Restaurant Case Study with Agnes- Business Killer 4: Non-traditional Competitors Cont’d –
Posted by Ryan Volberg at January 11, 2008 3:00 PM

Agnes the Restaurateur Continues her Focus on igniting her Take-Out and Delivery Buisness

The flimsy white cartons she was currently using just weren't going to cut it. She needed something that was cost effective and attractive. Most importantly, it needed to be environmentally friendly.

Take out packaging

She pondered how the product would be used or how she'd like it to be used. She wanted a container that people could take to the office for lunch, warm up in a microwave and eat right out of the container. Agnes thought that each of those opportunities could be an advertisement for her restaurant. She'd need to put her restaurant name and perhaps the name of the dish on each container.

Agnes began investigating custom printed containers. Clearly, this was too expensive for the amount that she was prepared to spend. She selected a printer and got a quote for stickers that had the name of her restaurant, the address and phone number and a blank space to write the name of the dish and the name of the person who ordered the dish.

The eco-friendly containers she selected were made from the by-product of sugar cane. They were affordable, sturdy and microwave safe. Coupled with some inexpensive paper shopping bags with her logo on them, it created an attractive package; at least as far as take out is concerned.

Hiring a Driver

The hiring of the driver was more difficult than she had imagined. The advertisement in the local paper brought just one applicant, and his references didn't check out. So she looked inward at her serving staff. One of her servers was willing to do the job, but they wanted more money to offset their tip income. While it raised her costs, she justified it based on the reliability that the employee had demonstrated in the past.

Agnes considered partnering with another nearby restaurant and sharing a driver, but felt that it could compromise her service. She even looked at a local company that provided delivery for a number of other restaurants, but decided in the end that the control vs. cost was a worthwhile tradeoff.

Marketing her new service

Printing and distributing her menus was a straightforward matter. By focusing on the local office towers and the residential neighborhood to the south, Agnes felt that she would generate enough business and still not stress her kitchen. Once she was comfortable at the new level, she could distribute her menu to the other neighborhoods and grow again.

The temporary sign in front was an evolutionary process. At first she ran simple statements offering take out. But when a minor construction project down the road grew and created two hour long backups that stretched past her restaurant, she got a little more creative. "By the time you finish eating, the traffic will be gone. And you'll be very happy." Not particularly clever, but it filled the seats. When the traffic subsided, she was still busy nearly every night of the week.

The delivery and takeout business began to grow. She felt a sense of satisfaction as customers complimented her on her value wine selections. Several offered suggestions for other wines. One customer picked up several of her menus for some of their friends.

Within the month, sales were up over 20% from the previous year. Next, her plan called for a minor renovation. That's when things got more complicated.

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

Category: Survival Tips Story of Agnes the Restaurateur

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