How to market local restaurants?

A noodle shop that doesn't engage in fancy marketing, never does takeout, and has a boss with only a junior high school education. No matter where it opens, its business is particularly good, with over 80% of its customers being repeat customers. What's the secret behind this? After eating at a noodle restaurant for 5 years, the author of this article analyzed the secret of this noodle restaurant's success for us.

Uncle Pin loves noodles the most. There happen to be many noodle restaurants in Hangzhou, so he has eaten noodles countless times in recent years. But the best one he has ever eaten is Ciwu Noodles opened by a middle-aged couple.

Ciwu noodles are a specialty of Zhuji, Zhejiang. They are characterized by being chewy and soft with just the right amount of hardness, and having a delicious soup that leaves a lingering aftertaste. In addition to delicious noodles, this noodle shop has a secret weapon: homemade chopped pepper sauce. Every time I go there, I always add a big spoonful, it's really appetizing.

I always feel that the noodles of other noodle shops are either chewy or soft, or the soup is not tasty. I can give 95 points to the noodles run by this couple, but only 75 points to the other noodles.

Last year, this noodle restaurant moved from its first-floor storefront in the community to a location near an office building one kilometer away. So the diners also changed from community tenants to office white-collar workers. At the beginning, the noodle shop's business was average, because it relied on the old customers nearby to survive. After the environment changed, the previous customers left.

However, after one year of operation, the business of this store has surpassed that of the previous one, because nearby office workers also like this noodle restaurant, and it is always full of people at mealtime.

Even at night, this noodle shop does good business, while the surrounding restaurants are relatively deserted. You know, generally speaking, restaurants near office buildings rely on the rigid demand traffic during lunch time. At night, many people choose to go home for dinner, so there are usually few people eating dinner.

After eating at this noodle shop for 5 years, I think it is necessary to analyze the secret of its success.

1. Products and services are king

We should always remember that users spend money to buy products and services. If the noodles in this noodle shop are not delicious, I will not go there a second time, I will not bring my friends there, and I will not walk 2 kilometers to eat there.

Offline catering relies on repeat customers, and repeat customers are the cash cow of restaurants. Many e-commerce companies sell products online and rely entirely on paid advertising. Paid advertising brings in new customers, but when the advertising stops, the traffic is gone. Essentially, it is because the product is not competitive and you need to spend money to buy popularity, but the traffic purchased with money is not a long-term solution.

Uncle Pin once summarized a marketing theory:

• When selling services, being reliable is the best publicity;
• When selling products, a great product is the best publicity.

If a person is reliable, he can gain trust and thus complete a deal. If a product is powerful, it can drive sharing and thus promote sales. A typical example of a reliable person is a real estate agent. A reliable agent will often have people introduce buyers to him.

There is no need to explain how powerful the product is. Nowadays, if there is a very useful product, users will be very happy to share it with others through new media channels such as WeChat Moments, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili. From the perspective of traffic, it is called "brand wins traffic". The more traffic you win, the more brand revenue you will naturally gain.

2. Give users extra surprises

"If you want to make your girlfriend happy, don't tell her in advance what gift you are going to give her on Valentine's Day." There is no doubt that humans crave surprises.

The reason why I have a special liking for this noodle shop is actually because I particularly like their chili sauce. Once I even wanted to buy a bottle to take home. For me, the chili sauce of this noodle shop is the surprise. And I can eat it no matter when I go there.

Of course, the extra surprise has to be based on the quality of the product itself. If the noodles are not delicious, I won’t eat them often. What kind of thing is considered a surprise?

A surprise is not a discount, nor is it a buy one get one free offer. Surprises come from details, not quantity. Surprises must be sincere, because once they are sincere, they can capture the hearts of customers. How do other industries surprise users?

For example, pet shops can provide free or low-cost photography services for pets. Companies that sell membership services can cooperate with other similar companies to provide buy-one-get-more services.

3. High cost performance

Uncle Pin has eaten seafood noodles for 35 yuan a bowl, Lanzhou ramen for 12 yuan a bowl, and pork chop noodles for 20 yuan a bowl. In terms of cost-effectiveness alone, this noodle restaurant has the best value for money. I can say that within the surrounding area of ​​3 kilometers, I can’t find any other place that serves noodles for less than 20 yuan that tastes better than this one.

This is also one of the main reasons why his business is so good. Price-performance ratio is not about who has the lower price, but about providing the customer with the best product and service within the same budget. Nowadays, when many people mention cost-effectiveness, the first thing they think of is price wars. This way of thinking is very narrow.

Think about it the other way around. If a company provides good products and can lower the price, then if it doesn’t make money, who will?

4. Customer word of mouth is the best marketing

Uncle Pin has also eaten at some chain-franchised noodle restaurants. I always feel that these noodle restaurants are soulless and the taste is mediocre, which makes it difficult for people to want to go there a second time. Ultimately, the catering industry is extremely dependent on the skills of chefs, just like a writer. Without years of writing and a lot of social practice, it is impossible to write popular works.

Noodles belong to the category of Chinese food, and it is difficult to standardize them completely like KFC and McDonald's, because the production of noodles, the selection of dishes, the cooking heat, and the amount of salt can all lead to huge differences in taste. The division of labor in this husband-and-wife shop is also very clear. The wife is responsible for cooking noodles, while the husband is responsible for the front desk cashier and making noodles. The two have a clear division of labor and have accumulated a large number of regular customers through long-term operation.

This restaurant reminds me of a Japanese documentary called "God of Sushi", which also won the love of customers through word of mouth. The owner, Jilang, is over 80 years old and is still busy in the store. Because of its good reputation, it was once awarded three Michelin stars. They do not engage in franchise operations, and only decided to open a branch after their youngest son finished his studies.

Nowadays, many catering companies like to engage in franchising and chain operations, and some also adopt the direct operation model. Relatively speaking, direct operation has better control over taste than franchising.

5. Differentiation

Differentiation means being different from others. For example, it would probably be difficult to sell bananas in Hainan because there are bananas everywhere. But if you transport the bananas to Northeast China to sell, the business would probably be very good.

There are local specialty noodles near where I live, but the people who eat Ciwu noodles are basically from other places. Outsiders are typically young office workers who are usually not well-off. Because of the great pressure to survive, this noodle shop has survived well by relying on a differentiated strategy.

Of course, this noodle shop also has its shortcomings: for example, the equipment is outdated, there are no single-order machines, and customers need to scan the QR code with their mobile phones to pay, which is a waste of time. Then the store location is average, close to a corner, and customers need to walk a long distance.

Finally, there is no regular development of new products and not many side dishes, resulting in a relatively low overall average order value and a lack of innovation.

Author: Uncle Pin

Source: Brand2social