Restaurant increases revenues by 20 percent during pandemic.

Nick Moon, owner of Melbourne Seafood Station, opened his 4th location about 6 months before the pandemic.

Today, he has increased revenues by over 20% by doing 5 simple things:

1. Menu adjustments with a focus on value

2. Transition customers from 3rd party to self-delivery/pick up

3. Implementing a strong loyalty program

4. Taking pre-orders to increase capacity during peak times

5. Creating a consistent social media program

He tells you exactly how he did it in this video interview.

Plus, he started using Numa, an AI based platform that answers your phone and converts calls to orders. Numa was featured on an EASY+RETAIL+TECH podcast you can listen to here.

https://www.angelcicerone.com/easyretailtechpodcast/numa

Angel: We have got a great story to tell you today. You hear a lot of bad news during COVID, but today we feature a really good story about a business that is exceeding revenues from its pre-COVID days. Today we welcome the owner of that business, Nick Moon. Nick is the owner of Melbourne Seafood Station. He has four restaurants, but we're going to talk about one, the most recent one that he opened, which is in the Orlando, Florida area, correct, Nick.

Nick: Yes. In Hunter's Creek neighborhood of Orlando, Florida.

Angel: And this restaurant only opened in September of 2019. And by March, 2020, boom, the axe came down with Covid, correct?

Nick: It did, it really kind of kicked us in the gut.

Angel: Tell everybody a little bit about what you serve at Melbourne seafood station. And I want to add, the other three restaurants have been wildly successful.

Nick: Absolutely. We are a fast casual seafood restaurant. We focus on seafood boils. So it's primarily shellfish, shrimp, lobster, crab, scallops, oysters, mussels, clams, that kind of thing. We also do fish and chicken as well.

Angel: And it is fast casual, but it's a little pricey, correct? 

Nick: Compared to a hamburger, it's going to be a little bit more expensive, but if you're comparing us to Red Lobster or another seafood restaurant, it's a really good value.

Angel: Fantastic. So you opened up in September and then the Covid lockdown came and you were not prepared. Everybody was unprepared, but you were so new and you hadn't done this in any of your restaurants. You didn't even have delivery or online menus or any of that kind of thing set up yet, right?

Nick: No, we definitely didn't have any delivery setup or any online menus. It was just people walking in and people calling in.

Angel: And so how long before you set up delivery and how did you do it?

Nick: Immediately we started repurposing employees as delivery drivers and we signed up with GrubHub to handle deliveries for us.

Angel: This is when you and I started working together and you did one thing very early on that has made a tremendous difference in your business. What was that?

Nick:  We did a $29 family meal that included two pounds of shrimp. And they could get either rice or pasta, plus corn on the cob or broccoli. And that fed four people, and it was an extremely successful promotion.

Angel: And I want to make sure that everybody understands that was still a profitable deal.

Nick: Yeah. So it was about a 50% food cost for us. 

Angel: Fantastic. And you're used to high food costs in what you do anyway, so you pivoted immediately to provide that value. Then the next thing that we did, which I loved was the idea of delivery. I'm glad that GrubHub was delivering, but I don't want to use them if I don't have to. So tell everybody what you did then.

Nick: We added promotional cards to each delivery package to promote our own delivery.

Angel: So you put a card in with each order that went out through GrubHub.

Nick: Right. All orders that went out or were pickup included a promotion card, letting customers know that we deliver as well.

Angel: And did you offer a discount for that first one?

Nick: We offered $5 off their first store delivery order.

Angel: So inside of the GrubHub delivery order, you put a coupon for $5 off if they ordered directly through you. And I don't know if you know the percentage, but what kind of response did you see?

Nick: It was strong. Once the dining rooms were reopened again, then we saw the delivery kind of fall off. But during delivery we definitely saw an increase in store delivery - maybe about 50% more than we were doing before we offered the discount.

Angel: And then over the course of time, you kept adjusting and updating those family meals.

Nick: We did. Initially there was only one option, which was shrimp and the two side options. And then, we offered it with salmon, cod or chicken. So we had four different options for the family meal for the $29 price.

Angel: And did you see what percentage of sales did that family meal end up making of your total revenue?

Nick: Across all four restaurants, it was about 30% of our revenue.

Angel: Wow. That's a lot, people really did gravitate towards that, didn't they?

Nick: They did. So we actually added it to the menu now. Now it's something that's on our offerings permanently and it still accounts for 10 to 15% of our sales.

Angel: When you opened for dine-in, your delivery business stayed strong, correct?

Nick: The takeout stayed strong, the delivery kind of fell off a little bit.

Angel: So as we sit here today in August, what's your percentage delivery versus dine in?

Nick: Dine-In is going to be about 40% and delivery is about 10%.

Angel: Excuse me. That’s dine-in and delivery versus takeout? 

Nick: About 50% right now. 

Angel: Wow. That's huge. Another thing that you did during all of this craziness is you implemented a loyalty program.

Nick: We did. And I think when I ask our employees, “what's the number one thing you think that's working right now,” that's what they say; the loyalty program. They say the customers are just loving it.

Angel: Tell us a little bit about what your benefits are and what people have to do.

Nick: Just for signing up, they get a $10 reward in the mail. It takes about two weeks for them to get that, but it’s a hook. “Hey, sign up for this. You're going to get $10 off your next meal.” They also get a point for every dollar that they spend. Every 200 points they receive a $10 reward. They also get a birthday coupon for $10 and a free entree on their anniversary. 

Angel: And you offer double points on Tuesday.

Nick: Yes. We wanted to see if we could increase business during the week. We decided to just do it on Tuesday, which was one of the slower days and it really works.

Angel: Do you have any numbers for us on that promotion, in terms of increase?

Nick: Yes. It's been about 20 to 30% increase since we started doing that. 

Angel: That is really big. Now most of your business is weekend business, correct?

Nick: Yeah. Friday, Saturday and Sunday accounts for two thirds of our business.

Angel: So you created a preorder system and rewarded customers for ordering. Tell us about that.

Nick: When we knew we were going to be really busy on mother's day and father's day and a couple other times we implemented a $5 coupon toward their next purchase if they pre-ordered by the day before. And that really helped out. We had almost so many preorders that we weren't taking new orders.

Angel: That's amazing. And your mother's day was absolutely stellar, correct?

Nick: Across all of our locations. It was phenomenal. 

Angel: Isn't that amazing in the middle of all of this, the best ever. And your mother's day offering was the family meal with some additional things, correct?

Nick: We offered a, it was a whole lobster with scallops shrimp and it was, I think it was $30 or something like that for mom, it was a really good value.

Angel: I want to make sure everybody knows that during this time seafood prices were going down. So you weren't losing money on any of these things that you were making money. 

Nick:  That's one of the things that I’ve found has been the biggest savior is finding a good value item, like a lobster or something that people are really going to draw their attention in and then coming up with a great special, and then promoting the heck out of it on social media.

Angel: Let's talk about promotion. Because I know that wasn't your favorite thing to do when we first met, you've been more aggressive on social media. Tell us about some of the things that you've done that have worked for you.

Nick: The biggest thing is taking like a really appetizing picture and then promoting it through Facebook ads and boosting posts. We didn't do that consistently before, so we've been adding more money, at least a hundred dollars per post. And we've seen the revenue really take off from that. I believe it's because people are on their phones a lot with Covid, they are trying to get updates and they're just, they have more time to do that. So that's really the best way to reach them.

Angel: That's fantastic. So you are a new restaurant that's not doing as well as it could be. Covid hits, you implement five or six key things like menu items, loyalty program, marketing, value oriented deals. And why don't you tell everybody the upshot where your revenues are right now?

Nick: So right now our revenues for the last three months have been up 20% from where they were prior to Covid.

Angel: If anybody says you can't be making money during this time, what do you tell them, Nick?

Nick: You have to try. You have to try as many things as you can and find something that works and then stick to it and then find the next thing that works. But you can't just sit back and do nothing.

Angel: So I want everybody to understand Nick implemented quickly. He took new ideas and he executed quickly and well. It didn't really take you that much time, right? It didn't cost you any money. 

Nick: No, no it didn't. 

Angel: So it can be done. One of the things I want to talk to you about is a company called Numa, which I did a podcast on. And I happened to mention to you early on, and you actually went in and order their service. So why don't you tell us a little about how that works and what results you've seen?

Nick: Well, it's taken about two weeks to implement it. Because we do have four locations. We had to install it at four locations, train everybody and get it set up. But it gets to the phone requests that you can't get to. So in the busy periods, you're going to have a customer on the phone that you're trying to take an order for, another customer on hold and then other people trying to call in. And Numa takes on everybody, leaving the customer that's either in front of you placing the order or the one that you're on the phone with by answering the phone for those other customers. And it uses an AI technology that response to the basic converts to call into a text message where it can answer the customer's basic questions, as far as what time you're open, where to find the menu, those kinds of things you can prerecord responses to. And then if they want to order, it gives them a link to put their order in. Customers can even pay for their order on the system.

Angel: We're going to have to circle back with you in a couple of months to see the effectiveness of it. Because I think it's going to help a great deal.

Nick: It is. Just this Saturday we saw 20% of orders going through Numa.

Angel: Wow that is amazing. Great job. Great job. So we are definitely going to come back in six months from now, Nick, and we're going to hope that you have doubled business everywhere, particularly Orlando.

Any plans for the next new thing, between now and the end of the year? Because things are not going to change so quickly. So anything you've got on your mind?

Nick: We're just going to try to come up with as many creative marketing and advertising campaigns as we can address providing value for people, letting customers know that, hey, we're in this with you. We're not trying to make a fortune right now. We're just trying to get people good food at a reasonable cost.

Take a hot minute to figure out why you don't have enough time!

Warning! This blog contains tough love.

When you tell me “I don’t have time,” I get a little nuts.

  I don’t have time to implement new ideas.

I don’t have time to study my POS reports.

I don’t have time to map out a social media strategy.  

I don’t have time to run my business correctly!

WTH?

I’m not completely insensitive. I get that you’re busy. And overwhelmed. And perhaps confused about which step to take first.  So here are my best pieces of advice to help you dig out of the time spiral.  

1.  Put on your CEO hat.

Remember, you are the only one with the power – and the responsibility – to turn your business into everything you want it to be.

If you’re inundated with details and non-revenue producing tasks, it’s time to recalibrate.  Your job is to steer the high level thinking that produce maximum sales results. This is a non-negotiable.

2.  Stop.

Now, take a hot minute and figure out how you are spending your time. Keep a running daily calendar of tasks for about a week.  How much time are you on the sales floor? Doing administrative work? Ordering? Paying bills? Scheduling? Training? What is eating up your time? (BTW, serving your customers shouldn’t be considered a time suck. That’s kind of why you’re in business, isn’t it?)

3.  Figure out what you like doing.

What made you want to get into business in the first place?  You are, after all the CEO of your company and running it shouldn’t be torture. You should be able to do the things you like and enjoy — and are good at!

4.  Get creative about finding help.

How can you offload operational tasks and the duties you hate or aren’t great at when you can’t afford extra help?

Utilize current employees.
Most stores and restaurants have slow times and you can schedule certain tasks during those hours. Get your employees on board with a list of operational duties. Just 30 minutes per employee can make a huge difference! They can do everything from prepare weekly schedules to taking photos for social media posts to merchandising and reviewing POS reports for trends and opportunities.

If you need more help and can’t afford it, start small.
For example, maybe you can’t afford a social media consultant or visual designer, but you can afford to give one of your employees an extra two hours on the schedule each week to free up your time to do this. Use the time to attend a networking breakfast plan your marketing for the next quarter or create your social media posts. That’s certain worth an extra $20 or $30!

Hire a virtual assistant
For about $25 and hour, you can have a remote assistant a couple of hours per week to handle routine and recurring tasks. 

Even if money is tight, don’t let a $50 or $100 investment get in the way of y moving your business forward. You have to shake the tree a bit to create change.

Small expenditures can have a domino effect – to help increase sales and then, in turn, afford additional help.

5.  Calendar essential tasks

Now that you’re paying for some help, take full advantage of that extra time.  Paying an employee an extra two hours? Be sure to calendar those hours for yourself. Use them to work on the CEO tasks you’ve identified. Make that commitment so you don’t get sucked into the menial again, defeating the purpose.

6. Commit to making the short term sacrifices.

If your business is failing or flailing, you have to work right now, this minute, to improve it. There is no time to waste or complain about not having time! Doing the same thing over and over again isn’t going to affect change!

Make that full court press to improve business…and make it quickly. It may take a few sleepless nights or some really busy weeks but the results will be worth it.  Not prepared to make the sacrifice? Well, then you should probably reevaluate being a business owner because there will always be cycles of ups and downs that will make extraordinary demands on you.  It’s the nature of the beast.

7.  Ask yourself every day, “ What did I do today to move my business forward?”

When you look at your daily ”to do” list, start with the items that have the potential to improve your business. It’s that simple. At the end of the day, as long as you’ve done something that builds on your business potential, you’re good!

Owning a business is hard work.  So now you have two choices. The first is to make the time to dig in and get it done. The second choice is far less appealing.  

Until next time, remember…
You can do this!
Angel

How to Create an Easy and Effective Community Donation Strategy for Your Store or Restaurant

You’ve probably been approached hundreds of times to participate with local charities and asked to do everything from donate merchandise for silent auctions to springing for sponsorship dollars, organizing walking teams and buying tables at banquets.

Before you spend another dollar, take a minute to think about how you give your money, merchandise and time.

There are two ways to approach charitable giving. The first is altruistic. If you have a cause or passion in which you want to participate because it’s meaningful to you, by all means, do so. This is not a business decision, it’s one that comes from the heart.

The second is using charitable involvement as a business builder. For the purposes of this discussion, we’ll talk about the latter.

Let’s start with merchandise and gift card donations.

I highly recommend creating an annual budget and formal process for giving donations. This allows you to handle your giving gracefully and without creating bad feelings. You certainly don’t want to offend representatives of local organizations by having them think you are snubbing them or don’t take your community participation seriously. After all, they may be potential customers.

To avoid an uncomfortable situation, create a charitable donation request form for the organization to complete including their charity name, contact person, reason for the donation (i.e. silent auction, raffle, etc.), purpose of the charity, how long in business and their 501(c)3 number which a legitimate nonprofit must have and finally, what type of recognition you will receive for your donation, i.e. logo on all event marketing, signage at event, etc.

Explain to them:

•      As a small business, you have an annual budget for charitable giving

•      All requests must be submitted in writing

•      You evaluate all requests monthly, make your choices and will notify them of your decision at that time.

Be sure to review these forms on a regular predetermined timetable and notify all applicants of your decision.

The formal process will help mitigate bad feelings from the rejected parties and help you make the most of your charitable contributions.

Get Creative

There’s no law that says you need to give money or merchandise to support your local non-profits.  Think about:

Volunteering

Can your staff help at an event or fundraiser?

Creating an experience
How about a free wardrobe styling or haircut?  A cupcake baking or pizza making lesson? These experiences have great perceived value and help to build a one-on-one relationship with the potential customer.

After the giving

Keep the momentum going by continuing to yourself and your selected charities. Post signage in your store about upcoming events that your involved in. Promote them on your website and social media as well. At the end of the year, compile a list of your selected charities and encourage customers to include them in their charitable giving.

Bottom line

Take a few minutes to create a process and through in a couple of creative ideas. It will save time, make your store or restaurant stand out from the fray of ordinary gift cards givers and establish your business as a valuable member of your community

If you’d like a free copy of the Charitable Donation Form Template, go to https://www.angelcicerone.com/charitable-donation

Until next time remember, you can do this!
Angel

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