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Marketing Strategies

For the past century Advertising and Merchandising techniques used in marketing were to attract the attention of the potential targeted market to the client's products and services. To help our clients accomplish this, we employ the five techniques of marketing as follows:

  1. Advertising - initiate attention-grabbing ads in various media, including the internet to let the public know "who, what, where and why" of the client's operation. We offer established alternative methods to extend your advertising dollar.
  2. Merchandising - suggest point-of-sale attention grabbers for the customers once they enter the establishment to entice them to buy.
  3. Promotions - energize interesting and appealing programs to get prospective customers to make a decision to patronize the client's restaurant.
  4. Public Relations - stimulate activity to keep the best features of the client's establishment in the public's eye. Developing programs of participation of the client with the community are also functions of good P.R.
  5. Loyalty Programs - to grow your customer base and keep them coming back.

Today’s economic system requires a fresh outlook on marketing strategies. Until now, restaurant  operator’s marketing efforts were directed at building higher sales volumes to achieve  increased profits.

Today a new stratagem  is needed. The newest thinking is to plan to conserve your current customer base while reorganizing your operations to produce a profit at every sales level. This new thinking about marketing means a major revision of our previous policies and practices for  marketing of restaurants.

Now, GEC’s activities will focus on the development of suitable marketing and merchandising promotions that will accomplish the following -

  • Maintain customer loyalty
  • Promote awareness of your products and service.
  • Stimulate carry-out business.
  • Institute catering off-premises where feasible.
  • Show you methods to improve your visibility in the community.
  • Develop low cost/high-interest promotions that really bring people in.
  • Redefine operating costs for each attainable sales level.

GEC believes in a hands-on marketing approach. We work with your serving staff to create greater motivation to sell and to adequately provide service to your clientele.

Menu Marketability

We will analyze the marketability of your menu. The menu should not only reinforce your theme, but must be eye catching and also appealing on the internet. Each potential menu item must be scrutinized in two ways: does it fit into the theme, and is it a good profit item? Standardization, definition and graphic display actively incorporated into your presentation of food and beverages can stimulate sales and profits. The appearance of your facility, your logo, signage, graphic display will be considered as active tools to attract attention to your operation. Price can be used to promote selected menu items. Employees can be instructed in good suggestive salesmanship.

GEC developed the Marketing Blitz

The strategy of the business Goliaths is to saturate the target market with media insertions of newspaper ads, T.V. 30 and 60 second commercials and radio spots throughout the day. The purpose of penetration advertising (PA) is to establish and maintain their company’s identity in the selected marketplace long enough to effect significant long term profits. The cost of such campaigns can run into millions of dollars. Are they successful? In most cases they are.

How Does the Marketing Blitz Work?

How can the little guys compete against this? Does he have the huge funds? No! Does he have the human resources? No! Does he have the time working in his favor? No! What he does have is the imagination, the daring and the drive to do a lot with very meager resources. That is the basis of the development of the "Marketing Blitz" or the Blitz as it is called. For restaurant operators, the impact of this Blitz attack is to:

  1. reawaken your existing customer’s interest in your products and services.
  2. exploit the weaknesses of your competition and "borrow" their customers.
  3. create growing attention to your loyalty program by constant promotions and rewards.
  4. concentrate  on providing the best food, service and hospitality to your customers.
  5. keep the pressure on, never let up, hour after hour, day after day until you achieve your immediate sales and profit goals.
This marketing blitz does work wonders if you have the fortitude and stamina to see it through to its enviable conclusion.

For more information, please see our contact page.

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Some Marketing Success Stories:

"We remodeled an abandoned fast food site into our most attractive new seafood quick serve concept. We had excellent visibility on a major highway, but growth was slow. Then GEC introduced the ‘Blitz’ and we took off. In just ten weeks we were doing more than $120,000 per month. The ‘Blitz’ works!"

B. D., Chicago, Illinois


"We operated a large banquet complex but sales were slow. We had some excess space which we hastily converted into a pub with great food. We were dying there too, when we asked Lloyd Gordon to help. He demonstrated the ‘Merchandise Blitz’ and within a month we began to fill up for lunch and after hours. That concept really worked."

L.P., Elmwood Park, Illinois


"We operate a great pizza carry-out with sit down. We had a super delivery system and a state-of-the-art delivery truck that wasn’t paying its way. GEC was called in and started a ‘Blitz’ for home deliveries. Within six weeks we needed an additional vehicle. Now we operate four!"

E. W., Naperville, Illinois


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