A lesson in "Who do you appeal to?"

16 replies
If you are not sure of who your ideal customer is then you better choose one.

Here is an example of a "restaurant" - loose definition here - but they were proclaiming it, I saw recently when holidaying.

It was within 10 minutes drive of a tourist hotspot and it caught my attention, not because of the decor or the food choices.

I just had to take a few photos to share and to discuss why this business is so wrong.

Would you eat there?

Photo 1. The signage:



Multi-Cuisine....

What does that say to you?

OK...

Photo 2



The "Under New management" sign.

In this case...WOW...a new AUTHENTIC chef!

Photo 3



They give me such confidence...

if I wasn't already inspired by the main sign of a girl licking the globe or a chef from the muppets with every "European" flag at his disposal.

Now they tell me...

They do.

Aussie

Sandwiches, Burgers, chips, fish, quick snacks etc.

Indian

tandoori, veg, non veg, biryani, naan, curries

Chinese

Chow mein...etc

Thai

Chicken Cashews...etc

Is your business model suffering from Multi-Cuisine?

Scary thing is...

Is that you?...

...or your prospect?


Best regards,

Ozi
#lesson #who do you appeal to
  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    Never been to a restaurant that had an authentic chef.

    Lots of businesses around here do that. You talk to a mortgage broker, he wants everybody. You, then, say you'll bring him next month 100 borrowers who want $7,000 loans. He/she/they want none of them. Usually, they get the point... for a few weeks.

    Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

    If you are not sure of who your ideal customer is then you better choose one.

    Here is an example of a "restaurant" - loose definition here - but they were proclaiming it, I saw recently when holidaying.

    ...
    Best regards,

    Ozi
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  • Ozi,

    Thanks for the post/laugh!

    This is WRONG on soooo many levels.

    Again, thanks for the share and LAUGHS!

    Cheers,

    JMB

    P.S. Actually, it's not really funny for the "innovative and probably struggling restaurateur", so hopefully a smart marketer here will reach out to them and help them!
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    • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
      Originally Posted by JMB Marketing Group View Post

      P.S. Actually, it's not really funny for the "innovative and probably struggling restaurateur", so hopefully a smart marketer here will reach out to them and help them!
      It is obvious they need help but would they be a good prospect?

      They are paying rent.

      They are in the only shopping area with a major supermarket within 80 km/ 45 miles.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
        Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

        They are paying rent.
        Not for long.

        Would perhaps be a good lead for someone who buys used restaurant equipment.

        Ron
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      • Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

        It is obvious they need help but would they be a good prospect?

        They are paying rent.

        They are in the only shopping area with a major supermarket within 80 km/ 45 miles.
        Hi Ozi,

        Actually, there are many restaurants just like this one offering a smorgasbord of "Authentic" Foods from around the World, in both in Ontario and BC.

        Therefore, I would never order anything that a restaurant didn't "specialize in".

        Example, I go to a Chinese Restaurant (which is an Authentic Restaurant --- Chinese Food, right), however, they offer Burgers, Fish & Chips, Pasta, etc. I'm like heck, I am in a Chinese Restaurant. They are the experts in Chinese Food, not Burgers, Fish & Chips, Pasta, etc. That goes the same way when you go to a Burger joint and they offer, Chinese Food, Pasta, etc.

        So, with that said, if I go into a Chinese Restaurant (who offer all of these other food choices), I am of course going to order Chinese Food, not Burgers, etc.

        If I go into a Burger joint, I order a Burger NOT Chinese Food or Italian Pasta, as again, that's not their specialty, Burgers are.

        Therefore, Ozi, if really want to know if they could be your ideal client, then ask them what their most popular food item(s) are and then go from there and help them craft food items (a menu) that would compliment their most popular item(s).

        Hope this helped.

        JMB

        P.S. I couldn't help notice, but this seems like a Canadian restaurant as the word Flavours is spelled with OU rather than my American-counterpart that would spell the word Flavour without the U (Flavor)!~ Hey, just another one of my observations I noticed in the pics.
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        • Profile picture of the author animal44
          Originally Posted by JMB Marketing Group View Post

          P.S. I couldn't help notice, but this seems like a Canadian restaurant as the word Flavours is spelled with OU rather than my American-counterpart that would spell the word Flavour without the U (Flavor)!~ Hey, just another one of my observations I noticed in the pics.
          There's a whole world outside of North America, ya know...
          Australians usually use English spellings...
          Signature

          People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.
          What I do for a living

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        • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
          Originally Posted by JMB Marketing Group View Post

          Therefore, Ozi, if really want to know if they could be your ideal client, then ask them what their most popular food item(s) are and then go from there and help them craft food items (a menu) that would compliment their most popular item(s).
          I'm not in the market for working with restaurant clients. My areas of expertise are more refined to a few surgical and health industry clients I work with.

          There is a rash of businesses that spring up like this around the place and you probably have to understand what is really going on to KNOW what is really going on.

          It is not about the restaurant business....

          Now that might seem a little surprising considering the post is about a "restaurant"

          The REAL business in ventures like this and unless you have seen the workings you would not even contemplate.

          *The real business is immigration and charging to get people visas*

          Operators of similar...I won't say this one...but it has ALL the hallmarks, operate sponsored migration programs.

          Here's how it works.

          Managerial positions are considered a "Skilled migration" position if someone cannot find an employee from the "local" area.

          They need to advertise the positions but if they can't find a suitable employee they can SPONSOR a person who comes into the country as a migrant worker with the appropriate skills.

          There are set wages for employees like this usually of around $54,000 per annum.

          NOW....

          Why would a business SPONSOR employees in a regional area of Australia in a business that had no real viability???

          That is the real question to ask?

          Here is the answer.

          An economic migrant will pay something like $110,000 to a few people to facilitate their migration to OZ.

          Some of that goes to migration agent fees but some of that is to people who sponsor the migrant.

          If you are still with me here is the model

          1. Set up a business in regional area.

          2. Begin trading

          3. Advertise for manager

          4. Sponsor foreign relative or prospective business buyer who has the skills required to meet Visa requirements.

          5, Pay the manager $53,000 annually.

          6. House and feed the manager in your accommodation for a weekly rent of $700.

          7. Keep them employed for the duration of the visa or if they are not good churn them.

          8. If good then encourage and support their permanent residency applications.

          9. Sell them business and they repeat the process with new immigrant.

          10. If they don't buy the business just repeat the process. (New authentic chef)

          In some cases there have been businesses with 3 or 4 sponsored employees all working for below minimum wages paying the business owner for the privilege.

          Many are restaurants.

          I've seen Indie-MEX - they are Indian as in Asian Indians running combination Curry and Mexican joints.

          I've seen one recently called "Pastas and Noodles" that was an Italian/Chinese operation.

          They were all immigration scams.

          It is not easy to regulate them because there are language barriers and a number are run by big organised syndicates who understand the whole process.

          When you've seen from both sides where the REAL money is in these operations...

          It is not food.

          Kind regards,

          Ozi
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          • Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

            I'm not in the market for working with restaurant clients. My areas of expertise are more refined to a few surgical and health industry clients I work with.

            There is a rash of businesses that spring up like this around the place and you probably have to understand what is really going on to KNOW what is really going on.

            It is not about the restaurant business....

            Now that might seem a little surprising considering the post is about a "restaurant"

            The REAL business in ventures like this and unless you have seen the workings you would not even contemplate.

            *The real business is immigration and charging to get people visas*

            Operators of similar...I won't say this one...but it has ALL the hallmarks, operate sponsored migration programs.

            Here's how it works.

            Managerial positions are considered a "Skilled migration" position if someone cannot find an employee from the "local" area.

            They need to advertise the positions but if they can't find a suitable employee they can SPONSOR a person who comes into the country as a migrant worker with the appropriate skills.

            There are set wages for employees like this usually of around $54,000 per annum.

            NOW....

            Why would a business SPONSOR employees in a regional area of Australia in a business that had no real viability???

            That is the real question to ask?

            Here is the answer.

            An economic migrant will pay something like $110,000 to a few people to facilitate their migration to OZ.

            Some of that goes to migration agent fees but some of that is to people who sponsor the migrant.

            If you are still with me here is the model

            1. Set up a business in regional area.

            2. Begin trading

            3. Advertise for manager

            4. Sponsor foreign relative or prospective business buyer who has the skills required to meet Visa requirements.

            5, Pay the manager $53,000 annually.

            6. House and feed the manager in your accommodation for a weekly rent of $700.

            7. Keep them employed for the duration of the visa or if they are not good churn them.

            8. If good then encourage and support their permanent residency applications.

            9. Sell them business and they repeat the process with new immigrant.

            10. If they don't buy the business just repeat the process. (New authentic chef)

            In some cases there have been businesses with 3 or 4 sponsored employees all working for below minimum wages paying the business owner for the privilege.

            Many are restaurants.

            I've seen Indie-MEX - they are Indian as in Asian Indians running combination Curry and Mexican joints.

            I've seen one recently called "Pastas and Noodles" that was an Italian/Chinese operation.

            They were all immigration scams.

            It is not easy to regulate them because there are language barriers and a number are run by big organised syndicates who understand the whole process.

            When you've seen from both sides where the REAL money is in these operations...

            It is not food.

            Kind regards,

            Ozi
            Yes, Ozi, I actually was going along with your "Restaurant" analogy as well (again, we on the same page here). Meaning, you want to deal with EXPERTS in their field, NOT Jacks of All Trades, Master of None aka Authentic Chef of All Ethnic Cuisines.

            Cheers,

            JMB

            P.S. However, this was the perfect analogy for people to think about this example and how it may apply or not to them. Again, excellent post of people being all over the board (no direction) and wonders why no one buys from them and don't have a clue as to WHY NOT!
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            • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
              Originally Posted by JMB Marketing Group View Post

              Yes, Ozi, I actually was going along with your "Restaurant" analogy as well (again, we on the same page here). Meaning, you want to deal with EXPERTS in their field, NOT Jacks of All Trades, Master of None aka Authentic Chef of All Ethnic Cuisines.
              Experts at anything do tend to want to deal with experts to solve their specific problems.

              They do recognise an absence of expertise almost immediately.

              Sometimes that is not a bad thing because if the expert is visiting a company that they usually frequent and they come across someone new or inexperienced they are often more than happy to help the inexperienced person do better.

              It is always easier to work with someone who already recognises you are delivering something they are already used to paying for but you may have a different approach that helps them achieve a greater result than they are currently getting.

              Best regards,

              Ozi
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  • Profile picture of the author onehalf
    Bless this post!!! Seems like the business is going through a brand identity crisis
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    There was a restaurant in town I ventured in to check out.

    You first pass a refrigerated bakery display. Then there's a bar and some tables to dine at.

    As the items on the menu were diverse, not sure of what their speciality is I asked the waitress what was good, and she didn't know.

    I said to my girlfriend, "This place has no identity. They don't know who they are. They're gonna go out of business."

    And they closed shop some months later.

    If you don't even know who you are, how can you expect the public to know you're the one they want?
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  • Profile picture of the author Regional Warrior
    Oz

    Mate you would be surprised how well they would do with the holiday traffic , a lot of family's would get lunch or dinner there as it does look to a throw back to the old shops and take away , also the grey nomads would love it IMHO

    Though did not see a chiko roll on the poster

    Jason
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    • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
      Originally Posted by Regional Warrior View Post

      Oz

      Mate you would be surprised how well they would do with the holiday traffic , a lot of family's would get lunch or dinner there as it does look to a throw back to the old shops and take away , also the grey nomads would love it IMHO

      Though did not see a chiko roll on the poster

      Jason
      Unfortunately they are not on the tourist route.

      The demographics for the area from the bureau of statistics are a population of 2513 with average age of 50 compared to the average for Australia of 37 so perhaps grey nomads might frequent the place.

      Their target must be locals but I was shopping in an adjacent supermarket of which we only sought out because my wife wanted a soy based baby formula that was not available in the busier town some 40km away and it was between 5.30 and 6-30pm on a Friday afternoon that we visited.

      We were hanging around feeding the kids snacks for about an hour and although there was some serious traffic to the supermarket and bottle-shop there was not a single customer for this business.

      I did a bit of research and there is a lower housing price in the area than other more popular retirement areas but maybe the retirement brigade come out for lunch and enjoy the variety that they can get.

      There were no offers immediately apparent to that market however.

      The one appeal for the area which had no real appeal to me was that it was 45 minutes closer to a major city than the more popular and expensive retirement options.

      Next time I'm up that way which will probably be in a few months or so I'll check them out again and maybe test the food.

      Maybe I'll interview the owner to find out their secret.

      Best regards,

      Ozi
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  • Profile picture of the author Regional Warrior
    Ozi , I am sure I have been there but under the old name I think it was micks burgers!!

    It is in Cooloola Cove, Queensland, seem right?

    Jason
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