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Restaurant coach Donald Burns shares four ways to grow: market with video storytelling, build loyalty programs instead of discounting, prioritize profit margins over sales volume, and fix team culture rather than blame labor shortages.
Restaurant coach Donald Burns shares four ways to grow: market with video storytelling, build loyalty programs instead of discounting, prioritize profit margins over sales volume, and fix team culture rather than blame labor shortages.
Hey, Donald Burns, the restaurant coach, Amazon best selling author and the creator of the restaurant accelerator. Hey, I want to give you my four down dirty tips to grow your restaurant right now. Number one, you must market consistently. Now, the goal of marketing is not to get a sale. It's to keep your brand top of mind. Look at McDonald's. Everyone around the world knows who they are, but you never see them not marketing every single day. They want to keep those golden arches on the top of your mind. Now here's the other side to that marketing coin. You got to stop posting boring stuff. I know, I know, I know. Those pictures of your food look amazing. It's just that that's what all the other restaurants in your market are posting too. So your guests are becoming desensitized. You gotta post videos that really invite people into a story if you want to stand out. Number two, stop discounting your menu, please. That is the number one thing restaurants do to drive sales. When they kind of hit a slow period, business cycles fluctuate. What goes up must come down, and then it goes back up again. Don't freak out and start giving out coupons or discounts. See, what happens is, is that the people that are attracted to those coupons and discounts, they only come when you have a coupon or discount. They are not loyal to your brand. They are loyal to the discount only. Instead, work on building loyalty by getting them on a loyalty program that rewards them for being a regular guest. Number three, focus. Now, I know this sounds counterintuitive, but it is the secret to to real restaurant success. You see, it's not how much you make, it's how much you keep that really matters. Stop getting caught up in the vanity metrics of sales. Let me ask you a question. Would you rather have a $3 million restaurant making 3% gross profit or a $1 million restaurant making 20% gross profit? I don't know about you. I'll take the 20% model every time because it's an easy business model to scale. I'll open five more locations strategically around town, and then soon enough, I'm going to have a million dollars in profits, not just sales. See, that's smart. And number four, please stop tolerating poor performance from team members. Contrary to popular opinion, there is not a labor shortage. We do not have a labor problem. What we really have is we have a culture problem. For years, restaurants have gotten by with hazing, yelling, paying people low wages, working them horrendous hours with few breaks, no benefits, and massive turnover. We've become actually the real life version of Hell's Kitchen. You see, it's not that people don't want to work. The question is, why don't they want to work with you? Show people why you're different than the other restaurants in your marketing by showcasing your culture and your marketing message. Restaurants become better when the people in them become better people. And that starts with you. I wish you the best of luck in getting the restaurant and the life that you really want.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
