Chain restaurants have several competitive advantages over independent restaurants – on technology, marketing, and employee benefits. In comparison, your resources in those areas are less than tiny.
Yet survey after survey finds that most of the dining public intentionally visit independent restaurants because they would rather support local businesses.
And it doesn’t hurt that a lot of communities view their independent restaurants as the pride (and sometimes the definition of) their communities. Plus, Americans are generally weary of the numbing hum of doing business with big corporations, and they just feel the difference when they dine with you.
It used to be that the chains learned from us, but it seems like, lately, we’re learning more from them.
So how about we steal a couple of chain restaurant ideas and then execute those ideas even better than a chain ever could?
How? By utilizing your superior speed of action and authenticity.
Two Great Examples:
- Don’t just tell your story, shout your story. Emphasize uniqueness. In Chain World, Lyle Tick – the new CEO of 216 BJ’s Restaurants – made an interesting statement on a recent earnings call: “We have an opportunity to reinforce our uniqueness and what truly makes us special, and not allow us to be de-positioned as a generalist, casual dining brand.” He was talking about you. And if you can’t define your uniqueness, start to work on that now.
I see too many independent restaurant groups fail to consistently show or tell that story in their social media, marketing, and internal conversations with employees and guests. Change that, and don’t allow your restaurants to be “de-positioned” or undefined compared to your competitors – because all you will be is knocked off your guests’ personal dining rotation.
- Foster relationships every day. Part of the fascinating and much-watched comeback trail for the 40,199 Starbucks locations around the world includes a new customer promise to “serve the world’s finest coffee with a moment of connection.” They blend quality and service. Independents have the opportunity to beat a chain every time on human connection. People want to eat food prepared by a chef, not a company. They want to know and be known, care and be cared about, and experience that special touch. How do you strengthen and institutionalize connections to guests and employees?
I currently work with a client on creating segment-leading service in fast casual, and in another case how to tell a forgotten, multi-decade story of a group of restaurants, and in a third case, telling a new story that people want to hear instead of the old one that has failed to break through.
The path to increasing guest count, revenue, profit, and net worth in today’s environment remains clear. Take it.
