Looking to Market Your Michigan Restaurant, Bar or Catering Business Locally? Start with the World Wide Web. Part 1 of 7

In light of the growing number of restaurants, bars and caterers in any city across the state of Michigan, marketing your business and building your brand can seem an insurmountable task.  Many owners don't even know where to start.  It may seem counterintuitive, but considering the current social climate, the best place to start marketing your Michigan restaurant business locally is on the World Wide Web.  This blog post will be #1 in a seven part series, so let's get started.

With the overwhelming popularity of social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and others, marketing your Michigan restaurant locally has become easier and less expensive than ever before.  Gone are the days of t.v., radio and print advertising for your Michigan restaurant, bar or catering business.  While the traditional markets still have merit, when marketing dollars are as tight as they are in the current Michigan economic climate, restaurant owners are no longer able to afford to saturate those markets.  And unfortunately, an occasional radio or print ad won't give your restaurant the return on investment for which owners are searching.

Fortunately, social media and internet marketing can be very inexpensive and in some cases, costs restaurant owners nothing but the investment of their time.  If a restaurant/bar owner can establish their brand locally with a good internet presence, half the battle has already been won.  A recent Google study revealed that 90% of Americans search for places to dine and drink on the internet.  That's right.  A staggering 90% of Americans are using internet search engines to decide where to have dinner, get together with friends or hang out for happy hour.  They're searching for breakfast, lunch, dinner and drink specials and events online.  They're finding and printing Michigan restaurant coupons.  They're looking to join restaurant loyalty programs.  The list goes on and on, but the bottom line is this.  They're doing their research via internet search engines.

Step 1:  While internet and social media marketing can be a bit overwhelming at first, it's really quite simple when you break it down.  First and foremost, if you don't have a website, get one built.  Do it yesterday.  You must have a website in order to build a web presence for your establishment.  Your website is the center of what will become your entire marketing strategy.  This doesn't have to be expensive.  A simple, yet effective website can cost as little as $500.00 - $750.00.  You really don't need anything elaborate and flashy.  A clean, well-organized, easy to navigate website will serve your business well.  

Before you can get your website built, you need to buy a domain name or url.  This will become the internet address for your business.  If the name of your restaurant or bar is available, that should always be your first choice; i.e. if the name of your restaurant is Mike's Place, your first choice for domain name should be www.mikesplace.com.  However, sometimes your business name will be unavailable because it is owned by someone else.  In that case, you'll need to get a little more creative.  There are a number of websites you can visit to find out if the domain name you want is available, one of which is http://www.godaddy.com/.  Once you settle on a domain name or url, you'll need to purchase that domain and register it (again, this can be done through godaddy.com as well).  You can register your domain for approximately $10/year and, while you can register it for as little as 1 year, you should make a 10 year commitment.  You'll learn more about this later, but owning your domain for 10 years tells search engines that you plan on being around for a while and will increase your ranking.

Once you've chosen a domain name, registered your domain and chosen a developer to design and host your website, you need to start shouting your web address from the rooftops.  Social media marketing expert, Corey Perlman (ebootcamp.com) would tell you to "hurl your url"!  Your web address should be displayed on every piece of direct mail you send.  It should be posted on your business cards, written on your menu and displayed anywhere you can think to display it.  Use every opportunity you have to promote your website because remember, this website and the domain name that will become your Michigan restaurant's website address are about to become the center of your marketing universe.

So that concludes Part 1 of your online marketing strategy.  Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to choose a domain name (url), register that domain name (for 10 years) and find a developer to design and host your simple, clean and unique Michigan Restaurant website.  This is a great start to what will become a fantastic local marketing strategic plan for promoting your restaurant, bar or catering business in Michigan.  My advice, if you haven't done so already, is to get this done as soon as possible.  If your restaurant in Michigan doesn't have a website, you're missing out on wide variety of inexpensive brand management.  

This information is brought to you by http://www.michiganflavor.com, the most comprehensive guide to dining in Michigan available.  Michigan Flavor is a fully interactive, online directory of Michigan restaurants, bars and catering businesses.  Users can search by a variety of criteria including location, cuisine type, features, specials and events and even coupon availability.  Once a user finds your Michigan Restaurant Page, he/she can download and print your menu, browse through your photo gallery, view your daily breakfast, lunch, dinner and drink specials, link to your website or facebook, twitter & myspace pages, get a map and directions and so much more.  In some cases, users can even utilize online ordering and reservation applications.  Michigan Flavor is the place your customers will go before they go out.  Visit http://www.miflavor.com/ or call 248.302.2738 to learn more about this comprehensive guide to dining in Michigan.

Your Restaurant Invested in a Beautiful Website - Now What?

You know your restaurant needs a website.  You know that diners choose places to eat by searching the web.  You know all this, so you went ahead and invested a significant amount of capital into having a beautiful website designed.  You picked out and purchased a domain name, probably the name of your restaurant.  So how do you drive traffic to this beautiful new website?  How do you get diners to find your beautiful website, click on your carefully chosen domain name and eventually walk through your door?

I can't tell you how many times I've heard the words, "I am ranked #1 in google when you search for the name of my restaurant".  That's wonderful, but what if diners don't know the name of your restaurant?  Diners search for restaurants and bars by typing keywords into a google, yahoo, bing, etc. search.  They're not typing the name of your restaurant into these search engines unless they've already been to your restaurant or they have heard by word of mouth that they should dine at your establishment.  

Diners are much more likely to type in searches that look something like this "restaurants in Any City, Michigan" or "Michigan Asian Restaurants".  How does your restaurant website rank in searches like that?  If you have a website and a website alone, I'm guessing you don't rank as high as you'd like.

There are services all over the internet promising to get you ranked high in search engine results.  You can pay consultant after consultant to ensure that diners are finding you on the web.  You can invest countless capital trying to buy adwords or pay for sponsored advertising in these search engines.  You can do all that and chances are, you'll be pretty successful in driving customers to your site; but you're going to have to invest a significant amount of money to make these strategies work for you.

The key to ranking high in search engines in content.  Search engines browse the web for relevant, keyword-heavy content about your restaurant, your city and your industry.  Content, content, content is the key to inexpensively driving traffic to your website.  So how do you build content?  Social media (facebook.com, twitter.com, myspace.com, etc), videos (youtube.com, dailymotion.com), articles (digg.com, ezine.com), press releases, social bookmarking (delicious.com) and blogging (blogger.com, wordpress.com).

Creating a combination of all of the aforementioned media will no doubt increase the amount of content related to your website spread throughout the web just waiting for search engines to find it and direct diners to your site.  Seems pretty simple right?  What's the problem then? Time!  Anyone who has tried his/her hand at social networking and internet marketing knows that it becomes a full time job.  You end up with dozens of sites to keep track of while making sure you update your social media pages and writing blog posts.  Even then, there are articles to write, press releases to submit, photos to upload, videos to produce and the list goes on and on.

So what if you could partner with a website who did all this hard work for you?  With an enhanced listing on http://www.miflavor.com/, you essentially receive the benefits of all of our hard work.  Your restaurant will essentially receive a mini-website inside Michigan Flavor's directory of Michigan Restaurants.  Once there, your restaurant reaps the benefits of all the behind the scenes search engine optimization that is going on at Michigan Flavor.  We'll worry about getting Michigan Flavor ranked in the search engines.

When diners find our Michigan Restaurant directory, they'll find your restaurant page, complete with photo gallery, downloadable menus, a listing of your specials and events, a map and directions, a listing of your hours of operation and a description of your establishment.  Your restaurant page on Michigan Flavor has a direct link to your restaurant's website and social networking pages, automatically boosting your website's organic search engine listing, leaving you, the restaurant owner/manager, the time to do what it is that you do best, run your establishment.

To learn more about our fully searchable, interactive online directory of Michigan Restaurants, visit our website at http://www.miflavor.com/ or call 248.302.2738.  If you have search engine optimization questions you'd like to email, direct your questions tomailto:jodi@miflavor.com.  To learn more about getting your restaurant listed on Michigan Flavor, email dennis@miflavor.com.

TheRestaurantExpert.com Tip of The Week: Know Your History to Forecast Your Future

Know Your History to Forecast Your Future 

According to David Scott Peters, TheRestaurantExpert.com, one of the most important things for a restaurant owner to remember is that you must know your establishment's history in order to forecast its future.  "You can't know where you're going unless you know where you've been," says Peters.  Budgeting, scaling up for labor, purchasing and many other restaurant systems rely almost solely on forecasting in order to make a restaurant efficient and profitable. 

However, the only way to forecast sales is by knowing what your business has done in the past.  To forecast your future accurately, you must know your history, even if it is simply a couple months worth of invoicing, payroll reports and sales figures, together with your memory of events. 

This is an important tip given that we are at the beginning of a new year.  Make it your restaurant resolution to put the pieces of your past together to develop a plan for your future.  Even in the wake of the financial difficulties Michigan restaurants are facing, a dining establishment in Michigan can still become successful in the future if the owners take the proper steps to analyze what's gone on in the restaurant's past.

For more advice like this, visit http://therestaurantexpert.com.  If you're a Michigan restaurant looking to increase your visibility on the internet, visit http://www.miflavor.com and click on the "contact us" link or call 248.302.2738 to speak with a Michigan Flavor Account Specialist.

*source:  David Scott Peters, http://www.TheRestaurantExpert.com

Restaurant Expert Says, When Thinking of Opening a Restaurant, “Look Before You Leap”.

David Scott Peters
is a restaurant expert, coach, trainer and speaker, specializing in systems for independent restaurant owners. In a recent article on his website, he advises potential restauranteurs to "look before you leap".

As you might imagine, as an industry expert, Mr. Peters gets a ton of inquiries from people interested in taking the leap and opening their own place. For most independent restaurant owners, the venture is a lifelong dream and they can imagine every detail of having a successful restaurant. Usually these owners have a very certain idea about what it is going to be like to run their own place; but without proper preparation, the reality and the dream are nothing alike.


It's a known fact that running an eatery is one of the most difficult businesses an entrepreneur can embark on. 61 percent of all new restaurants fail within the first three years, according to an Ohio State University study, with the failure rate reaching as high as 87 percent in some segments. And to make matters worse, restaurants are a very unattractive business investment for lenders because the average restaurant only makes about 5 cents out of every dollar it brings in. Potential restaurant owners must first do their homework in order to convince the banks that they can make it in the restaurant biz.


Mr. Peters' first piece of advice is to start with a business plan which includes thorough market research. This may seem like an obvious piece of advice but still, the number of restaurant owners who fail to create a business plan is absolutely shocking despite the statistics that back it up. A business plan is absolutely essential to ensure success. Details which should be included in this plan include what makes the concept unique, the type of service and menu planned, price points, an evaluation of the market and the target demographics, a marketing plan, a financial plan and an operational plan which includes the key players from industry experts and key suppliers.


A potential restaurant owner must be able to show on paper that the concept will work. This is the most important attribute of the business plan because lenders look for key financial indicators as a predictor of success.

1. The restaurant owner must plan on bringing in $1.25 for every dollar borrowed in the initial year's revenues
   
2. Total occupancy costs and overall debt service must stay between 8-12 percent
   
3. A full service restaurant must show at least $150-$250 in sales per square foot or $200-$300 in sales per square foot for a quick service restaurant.
   
4. Prime cost, total labor cost plus total cost of goods sold, the biggest expense, must stay under 65 percent of sales for a full service establishment and 60 percent for a quick service establishment. (although, to be safe, Mr. Peters recommends every restaurant owner aim for 55 percent).
   

If the proper research is done and a strong business plan with smart financials is created, potential restaurant owners have a real shot at getting the funds to open and be successful.

It's never too late to write a proper business plan. Even if a restaurant has been operating without a business plan, restaurant owners can still create a plan that will uncover a restaurant's potential for the future. 


If you'd like more information like the advice in this post, visit David Scott Peters' website at http://www.TheRestaurantExpert.com and sign up for his newsletter. 


To read more about dining in Michigan or to interactively search for restaurants in Michigan, visit http://www.miflavor.com, http://mobile.miflavor.com, or visit Michigan Flavor's Directory of Michigan Restaurants blog.

Michigan Legislature Passes Smoking Ban That will Become Law

The Michigan Restaurant Association Press Release:

In a December 14, 2009 Press Release The Michigan Restaurant Association (MRA) put out a press release indicating that Michigan Legislature Passed a smoking ban in Michigan restaurants.  The Senate passed the bill on Thursday, December 10^th which will prohibit smoking in ALL public places, including bars and restaurants, in the State of Michigan.  The state House of Representatives quickly followed suite and the bill made its way to the desk of Gov. Jennifer Granholm for a signature.

This new law will ban smoking in a wide range of public places and covers all bars and restaurants as well as all public and private workplaces.  Casino gaming floors, cigar bars, tobacco specialty retail shops, home offices and commercial trucks are the only exemptions to this ban which will take effect on April 30, 2010.

During Senate consideration of this legislation, The MRA successfully added important amendments to significantly reduce the regulator burden of this new law on Michigan Bars and Restaurants.  The MRA amendment covered the following areas:

• ·         Written non-smoking policy – The MRA amendment eradicated the necessity for a written non-smoking policy.
• ·         Enforcement – Enforcement of the original bill would allow the health department to enforce fines for both individuals and establishment owners for violations.  The MRA amendment allowed for the health department to enforce the law on both individuals and owners but limited fines to individuals.
• ·         Civil lawsuits – The MRA amendment removed the option for civil action by individuals against food service establishments that violate the act.
• ·         Rule-making authority – Further smoking-related rule making for food service establishments was eliminated by amendment.
• ·         Revocation of license –The MRA amendment removed the possibility of a food service establishment having its health license revoked, forcing permanent closure of the restaurant or bar for non-compliance.
• ·         Pre-emption of even tougher local ordinances -  The MRA amendment pre-empted the right of local governments to add additional workplace smoking ordinances that are more stringent and punitive than the original legislation.
• ·         Affirmative defense for operators – If establishments post “no smoking” signs, remove all ashtrays and smoking paraphernalia, and inform any individual smoke that his or her action is unlawful, any citation against said establishment will be dismissed.
• ·         Effective Date – The MRA amendment clarified that this new legislation will take effect on April 30, 2010, since the original bill had no explicit effective date.

There are still many questions surrounding this new legislation.  The Michigan Restaurant Association wants to help its members understand the new law. Members are invited to contact the MRA with any questions or concerns they have about the new smoking ban.  Call Andy at 800.968.9668. 

*Source: The Michigan Restaurant Association (MRA) website www.michiganrestaurant.org.  The original press release can be read by following this link http://www.michiganrestaurant.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=1101.

Michigan Restaurants by the Numbers

Michigan Restaurants by the Numbers

Michigan’s restaurants are an increasingly important part of our state’s economy. Restaurants are a key driver of employment in Michigan, and their sales generate tremendous tax revenues for our state.  Michigan restaurants contribute to the economy by creating jobs, building careers and generating revenue, but that's just the beginning.   Michigan dining establishments today are leaders in nutrition and healthy living, sustainability and social responsibility, and entrepreneurship and business opportunites according to www.restaurant.org.

Did you know...

• More than one in four American adults got their first job in a restaurant?
• Nearly 50% of all Americans have worked in the restaurant industry at one point in their working careers?
• American restaurants employ more minority managers than any other industry?
• Almost 1 in 10 working Americans are employed by the restaurant industry?
• Annual restaurant industry sales nationwide exceeds a half-trillion dollars?
• In 2007, there were 16,565 eating-and-drinking places in Michigan?
• Every $1 spent in Michigan’s restaurants generates an additional $.99 in sales for Michigan’s economy?
• Restaurant jobs represent 10 percent of total employment in Michigan?
• In 2009, Michigan’s restaurants will register a projected $12.6 billion in sales?

*Sources: Figures are based on National Restaurant Association research and data from federal and state government agencies.  See www.restaurant.org/research/state for more information.

**Sources: Figures are based on National Restaurant Association research and data from federal and state government agencies.  See www.restaurant.org/research/state for more information.