Article: “Google Maps offers discount coupons for US stores” (Aug.2006)

excerpt:
“Google Inc. will offer printable discount coupons to local shoppers, in a promotional bid that aims to drive U.S. online shoppers using its Google Maps service to visit stores, the company said.

The world’s top Web search supplier is taking advantage of the marketing tool, which is traditionally used by small businesses, to entice U.S. consumers to seek out savings from local retailers such as dry cleaners, pizza delivery restaurants and auto repair shops.

Google has partnered with Valpak, the top U.S. supplier of coupon advertising, to provide more than 20,000 coupons from current Valpak advertisers when consumers search for relevant stores using its Google Maps map and local directory service…”

source: “Google Maps offers discount coupons for US stores” by Eric Auchard (Reuters, Aug.14,2006)

Article: “”Name game: Chefs who give their food silly names may not be so foolish.”

excerpt:
“The grosser a dish sounds the better. That’s the philosophy some chefs are adopting when coming up with names for dishes on their menu. From Kitchen Sink Chopped Salad to Debris Sandwich, chefs are giving food a bad name. Luckily, they’ve been able to convince customers the dishes taste better than they sound, and for many, the marketing gimmick has paid off.

San Pedro chef/co-owner Michael Goodman created the Fat Boy Man Salad at home a few years ago, when he wanted to eat more nutritiously. His vegetarian creation consisted of baby field greens, carrots, grape tomatoes, beets and green beans. It tasted terrific, but Goodman found it wasn’t enough to satisfy his hunger. Soon, he began super-sizing it.

“It was obnoxiously large,” says Goodman. “People started calling it the Fat Boy Man Salad.”

source: “Name game: Chefs who give their food silly names may not be so foolish.” by Nancy Ngo (Pioneer Press, Aug.3.2006)

Resource: Restaurant Resource Group’s Archived List of Featured Articles & QuickBooks Tips

RRG – Restaurant Resource Group provides financial management tools and support services. The site contains fee-based information, services, and products, but their site also has a free “Tips & Articles” section with many interesting pieces.

Here are samples titles:
“10” Restaurant Financial Red Flags
Counting Your Beans with Confidence…A QuickBooks Primer for the Startup Restaurateur
How To Win The Menu Pricing Game
Restaurant Marketing: An Art and Science

link: RRG’s Archived List of Featured Articles & QuickBooks Tips

Article: “Businessman blogs boldly toward BBQ restaurant success” (Jul.2006)

excerpt:
“On June 7, Reams started posting to the Mothership blog — and soon began counting down to opening. Then, on Friday, June 9, Reams announced on the blog the restaurant would be open the next morning. To his surprise, 50 customers came in for pulled pork barbecue and ribs – and their positive posts on his blog followed.

In simple terms, Reams managed to get Mothership off the ground and exceeding sales projections almost immediately without spending a penny on conventional advertising; only his blog, maintained by the free, Google-owned Blogger service, served as a sentinel for Mothership’s opening. He says he is Nashville’s only restaurateur using blogging as a method of publicity…”

source: “Businessman blogs boldly toward BBQ restaurant success” by Will York (The City Paper, Jul.24,2006)

Related links:
Free Blog Software / Hosting (About.com)

Article: “10 Tactics for Driving F&B Sales”

excerpt:
“Delivering measurable increases in food and beverage revenues can be achieved with simple restaurant promotional techniques available to big budgets and shoestring marketers alike. There are thousands of possible tactics you can employ to drive revenues without any reliance on mass media advertising.

Here are 10 of the best restaurant promotion ideas to get your own creative marketing wheels turning:

Restaurant Promotions Tactic 1. Publicity stunts – Stunt is a word with negative connotations for restaurant owners, but I wanted to use a word that conjured up images that are different than traditional press relations efforts…”

source: “10 Tactics for Driving F&B Sales” (Quantified Marketing Group)

Quantified Marketing Group has an archive of restaurant marketing articles, here are some sample topics:

Restaurant Marketing Plan
Best Practices in Email Marketing
Restaurant Positioning

link: Quantified Marketing Group’s Restaurant Marketing Articles

QMG also offers a free newsletter which offers advice about restaurant marketing.
Click here for the July 06 newsletter.

Resource: FHG International’s Article Archive

“FHG International Inc., is a Canadian based boutique consulting firm specializing in the foodservice, franchise and hospitality industries.

…FHG has worked with clients to developed successful restaurant, franchise and hospitality businesses, conduct operational reviews, feasibility studies, market research, corporate restructuring, strategic planning, master planning, valuations and litigation support.”

link: FHG International’s Article Archive

sample titles:
Menu Planning: A Systematic Methodology
Marketing By Design
Service Timetable – A practical guide to efficient service

also available for free:
Book – “Restaurant Staff Service Tips”
Software – “MENUMANAGER©”

Blog Post: “The Art of the Email” (Jul.2006)

excerpt:
‘Recently I was in a seminar styled meeting and the topic was the art of the email. When I went in I thought I was aware of most of the email tricks. The guy who was leading the email discussion was a magician. He knew how to design an email so people respond.

He spoke of the psychology of the email and we discussed what gets people to respond. And, he had minimalized the science so non-tech people, like us, could get behind our key boards and accomplish something without the fear of failure staring us in the face. It’s a great, quick, easy, smple, rapid, yada, yada, yada, way to promote.

Here are a few tips:”

source: “The Art of the Email” by John Foley (The Restaurant Blog,Jul.19,2006)

related links:
Marketers still ignoring e-mail best practices (thewisemarketer.com)
Article: “Jump Start Your On-line Marketing With An E-mail Newsletter” (techwaiterbell)
Tool: Restaurant Newsletter/Email Marketing Services (techwaiterbell)

Media: Restaurant Podcasts

Podcasts are significant because it opens access to radio shows and restaurant industry content that were only available locally. This is a new and interesting media resource for restauranteurs in a portable format. You can download the show and listen to it in the car, during lunch, or in the gym. Also, these podcasts are also marketing vehicles for restaurants and related businesses.

NRN Podcast Central (created by Nation’s Restaurant News)
“Foodservice News Delivered in Fresh New Ways”

Podcast Grill
“Where restaurant meets business – trends, expert interviews and more to make your restaurant more profitable than ever”

Pizza Radio
“Pizza Radio is your source for sound bytes from pizza experts.”

The Restaurant Guys
“Co-hosts Francis Schott and Mark Pascal—who own Stage Left Restaurant in New Brunswick, NJ—have interviewed food luminaries like Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl and chef Charlie Palmer in between other animated discussions. Their podcasts are adaptations of three 40-minute episodes from their radioshow on WCTC-1450 AM.”

BarServ’s Raising the Bar on Service
“Raising the Bar” tackles a variety of topics relevant to the hospitality service industry and occasionally features high-profile industry guests from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The program will offer insightful ideas to empower hotel, restaurant and bar owners and managers to improve service and increase profitability.

Article: “TV ads on the cheap for small biz” (Jul.2006)

excerpt:
“Findley’s meat market in suburban Atlanta had always relied on newspaper ads, direct mailings and quick radio spots to reach consumers. But after discovering Spot Runner’s do-it-yourself commercial tool for small businesses, the butcher shop ran a commercial on local cable TV ahead of Easter and again before Mother’s Day.

The commercials cost Findley’s $349 and $499 and the shop spent about $2,100 in March and $1,100 in May to air the spots on ESPN, Food TV, Fox News Channel and Fox Sports.

“We found out that it was very affordable and they help you work with a small budget,” said Findley’s owner Dolores Barr.”

source: “TV ads on the cheap for small biz” by Jessica Seid (CNNMoney.com, Jul.14,2006)

“At Spot Runner we make it easy, simple and affordable for everyone to take advantage of local TV advertising. We started Spot Runner because we saw three important opportunities:

• Small and medium-sized business people want to advertise on TV but the costs of creating ads are prohibitive.
• Choosing a media plan, negotiating the price, and tracking your advertising can be time consuming and difficult.
• Great TV advertising could be made more quickly and at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising agencies.

We put these elements together and Spot Runner was born.”

link: SpotRunner.com

Web Site: Pizza Marketing Quarterly (PMQ.com)

“PMQ.Com – The Pizza Industry’s # 1 Website

With an average of 2500 visitors per day and growing, PMQ.com has blossomed into the pizza industry’s favorite industry internet connection. Those just entering our industry and looking for new suppliers first learn about the pizza business through www.pmq.com.

Every issue of PMQ, dating back to 1997, is here for our visitors to peruse at their leisure. PMQ.com is a veritable treasure trove of pizza industry information.PMQ.com has 24-hour breaking pizza news, experts to address questions, recipes to try and many more valuable resources for today’s competitive pizza operator.”

source: PMQ 2006 Media Kit
link: Pizza Marketing Quarterly (PMQ.com)

Although Pizza Marketing Quarterly (PMQ.com) focuses on, well, pizza, it is an incredible resource for all restaurants. The site is filled with free articles, resources, and advice. It is a site that is using the internet and power of the community to help all restaurant owners improve their operations and share knowledge.