Starting, Owning and Marketing A Restaurant Blog|Starting and Owning a Restaurant - Construction, Planning, Marketing, Opening and Managing a New Restaurant

A friend and colleague who opened a new restaurant about 6 months before we did called to chat about a contractor who used us as a reference. As we discussed the year and the new restaurants, he was clear that his results weren’t what he expected. The conversation evolved to marketing programs that have and haven’t worked. My commitment to email restaurant marketing was discussed, but he was questioning the value.

At the time of my phone communication, I didn’t have any firm numbers in front of me and could only voice my general feeling about his objections which included:

1. The fact that you cannot know that everyone gets the email.
2. The time and effort to collect the email addresses.
3. The returns seemed small.

It is true that an email marketing program may take a little planning and effort to get started, but so does any other worthwhile restaurant marketing tool. In terms of cost, the email services we have researched can cost from $35 per month up to $100 per month depending on the level of your participation and the services you desire. There are significant differences between the online companies offering restaurant specific programs. 

Here are the numbers and benefits based on some actual results in our 15 months of utilizing this long term strategy.

• Benefit One -If you have 2000 names on your email list, you can expect about 700 people to open your email that you can positively identify. Many other people may open the email up, but the numbers of verifiable opens are about 35%. What other form of marketing can you prove that 700 people saw your message for under $100 per month?
• Benefit Two - In our case, we offer a free appetizer with any entree when they join the email club. We follow that up during the year with a free dinner on their birthday. Again using the assumption of a database of 2000 names, we get about 30 people per month who use the appetizer gift and about 50 people per month who use the birthday gift each month. The real benefit is that each of the people who redeem their gifts are in a party that averages 3 people per redemption. That means there are 240 people per month guaranteed coming into your restaurant every month - all for under $100 in actual costs. (Keep in mind your list is constantly growing.)
• Benefit Three -In the operation that uses this program, the average check is $19.50 per person. That means in any given month we are sure to get $4600 worth of business before the month can even begin.
• Benefit Four- At any given time we can send an email to boost the sales for a day, week or month. Email is a great way to introduce a new menu, new item or promote a holiday or special eevent. An email takes anywhere from ten minutes to two hours to produce depending on what message you are sending (holiday reminder, newsletter, menu introduction, etc.). You know 700 people are going to read your email if you have 2000 names on your list.

In terms of numbers, if you grow your list to 4000 people, the monthly hard measured returns would be $9200 before the month started. Again, this result is from a monthly investment of under $100. How about 6000 names, now you have $13,800 in sales before you do anything else for the month (that’s $165,600 annually!) - again, for less than $100 per month.

Email restaurant marketing is a valuable tool if used properly and judiciously.

If you are starting a new restaurant or looking for a sure bet - place it on this numbers game. Get started now, nothing happens without a beginning.