Restaurant Case Study with Agnes- Business Killer 4: Non-traditional Competitors Cont’d –
Posted by Ryan Volberg at January 3, 2008 3:00 PM

Agnes the Restaurateur puts her Take-Out and Delivery into Action

In order to execute her plan, Agnes would have to make some compromises. She'd love to be able to launch everything at once, in a big way. For example, it would be great to buy a new delivery vehicle and have it painted to match her brand.

And it wasn't just money that could get in the way. A desire for perfection could derail you just as fast. She'd seen other restaurant owners get stuck in a planning phase and never execute their plans. Clearly that wasn't her style.

She reduced her list to four critical pieces that needed to be in place.

1. Rewrite the takeout and delivery menu

2. Get new takeout packaging

3. Hire a driver

4. Market the new takeout and delivery

The rewrite of the takeout and delivery menu began with rethinking the sizing. She increased both the prices by 3.00 per item. She took the majority of that extra revenue and put it directly into increasing the portion.

This was part of her larger concept change. She'd been thinking for a while about how when she woud visit her grandmother's house as a child,Nana was always encouraging everyone to eat plenty. There was never a shortage of great food and no one left hungry. In fact, participants in these gatherings would bring containers so they could take home leftovers. That's the spirit she wanted to bring to her restaurant. The new takeout menu was an opportunity to test her new pricing and portion sizes without affecting her dine-in clientele.

By increasing the portion size significantly, it ensured that there would be leftovers which increased the value perception. There was a danger that it would lead to splitting meals but she could assess that if it became a problem.

She still needed to deal with creating a menu that customers wouldn't just stick in a drawer and forget. For that she drew on an idea she saw from a realtor. They'd given here a stain removal guide that she'd kept posted next to her washing machine for years. The problem - real estate had nothing to do with laundry, so she couldn't even remember the name of the realtor.

She began the front of her menu with:

20 great wines for under $15

Some of the wines were available in her restaurant but some were not. That wasn't the point. She'd keep a list like this posted on her fridge. And if she would, others might as well. To tie it back to her restaurant, she paired each wine with one of her dishes. That created the connection that the realtor had failed to do.

Agnes also drew upon her past retail experience and created some value meals that grouped together various dishes. By grouping them, she could effectively offer a discount without diluting the value of her regular priced items.

Ryan Volberg is the CEO of Vivonet, a company dedicated to ensuring retail and restaurant success.

Category: Survival Tips Story of Agnes the Restaurateur

Comments