Just as any successful recipe begins with the right ingredients, every successful opening starts with a great restaurant marketing plan. Remember, your restaurant isn’t just about feeding your customers the best food. It’s about satisfying all of their senses–creating the perfect overall experience that gets them–and their friends–to come again and again. Simply stated, that’s your marketing goal.

Can you answer these questions?

1. What types of people LOVE your food? Don’t just say “everyone”. That’s too easy. We want you to really think about it. If you’re not sure, visit several competitors and see who’s dining there.
2. Is your food expensive? Moderately priced? Value-oriented? How much will it cost per dish? These answers will tell you whether you’re competing with McDonald’s, Chili’s or Ruth’s Chris.
3. Lastly, how do you want your restaurant to look and feel to the customer? Are you a rustic bench booth or a white table cloth? If you don’t know, spend some time thinking about it. That homework is worth it.

Your plan must answer these questions to go from ingredients to recipe in a way to capitalize on it. This is the plan that will make it happen!

The Restaurant Marketing Plan

The strongest restaurant marketing plans address five major components:

• The Product (Food, Dining Experience)
• Menu and Pricing (What to serve and how much to charge)
• Promotion and Advertising (How will you get the word out?)
• Competition (Who are your major competitors?)
• Real Estate* (Where will you locate your restaurant?)

*We focus on the first four points and cover real estate in its own section.

The Product

First instinct? You may think the product of a restaurant is its food. And to be sure, it’s the main part. You don’t HAVE a restaurant without food, by definition. Our philosophy, however, centers upon the entire dining experience. The concept of your restaurant lies in how customers interact in your setting. This means satisfying all of the senses!

Menu and Pricing

Now we’re getting down to “business”. The main goal of a restaurant is to make a profit while satisfying customers, right? You can substitute “restaurant” with any other business type in that sentence. Creating a menu must meet and exceed the expectations of customers. Pricing each menu item must be within the expectation of your target customer. Bottom line, customers have to be willing to pay the “right” amount for your menu.

Promotion and Advertising

What’s the difference between promotion and advertising? From a classic marketing sense, promotions focus on how you discount your product in order to create sales. Advertising is how you spread the word about your restaurant, and its promotions. The right mix of these can bring the traffic to your restaurant.

Competition

Competition can get the juices flowing towards constant improvement of all facets of your restaurant. Your food, your ambience, your service, your operations. When you’re opening a restaurant, competition must be beaten.

• Direct Competition

  These are restaurants that attract your target customer with similar food offerings. The key is to learn their secrets of success. We are going to take you into the oven of your direct competitors.

• Indirect Competition

  Indirect competitors are anything that takes people away from your restaurant. This can be other entertainment venues such as sporting events, concerts, and other location-based entertainment. The grocery store is also indirect competition. After all, when people eat at home, they’re not eating out!

Real Estate

Want to ensure you’re reaching your target customers? Put your restaurant in the right place. The restaurant real estate decision is critical to long term success. It’s so important, we take you step-by-step through our method of finding the right location.

Restaurant Marketing Plan Outline

Once you have your concept solid, your menu and pricing drafted, and a good sense of your competition’s methods of success, you’re ready to pull it all together. Our proprietary restaurant marketing plan outline details how you should segment the information you’ve created and gathered. Let’s put it together so that anyone reading it “gets” your plan.

Summary

Why is this restaurant marketing plan important? Because not only is this your blueprint for success, but you’re going to use it to appeal to investors who specialize in Restaurant Finance. That’s right. You’re going to use this document to raise money!