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.

Are you one of the 10 percent?

As states permit businesses to reopen, 90 percent of owners won’t do anything other than unlock their doors, provide mandated safety measures and wait for something to happen.

Don’t be one of them.

Because these are the business owners focused on merely surviving the next few months, getting forgiveness for their PPP loan and trying to sell customers whatever it is they happen to have pre-virus. These are the 90 percent.

But you are different. You are not focused on merely surviving. You are focused on coming out of the other side of this with a healthier, stronger business.  One that’s ready to continue to adapt to a fast-paced and changing environment and services its customers on the highest level.

Now, the big question, what do you need to do to become one of the 10 percent?

First, float
When caught in a rip current, swimmers are advised to stop fighting and just float. This pandemic has been the mother of all currents and fighting it is exhausting. Nobody expects you to completely understand how to navigate the situation but if you want to successfully get past this particular point in time, you need stop fighting for life and take a minute to clear some headspace. You need to let new ideas materialize instead of panicking because you don’t have all the answers.

Learn the lessons
What could have/should you have done differently prior to the pandemic? Identify the weak spots that existed (yes, every business has them) and fix them as part of your move forward plan.  Whether it’s net profitability, staff training, merchandising or marketing – now’s the time to fix it!

(Note – while we don’t have a lot of answers on what life is going to look like over the next months, we know one thing for sure: those businesses without a robust digital presence did not have as strong a chance to succeed. You might need to put this at the top of your list.)

Get the facts
There are two things you need to look at: what’s going on in your industry and what’s going on in your community.  Are there best practices within your industry? Do they jive with what is happening in your neighborhood? Understanding what people want and need right now is the best framework in which to make decisions.

Create a tribe
Engage your team in becoming part of the 10 percent team. A great business is made up of great people and employees need to be buy in to your vision because they are critical to making it happen.

Make it fun
Just because life is difficult, doesn’t mean you can’t shine a ray of light in people’s lives. From your marketing to your attitude, make your business a bright spot.

Give people a reason to leave the house
This has always been one of the “aha” moments in my work with retailers; are you doing something that makes customers want to leave their house vs. ordering online? Today, that’s taken on a whole new, meaning in a world where we, quite literally, have to encourage people dip their toes back into regular consumer behavior. As a retail store or restaurant owner, be sure you are providing good reasons for a visit. Status quo won’t cut it in these days.  

I applaud you for making the commitment to be a part of the 10 percent club. Adapt. Change. Fight.
Make this situation a stepping stone for a great future.

Until next time remember,
You can do this!
Angel

Is BOPIS right for your store?

Buy Online Pick Up In Store, also known as Click- to- Collect, is gaining traction with consumers and it’s easy to figure out why. They can purchase their desired products online 24/7 and be assured it will be at the store when they get there. It saves time, shipping costs and the customer can return it instantly if it doesn’t fit or meet their expectations.

BOPIS provides a frictionless experience for those who demand both the convenience of online shopping and the instant gratification of in-store shopping. It eliminates friction and importantly, the disappointment of finding the product isn’t available after driving to the store.

It’s a great benefit to the customer but perhaps, an even a bigger boon to retailers because 67 percent of BOPIS customers make additional purchases in store.* BOPIS gives you a competitive advantage by offering customers options for purchase and truly leverages your physical presence.  Plus, it’s important to get on the bandwagon now because according to Retail Touchpoints, 90 percent of all retailers will be offering BPOIS by 2021.

But I don’t sell online!

You don’t have to have a full ecommerce program to enjoy the benefits of BOPIS. Consider offering only best sellers for sale on your website or create a simple Facebook or Shopify store. Create a curated mix of best sellers, special offers or exclusives as part of your BOPIS program. By utilizing today’s easy- to- use and inexpensive online platforms, you can enjoy the benefits of omni-channel retailing without the expense of a full online store.

Best practices
Here are a few tips to make your BOPIS program effective.

Service
Provide a high level of service to customers who come in to pick up their purchases. Don’t just hand off the package. Train your staff to review the purchase with the customer to insure satisfaction and use the interaction to begin discussions about upsell and future purchase opportunities.  

Incentives to increase sales
There’s a good chance the customer will make an additional purchase while picking up their order, but if you want to create an additional incentive to do so, offer a bounceback during the pick up transaction valid for additional purchases only on the day of pick up.

Promote
As with any new service, promote it like crazy. Use all your digital assets, including website and social media, emails plus in-store signage and flyers with purchase to advise customers of the new opportunity.

Test before and during the holidays

If you decide to offer BOPIS this holiday season, be sure to take your systems for a test drive before the roll out. Who will be responsible for monitoring orders? Pulling and packaging items? Staff training? Marketing? Be sure your logistics and in-store experience is fine tuned to delight the customers and leave them wanting more!

*International Council of Shopping Centers, 2019