Give your customers a chance to win a trip to Italy or $10,000 in the Escape to Italy promotion from Repeat Returns.

How it Works

1. Promote the promotion using the materials we provide and distribute game cards to your customers.
2. Customers enter the promotion code on the designated website for their chance to win.

This promotion is open to Repeat Returns Members Only.

Promotion Benefits

• Creates “buzz” and repeat visits
• Build your database and track your marketing efforts
• Fits into any budget, just pennies per play
• Simple to implement
• Nothing to install. Software is all online
• Ready-to-use themes
• Access detailed reports through on-line login
• Include secondary prizes so everyone is a winner

SAMPLE GAME CARD
Your unique promotion code will be included on your cards.
(actual dimensions of final cards may be diffferent)

PROMOTIONAL FLYER

Click the image below to download a full-size promotional flyer in PDF format. (file size 25 Mb)

PROMOTION LANDING PAGE

This is what your customers will see when they visit the promotion page. You can visit the actual promotion page here:

Visit The Promotion Page

Three simple ways to know EXACTLY what to advertise…
Do you normally respond to ads for things that you don’t often buy? Umm… no? Same thing for your own restaurant and pizzeria customers. They pretty much keep buying the same things… over and over and over. That means… you should keep advertising the SAME things… over and over and over. (I’m not talking about cutthroat discounting either – I’m talking about “selling” your product).

Sure, you can roll out something new from time to time and see if it’s got legs… but for the most part – you need to advertise your biggest selling menu items… pepperoni pizzas… ham sandwiches… whatever.

In this short video – you’ll see the complete logic behind making offers to people – on items they already want to buy. That way – instead of having to twist their arm… you just pop them a little reminder…

Also, look around… I’ve opened up more free content for you… go ahead – click some of the links.

Also… check out the archives if you missed my last blog on building a killer coupon…

Till next time…

Just ask Buffalo Wild Wings, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Checkers Drive-In, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Subway, Quiznos Sub, Firehouse Subs, Taco Bell, and Wingstop. All of these national restaurant brands have hired football player spokespersons or have developed unique marketing campaigns to draw the pigskin-loving crowd.

For the pizza and wings-based brands, it makof their business and Super Bowl Sunday is by far their busiest day of the year. Here’s what the profile of an NFL football fan…

• Male: 72%
• Men 25-54 – 43%
• Household Income: $75K+ – 39%
• Median Household Income: $62,000
• 4+ Years College – 31%
• Internet Access – 72%
• Source: Nielsen Media Research, 2004

Of course not every restaurant can hire a star NFL player and run multi-million dollar TV advertisements. However, there’s no excuse for not being able to tap into this predominantly male demographic.
Here are 6 strategies that you can implement to market to football fans.

#6. Name a menu item after the local team’s mascot.
Wendy’s did this in its own backyard – Ohio. To attract Ohio State fans, the nation’s third-largest burger chain launched the Brutus Buckeye Burger and offered it through the football season. Think of all the possibilities for your restaurant. It doesn’t even have to be permanent. Maybe you change the name of your most popular item in honor of the most popular team in your area? You can create a limited time offer promotion around it and watch sales soar.

#5. Accept football ticket stubs as coupons.
This can be done at any level, including high school and junior high football leagues. You can even try posting signs at the stadium entrance to drive game watchers to your restaurant.

#4. Wear a Shirt, Get the Special
It’s one of those promotions that’s easy for customers to do and let’s them show off their team pride. Offer a standing game day “Sunday Special” but only to those customers who come in wearing their favorite team’s jersey or maybe a specific team’s jersey – it’s your call.

#3. Buy radio and television spots during local, regional or national shows (whatever your budget permits).
Sports fans don’t change the channel as much as daytime viewers. That’s because the fans don’t want to
miss the big play. And according to ESPN’s sales department, sports-fan-targeted ads are typically more
appealing and funnier than ads about laundry soap and dog food.

#2. Sponsor fantasy football.
You can sponsor fantasy football leagues and offer the winner a free meal at the end of the season. Post the results every week and watch your male customers increase — because they love looking at their football fantasy stats.

#1. Incorporate your Customer Loyalty Program
The easiest and most effective way to build your football marketing program is through your customer loyalty program. You simply tie your football specials and promotions to customers who have joined your loyalty program. Then, you have direct access to them every week via email, text messaging or direct mail.

Mid-week you can send an email to all your loyalty program customers – or just the male customers – and let them know what teams will be playing and your weekend specials. This will also help you trim down the cost of TV and Radio commercials.

With Text Messaging you can send a message to all your customers just a couple hours before the game inviting them in for a “last minute” special. Or, you can send a text message at half time inviting customers to join you for a “post-game” celebration. When you have an “immediate” marketing vehicle like text messaging, the possibilities are unlimited.

And what about Rewards and Bonus Points?
Depending on the type of rewards you offer in your loyalty program, you can come up with some fun promotions without breaking the bank on discounts and specials.
Here are a few ides:

• Offer Double or Triple Points on game days
• Tie reward points to fantasy football league winners
• Issue Bonus Points or Rewards based on game picks – have customers complete a game day sheet with their picks and give 20 points for every game they pick correctly. Maybe offer triple points if they pick the final score.

These ideas aren’t just limited to Football. You can easily take the same concepts and modify them for Basketball (especially during March Madness), Baseball, Nascar or any sport that is popular in your local market.

Whether you’re a seasoned restaurant marketing professional, or a new owner trying to gain a leg up on your competition… here is some information I’m sure you’ll appreciate about creating “Brand Recognition”.

Chances are if you own a restaurant, you put a great deal of time and thought into naming your business. Whether it’s a family name, or a creative name and logo, it’s intended to give meaning to your business. The name is often the first “brand” introduction the general public will have to your business.

What that brand comes to mean as your business grows is what’s important. Over time, your brand (name and logo) becomes more and more familiar. Once that happens, you begin to build true “brand awareness” for your restaurant.
But there is more to a successful business than the name. Taking your brand and effectively leveraging it to grow your business requires thoughtful strategic planning and a solid communications and marketing plan.
Before you can properly market your business you must have a precise understanding of:

• What your objectives are
• Who your target audience is
• What your Unique Selling Proposition is
• What strategies you will implement
• What tactics you will use to support those strategies

So if you’ve got your business name and logo, and you have the answers to the questions above, starting your branding campaign can be as easy as 1-2-3!

1. Professionally designed Menus, Business cards, Signage and Point-of-Purchase Material
2. Web Site and Domain with e-mail account
3. Advertising that reinforces your company’s brand image!

Most (if not all) small restaurants complete step one. Many of today’s business professionals believe (and rightfully so) that step number two is just as essential to a successful long-term branding effort. But unfortunately, most small businesses fall short when it comes to step three…Advertising!

Many new entrepreneurs believe that most forms of advertising are far too expensive and simply out of their reach due to limited financial resources. But advertising is crucial to a businesses financial growth and long-term success.
Whether you’re a new start up or expanding your current business, you need to find a marketing medium that allows you to maximize your ROI!

Ask yourself . . . “What option gives me the best price point to value for my marketing dollars?”

The answer might surprise you. The short list of answers that most restaurant owners will come up with includes group coupon mailings, door hangers, or newspaper advertising. The truth is, a Customer Loyalty System is the most affordable, effective and measurable marketing medium you can find. Unfortunately, very few restaurants are familiar with them.

A good customer loyalty system allows you to build a customer database and then communicate with those customers through email, text messaging and direct mail marketing. It’s the best branding vehicle you’ll ever find.
You can get your logo and your message in front of thousands of customers anytime you want and do it without spending a fortune. Most importantly, a customer loyalty program let’s you build a relationship between your brand and your customers.  You can personalize your communications to each customer, reward them for purchases and steer your offers based on their demographics and unique buying habits.

Simply put…no other advertising medium gives you the same level of flexibility and control over your brand.
To learn more about how you can start a customer loyalty program, go to www.loyaltylock.com. As a member of restaurantpartner.com, you’re eligible for a “members only” discounted.

These examples and tips on menu copy may help you raise your guests’ expectations for your food, but keep in mind, the capabilities and skills of your kitchen. It does more harm than good to use this type of descriptive copy if your kitchen can’t deliver the food quality so eloquently described in the menu.

An important factor that effects your guest’s perception of quality and selection are the words (or copy) that is used to describe the items on your menu. The right words and phrases will create positive mental images of your food and enhance customer expectations.

Good menu copy can give you the opportunity to differentiate your restaurant with creativity, flair and pizzazz. Some restaurants also use the menu as a vehicle to entertain their guests with humor and wit. Whatever the case, your menu is your #1 sales vehicle and it deserves careful attention to detail.

Menu Categories
Let’s start with the first level of copy, the words used to describe your menu categories. Here are the more
traditional and common category descriptions – appetizers & soups, salads, pastas, entrees, sides, deserts.

Now this may get the job done, but here are some ideas to say it with a little more flair –

• Just for Starters
• Food to Share
• Local Favorites
• Hearty Sandwiches
• Wood-Fired Pizza
• House Specialties
• Favorites
• Fresh pasta temptations
• Classic Favorites
• Chef’s Choice

Another idea is to add a short sentence short sentence or phrase about the category. This is a great way to add a story or higher degree of quality to a specific menu category.

• Desserts – Like everything else, all our desserts are made fresh daily in our in our kitchen.
• The Grill – We grill over a mesquite wood fire that seals in natural juices and imparts a rich, smoky flavor.
• Rotisserie & Grill – We fire up our rotisserie twice a day and slow-roast these moist specialties in their own juices. Get it while it lasts!

Menu Item Names
The next level of copy is the name of your menu items. You can easily differentiate your offerings from the
competition and create interest and individuality by coming up with some creative names for certain menu
items. For example:

• Lobster Tail – Caribbean Lobster Tail
• Chicken Pasta – Herb Roasted Chicken Pasta
• Salmon – Mesquite-Grilled King Salmon
• Grilled Vegetables – Fire Roasted Vegetables

Think about adding just enough of a description, or unique name, to peek some interest and set your food apart from the competition.

Menu Item Descriptions
The final level of copy has to do with the descriptive copy of the menu items themselves. Following are some examples of what one restaurant did:

• Oyster Cocktail: Fresh, local, yearling oysters served with our famous tangy cocktail sauce
• Chicken Pot Pie:Generous portions of plump, hand-carved turkey breast, fresh vegetables, rich creamy sauce, and our made from scratch flaky crust.

Here is a list of words you might consider when you develop your own menu copy:

• hand-selected
• old-fashioned
• made from scratch
• fresh from the oven
• sautéed
• unique flavor
• natural
• simmered to perfection
• melt in your mouth
• golden brown
• served piping hot
• generous serving
• the best you can buy
• spicy grilled
• slow-cooked
• premium quality
• 100% cholesterol free
• fork tender
• loaded with . . .
• all-natural
• bountiful
• delicate
• robust
• tangy
• plump
• full-bodied flavor
• chef’s choice
• garden-fresh
• natural juices
• loaded with flavor

Have Some Fun
Some restaurants include fun and good natured humor in their menu.  It’s not a bad idea. If it reinforces your desired brand image…then do it. You menu is there to enhance the positive distinctions of your restaurant. Take advantage of this opportunity to define and reinforce your unique identity.

If you don’t use humor, use a good story. People are drawn and endeared to stories.  They act as mental magnets and they will help customers remember you. They will feel a closer connection to your restaurant if they know the people, the history and unique qualities behind it all.

From Food Cost 101, you know you must first breakdown all of your offerings to identify the ones you want to promote. Then select a format or analyze your current menu.

Most national chains laminate their menu. One of the reasons is to ensure that a location in California will offer the same items as one in New York. As an independent restaurant, you don’t have such restrictions. In fact, this can be an exciting advantage over your national competitors.

A simple paper menu is hard to keep clean and dry. You may want to avoid it, unless you’re changing your menu daily. Many experts suggest a plastic cover or backing in which interchangeable sheets can be inserted. These are easy to change and are easy to keep in prime condition.

The average customer spends less than 3 minutes reading a menu, so keep it simple. Menu analysis reveals that 70% of the average items sold from a menu are approximately the same 10 selections. DO WHAT YOU DO BEST. Avoid trying to offer everything. Don’t forget that menus with prolific offerings have to be supported with a large inventory, and this can be very costly. A reasonable number might be 40 to 50 items.

Beware of being too clever with your menu. Pick a font that is easy to read, not too pretty or too graphic. Keep the color of the paper and the size of the font in mind with your lighting conditions.

When writing your menu be sure to use mouth watering descriptions. The following are various descriptive techniques:

• Method of preparation
• Unusual or specialty ingredients or recipes
• The way an item is served
• Characteristics (ex. Freshness)
• Variety, name brand or local origin

Emphasize the important items on your menu. The following are various techniques to enhance your most profitable and popular items:

• Graphics
• Boxes
• Font Size
• Icons
• Shading
• Photos
• Illustrations
• Asymmetrical alignment
• Special placement
• Tell a story or the history
• Color

Be sure to review your menu on a regular basis. Menus should be changed a minimum of twice a year. IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONSTANTLY OFFER NEW ITEMS. The chain restaurants, from fast food to casual dining, are perfect examples of this.

Finally, be sure to work with your foodservice sales rep for profitable possibilities. They can help you create and market limited time offers, holiday specials, seasonal menus, special event menus, and much more. You can also capitalize on their market knowledge by asking what is selling and what isn’t. Their manufacturer reps can provide regional data on what the hottest flavors and menu trends are.

On a continual and consistent basis, you have to let them know that they are part of a TEAM and they play a vital role in the success of your business.

Simply hearing your enthusiasm for your business will only take you so far. You must live this every day. Make sure they see you consistently exhibiting your high standards of guest service, exceeding customer expectations, and maintaining high food quality standards. Don’t just tell them – demonstrate it in all you do. It’s the classic adage of “Leadership by Example”. Nothing works better.

Set the Standards

Statistics show that establishing a clear, easily explained structure for duties, schedules and standards is actually preferred by the average worker. This helps them know what is expected and it also helps management evaluate performance. This starts with an Employee Manual.

Having a standard Employee Manual is a common sense business practice. It should be reviewed before an employee comes in contact with any customer. The employee should also be required to “sign off” that they have reviewed the manual with management and they understand all the information provided. This not only sends a message of responsibility on their side but it also protects you from possible legal backlash in the future.

Scheduling For Success

Labor costs are not controlled by paying low wages. They are controlled through scheduling and improving employee productivity. Productivity is increased through training, better facility layout and the use of labor saving equipment and products.

Realistic productivity standards must be established for each job category. When you’re making staff schedules, create a job slot list. This will help you determine the number of people you need, doing a particular job, at a particular time.

This list will change for different day parts or different days of the week. It’s better to start off scheduling too few employees than too many. Begin by staffing lean. The greatest portion of labor cost is a fixed expense. There is a certain “bare-bones” staff that must be on duty, just to open the doors. At this point, labor can’t be reduced without lowering standards of the operation.

The variable expense occurs while adding personnel as business increases. As productivity reaches its max, additional personnel can be added. Management remains the key element in improving employee productivity. Explaining the “why” of procedures, policies and standards will help develop positive attitudes in your employees. They don’t want to be told “what to do”, they also want to know “why it’s important”.

Invest in Your TEAM

Setting expectations for personnel to multi-task is one thing, overloading key personnel to reduce labor cost is another. It will ultimately result in the loss of quality personnel. If the goal is to have employees productive, an investment must be made in THEM. This includes training, mentoring and coaching.

Training is essential for employee success. Talk with your food distributor to work with you on product and sanitation training. Educating your staff on your offerings with food tastings and menu descriptions will give them the tools they need to sell. You can’t sell something you don’t know anything about.

Sharing and Recognition

Communication plays a big role in solidifying your TEAM. Sharing numbers about the operation that you feel comfortable with will help create a feeling of involvement. Acknowledging success stories, best practices and promotional accomplishments will encourage similar behavior.
Shift meetings are a great place to listen to feedback on issues or concerns. Make yourself available to listen to your staff when they have something to say and encourage them to communicate with each other. Sharing and communication is the foundation of any successful TEAM. The TEAM will never gel until you have this critical piece in place.

THE NUMBER ONE MOTIVATOR FOR EMPLOYEES IS APPRECIATION AND RECOGNITION.

There’s no doubt, you must have a competitive compensation package. However, the quality, work ethic, honesty, attitude and dedication of your employees will rest on the recognition of a job well done.

Offer a positive comment – even if you have to search for one – before delivering constructive criticism of any kind. They will be more receptive to your message.

Daily and weekly contests are great way to generate enthusiasm and consistent recognition. Plus, it will help you steer improvement in those areas of your restaurant that need it the most. Again, look to your food distributor for help with this. For example, if you want to encourage sales of a particular menu items or limited time offer, see if your food distributor can pull some incentives from their manufacturer reps.

Sometimes the best form of recognition is randomly catching employees in the act of great service. You can even set up a system for this. Call it RA RA! (Random Acts of Recognition and Awards).

This is a simple system of rewarding employees on the spot when they go above and beyond. It can be something as easy as a stack of gift cards or movie tickets that your manager keeps in his pocket. When a random act of great service is committed – he gives one out on the spot.

The bottom line…you can spend all the money you want on marketing to get customers in the door, but unless you have a high performance TEAM to service those customers, it’s like throwing money down the drain.

Multiplier

Multiplier is a very simple method that involves totaling the cost of the plate, and all ancillary items, and then multiplying that by 2.5, 3, 3.5 or 4. The problem with this method is it will be very inconsistent to the real dollar profit needed to be successful.

For example, a ¼ chicken plus ancillary cost is equal to $1. Multiply $1 x 3 = $3. With a $3.00 selling price you only make $2.00 over cost on that seat. You may have a $3.00 fixed cost so you lose $1.00 on that customer.
Some people use a multiplier and then add one or two dollars to the item for good measure.

Food Cost Percentage
Food cost percentage is nothing more than wanting a fixed food cost for all items. It uses the multiplier to determine what overall food cost will be

• 20% Food Cost – Multiplier is 5
• 25% Food Cost – Multiplier is 4
• 33% Food Cost – Multiplier is 3
• 50% Food Cost – Multiplier is 2

As with the multiplier system, the same problems exist. One other problem is using the same example of chicken with a multiplier of 3.

For steak with a cost of $5 x 3 = $15 selling price. Consistency in pricing is very important. Your menu should be balanced and a $12 range for entrees would not be considered well balanced.

When considering this method, remember, you take DOLLARS to the bank NOT percentages. Think through the dollar amount you charge and the volume it will generate. For example, Steaks may carry a higher food cost but typically they will deliver more gross profit dollars to the bottom line.

Competition
Gathering menus from competitors is a very popular way to price a menu. In comparison, the prices on the menu may vary greatly. The problem with this method is comparing

• Portion Size
• Quality of product
• Décor
• Service
• Overall points of difference
• Location
• Marketing
• Reputation

What the Market will Bare
What the market will bare has more to do with raising prices. Every market has a perceived idea of what each restaurant should be. We all know examples of restaurants that charge considerably more for basically the same food.
A good example is going to a baseball game and paying two or three times the normal price, because a captive audience will pay for it. The important feature to remember is to be careful and do not try to be something you’re not.

To sum up pricing, it is very important that you do not use only one of the pricing methods listed but use common sense and combine all of the pricing methods. Food cost is more directly affected by product mix than any other factor. All items must be adequately priced in order to ensure profitability.

It’s not uncommon for me to work with a large number of restaurant owners who say, “I don’t understand why I’m not making any money. I’m doing record sales!”

Let me start off with explaining a lesson I learned early on in my career and is still true today, “It’s doesn’t matter how much money you bring in at the register. It’s what you do with those sales.”

With this lesson as our theme, let’s proceed to bust the most deadly marketing myth that I believe is the number two restaurant killer, right behind extremely high debt service. This myth is often referred to as the cocaine of restaurant marketing … couponing!

It’s called the cocaine of advertising because it feels good when you increase your sales at the register and often dramatically. But when you stop couponing and sales drop, you look for a quick fix and run another coupon promotion. And as time goes by, you start running more and more aggressive discount promotions just to feel the rush at the register.

The similarity to cocaine is that this practice is addictive, and while it makes you feel euphoric, it literally can and will kill your restaurant.

Before I dispel this popular practice, let me make sure I let you know that all couponing is not bad. It has its place and needs to be done wisely and strategically.

OK, the theory behind couponing is that if you send out an aggressive coupon promotion it will bring in customers (translation = sales) that you would not have had otherwise. Many marketing experts will quote the National Restaurant Association and say that this increase in sales will not require you to schedule more labor to handle the extra volume. So the assumption is that you will make a lot more money because you ran the coupon promotion. While this is not totally incorrect, it more often than not does just the opposite and robs your bank account.

The rub lies in the execution and overuse  h2

The rub lies in the execution and overuse  h3

The rub lies in the execution and overuse  h4

Let’s break the numbers down. First understand there are two types of expenses: variable and fixed. Variable expenses are expenses that go up and down with sales, such as labor and food cost. Fixed expenses are expenses that stay the same, whether you bring in $1 or $1 million in sales. The key is to keep these expenses in the correct balance, which means your restaurant is operating at or above a breakeven point before you run your discount promotion.
The key numbers

To have any chance of making any money in this business, your prime cost (total cost of goods sold plus total labor cost) should not exceed 65 percent of sales for a full-service restaurant and 60 percent of sales for a quick service restaurant (and I advise full-service restaurants to strive for a 60 percent prime cost goal to ensure success). Couple your prime cost with the assumption that every other line expense on your profit and loss statement is in line, the average restaurant only makes a nickel (5 percent) of every dollar it brings in.
For a moment let’s assume your restaurant is at the breakeven point today. In fact, you bring in $100,000 in sales a month and when all of your bills are paid you owe nothing more and nothing is left over for you to take home. Basically for every dollar you bring in, it goes out dollar for dollar.
If this was your restaurant and you chose to run a coupon promotion with a 25 percent discount to bring in more business, this is what your increased sales and profits might look like:

1. Increased sales by 20 percent for an additional $20,000 in sales.
2. For each new dollar that came in we deduct a minimum $0.65 to cover our cost of goods sold and labor (prime cost of 65 percent).
3. Take an additional $0.25 away for each new dollar because of the 25 percent off coupon (Assuming that no more and no less than the increased sales came were from this promotion).
4. Assuming you’re at breakeven and all of your fixed expenses have been covered and that there are no additional variable expenses in your operation, you pocket $2,000 you wouldn’t have made otherwise or about a 2 percent profit margin on $120,000 in sales.

Plus you had to run your butt off to keep up with the new rush of business. So if you were already making a profit, you could assume a 2 percent increase is what you get to keep. But if you ran a BOGO (buy one, get one free promotion) and were only at breakeven, you would actually lose money bringing in an extra $20,000 in sales.
For many of you the 25 percent discount example has you thinking, “Hey, I was making nothing before. At least now I have something.”
The problem with this thought process
If your restaurant is losing money on $100,000 a month in sales, and that loss was only $5,000 because your prime cost was running at 70 percent, only 5 percent above the recommended level, this increase in discounted business actually doesn’t help much at all! Take a look:

1. Increased sales by 20 percent for an additional $20,000 in sales.
2. For each new dollar that came in we deduct a minimum $0.70 to cover our prime cost.
3. Take an additional $0.25 away for each new dollar because of the 25 percent off coupon.
4. Your $5,000 loss is now only a $4,000 loss.
5. So for every $20,000 in increased sales, you keep (or in this case decrease your losses by) $1,000.
6. To turn your $5,000 loss into a breakeven scenario using a 25 percent off coupon promotion you would have to increase your sales from $100,000 to $200,000 to just breakeven using this approach!

Change this to a BOGO offer and you’re creating a recipe for disaster.
And it gets worse
Now that you understand the pure economics of couponing, you need to understand the whole story. Have you ever noticed that you wait to go to the dry cleaners until you get their coupon in the mail inside your Money Mailer or Super Coups mailer? The dry cleaning industry has trained their customers to wait for the coupon, to never pay full price.
The last thing you want to do is train your customers to wait for a coupon to actually make the decision to come into your restaurant and spend money. If you over coupon, this is exactly what you do. And when this happens you don’t get increases in sales because of the coupon. Instead, your existing (not new) customers wait for the discount, too! And your sales and profits actually start to plummet!
When discounting is a good thing
There are certain times when I think you should absolutely run a discount promotion and even give away a FREE meal. It’s when you’re marketing to bring in a new customer, i.e., targeting new movers vs. your own customer database. This is because if your restaurant is running well and providing your guests with a fantastic dining experience, the money they will bring to your register over their lifetime far outweighs the small initial loss.
The solution
Instead of discounting, follow the wise advice of a good friend of mine and marketing guru, Kamron Karington, start to bundle your promotions. Keep your register ring high. Give up your discount in food cost and WOW your guests.
But most of all, follow the advice of former First Lady of the United States of America Nancy Regan: “Just say no to drugs!” Stay far away from making couponing your preferred and only choice for marketing your restaurant.

The average catering budget for a pharmaceutical rep is between $800 and $2500 per month! That means within your take-out or delivery area alone, pharmaceutical reps are spending between 1 and 3 million dollars a month.
How much of this are you getting?

Having a well planned marketing strategy to target pharmaceutical reps can bring BIG sales during lunch and dinner. That money has to be spent somewhere. It might as well be YOUR restaurant.

To help you get your piece of the pie, here are some things to consider when catering to pharmaceutical reps.We’ve categorized these considerations between Lunch and Dinner. What your about to read is feedback received from actual pharmaceutical reps. This is what THEY look for in a restaurant and what drives their buying decisions.

Lunch:

1. Offer all major credit cards including American Express. Different Pharmaceutical companies provide their reps with different credit card brands. The most common is Visa but some do use American Express.
2. Offer delivery and set up. The key to marketing to pharmaceutical reps is to make their life easier.
3. Provide quality packaging to offer great presentation. When a rep provides a lunch it is a reflection of them and their company. Presentation appeals to both the office staff and physician.
4. Offer drinks and dessert for off-site catering
5. Be On Time!
6. Always provide an itemized receipt or invoice of what was ordered. Pharma reps use this for their expense reports and having this available with every order will make their life easier and motivate them to use your restaurant more frequently.
7. Provide flatware, plates and serving utensils FREE OF CHARGE. It is a major irritant when restaurants choose to charge for this service.
8. Have one person in your restaurant dedicated to handling pharmaceutical rep lunches. They prefer one point of contact and the ability to establish a relationship.
9. Offer them a Rewards Program. Pharma reps are spending their company’s money and a rewards program provides them a way to personally benefit from the money they spend on lunches and dinners.

Dinner:

1. Provide privacy with a private room. Dinners usually involve a speaker which requires the proper environment.
2. Have a screen and projection equipment.
3. If you are going to require a minimum, make it reasonable. An acceptable amount.
4. A pre-set menu is acceptable as long as you offer 2-3 choices for the main entree.
5. Have one person in your restaurant dedicated to handling pharmaceutical rep dinners. They prefer one point of contact and the ability to establish a relationship.
6. Offer them a Rewards Program. Pharma reps are spending their company’s money and a rewards program provides them a way to personally benefit from the money they spend on dinners.

How Do I Get Started?

After you have considered the above needs, you will need to start targeting reps AND their offices. Usually a rep will order from the restaurants their offices request. So the fastest way to get into this market is to target the doctor’s offices.

Restaurantpartner.com offers a variety of pre-designed postcards that target Doctors Offices. You can also purchase a mailing list for all the doctor’s offices in your area. This will get the word out. You should also follow up the mailings with a personal visit to the offices.

Once you receive an order from a pharma rep, pull out all the stops and OVER SERVICE THEM. Again, it is all about making their life easy and giving them a personal reason to come back and tell their offices about your restaurant.

Once they come in, DON’T LET THEM LEAVE WITHOUT CAPTURING THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION. Ideally, you will get them enrolled in your customer rewards program right away and give them an incentive to spread the word among their associates.

Usually, marketing to pharmaceutical reps is a grass roots effort and grows through positive word of mouth and attention to detail. Listen to them, reward them and don’t let a bad experience go unrepaired. The reputation of your restaurant among the pharmaceutical rep community can spread awfully fast, both positive and negatively.