything. And that's just the beginning. You have a passion for food. Pop menu is a passion for technology. Together, it's a recipe for restaurant success. Listen, if you're a restaurant owner, you need pop menu. It's going to take your business to the next level. For a limited time only, get a hundred dollars off your first month. Plus you get to lock in one flat unchanging monthly rate. Go to popmenu.com restaurantstrategy to claim this offer. Again, it's a hundred dollars off your first month. And yes, you're gonna find that link in the show notes.
So now let's talk about what actually moves the needle for independent restaurants. I think the highest ROI marketing almost always looks like this.
Consistent storytelling. Not just random posting. Clear reasons to visit and to visit now. Not just vague brand awareness and community based efforts that actually create word of mouth momentum.
In the end, the goal isn't to go viral. The goal is to be remembered and chosen regularly when it matters most. And that requires patience. Again, repetition and discipline. Do you think Dave Ramsey is sick of saying what he says? Yeah, I'm sure he wakes up some mornings and he's really sick of it. The things that don't feel exciting absolutely work. It's the repetition and the patience to be disciplined. Just like Dave Ramsey, the next piece is about measuring what actually matters. See, one of the biggest mistakes I think owners make is assuming that marketing can't actually be measured. But it can not. Always with perfect precision, but it can be measured. Especially now in our digital world, it's easier to measure than ever before. So let's ask better questions like did traffic increase during this period? Did we see more first time guests? P.S. you need a baseline about how many first time guests you typically get. And you need a way to track track all the new first time guests you get so you can understand if it's up, down or flat. You have to ask, did regulars come in more frequently? Did your marketing efforts increase the frequency of visits? Did staff hear guests mention the promotion that we were talking about?
All of those have to be measured and then analyzed. See, marketing doesn't need to be complicated. It just needs to be intentional.
Listen, start smaller than you think. If your marketing feels overwhelming, I think that's a sign that you're simply doing too much without a filter.
So pick one channel or two or three channels and pick one message. Pick one clear goal, something you're trying to accomplish on each channel. Run that plan consistently for 30 days then review, adjust and repeat.
That's how restaurants build momentum without burning money or energy. And actually, that is what the big groups and chains do. They just do it at scale, much bigger than we do.
But eventually, way back when, once upon a time, they started small and they were telling their messaging over and over and over again. And now they just tell it in a more magnified, amplified way.
The marketing that works often doesn't feel flashy. As long as it's aligned and consistent and disciplined, it works. That alignment is what turns effort into actual results.
I'll finish here by saying that the P3 mastermind has two group coaching calls every single week, and one of them is specifically dedicated to marketing. How do you actually market your restaurant? What is actually working in the year 2026 and beyond?
One dedicated call every single week. In addition to a dedicated operations call, the P3 mastermind works. If you want to learn more about it, RSProphit.com go watch a video. Do read all about the program. Grab time on my calendar to chat either with me or from my team about the program. That's where you get all your questions answered so we can see if you're a good fit again. RSP.com that link is in the show notes. I appreciate you guys making this show part of your week. I will see you on the next one.
Sam sa.
