Know-How Exchange : Strategy

I am by no means a restaurant expert, but if it were my restaurant I would try expanding the menu a bit. Dumplings and something else.

You probably do have great products. Your lack of growth implies you are not providing people with a complete solution to the mealtime problem. Either you don't offer it or people won't pay the price you ask.

It may be your menu, your pricing, your hours, your location, your ambiance, or your competition. You don't know unless you ask people . You could use Groupon-like offerings to drive up awareness. Or, offer event catering. Or, a food truck. Or, a booth at a local (farmer's) market. It's hard to know the real answer to your problem without research + testing.

There can be many reasons why new customers don't find your restaurant or try your products; but the first thing that stands out to me is that your restaurant is open just a few hours a day, so you are missing ALL of the commuter traffic both morning and night, which is when many people spot new restaurants to try (and are hungry). Nearly everyone who drives by your restaurant sees only that it is closed. So first, I would recommend opening for dinner and keeping the lights bright, with a sandwich board sign near the street showing that you are open.

In addition, here are some practical ways to start getting more.
1) Ask your existing customers how they found your restaurant, and what they would do to make it more "findable." Avoid explaining why their idea might be wrong; just listen to every suggestion. Out of 20 ideas, there will be two good ones.
2) Make sure your sign is visible from the road, as large and clear as possible; and make sure your restaurant looks open and welcoming whenever it is open. If it looks dark from the street, customers will assume it is closed, even for lunch.
3) If parking is limited, add a big, clear sign that points visitors to additional parking.
4) Try a special offer. If you are near an office or apartment building, create a flyer or post card for building occupants that offers a second lunch for free (or half off) with a coupon, or on specific dates. If your product is really good, people will return once they try it.
5) If there is a business near your restaurant that successfully gets lots of customers (nail salon, auto service shop, etc.), invite the owner/manager to do a joint promotion together. You promote their business to your customers, and they promote your business to their customers. A half-off coupon with purchase and a sign at each cash register is helpful for this.
6) Look for a local business group in Memphis that includes small business owners (and especially restaurant owners) and join it, at least for awhile. Other business owners in your area will have faced similar problems and can share their advice with you ... plus, it is a good way to get the word out about your restaurant and to encourage new people to become customers. If you have a lot of local contacts, you might consider a sales lead group such as BNI, where you can refer your friends and customers to other businesses, in exchange for those businesses referring new customers to you.

I hope these ideas provide some immediate help. For longer-term help, consult a local freelance marketer to ask what "next steps" you can take to grow your business. Your website is pretty good and assuming your food is also good, then a Memphis-area specialist can help you find and solve the marketing problem. Best of luck to you.

Do you think it might be a matter of low awareness? Are prospective customers consciously deciding they don't want dumplings, or are they simply unaware of where you are and/or what 4Dumplings is all about?

You might want to dig a little deeper with your customers to find out how they first became aware of you, why they return, and why they don't return more often. It would be great if you could find the 15% of customers who did not express great satisfaction and find out why.

Peg has offered several good suggestions that could treat the symptoms, but ultimately you will want to have an accurate diagnosis so you can prescribe the right cure.

Heeey 4 dumplings,

you're getting a lot of great input here. But is there anyway you can share with us where we could find your newspaper articles? I'd love to see what they are saying about you.

Why No Customers? Based on my experiences working with these kinds of problems I've mostly found that the businesses are failing for many reasons. But there is one primary reason above them all and it tends to be because of something that the owner of the business does not completely understand about how to confidently and discreetly cultivate their existing customers.

If you have 85% of your existing customers saying that they like your food then this should be an easy fix if what you're telling us is true...but the hard work for this kind of problem will come when you have to make an effort to cultivate "Deeper Relationships" with your customers. Cultivating deeper Customer relationships is a very important key to unlocking that Customer Door that grows your business to the next level. If you have 85% of your Customers loving your dumplings then there is something you're not able to see that's preventing you from keeping an interest in your customers.

Your Customers will become interested in you to the degree you become more interested in your Customers. So if this cultivation process is handled properly you could practically open a flood gate of customers upon you in no time...but if it isn't handled well or with a proper level of human sensitivity you could begin losing customers as quick as you got them. Your problem is not your Customers but your problem is in How you are handling your customers.

Now Imagine a Rice Farmer who planted several acres of land full of rows of Rice and after he plants the fields full, he goes back home and thinks that he's done all of the work he needs to do. He refuses to go out to the Rice fields and nurture the fields while cultivating the grounds around the seeds. He even fails to keep birds away from the fields near harvest time and every Rice Farmer knows that you must do this in order to have more Customers than the next Rice Farmer standing in the marketplace asking for your Rice. But because he is not aware that protecting his fully grown Rice is important he misses a key lesson he should have learned before he started planting Rice. If he thinks just planting the seeds are enough he is not prepared for the opportunity he could get if he had a better strategy. That's what you need now is a better strategy and in order to create a better strategy it's going to require information, time and observation.

In order to create a Better Strategy for us to answer your question "Why No Customers?" there are many things you must tell me in order for me to better understand your business 4 dumplings. I wish I could give you all of the answers here but that will be impossible as it will take many hours of getting to know your business better and there are more things I need to understand about your business and even More about your Customers than I know now in order for me to help you fine tune the results.

Let me ask you...Are you creating your dumplings for a an audience of customers that are primary asian or what is the existing cultural group or groups of people you are serving now? of the 85% of your customers who like your dumplings...how far do they travel to eat at your restaurant? How many of your customers come in to dine? How many of your customers come in to pick up their orders and then leave? How many of your customers come in once a week? How many come in twice a week? How many come in more than twice a week?...This is just some of the many questions I use to help my customers grow their undeveloped business so they don't have to continue to ask the frustrating question "Why No Customers?"...But I must ask you these kinds of questions and more to understand your specific marketplace better.

Again there are many reasons why you are having trouble growing your customers. I wish I were closer to you because I would come into your restaurant...sit down and eat and just from being in your environment I could tell you sooo much more about why you are failing to grow your customers.

There is nothing more disappointing than getting good media coverage from the newspaper but still you are not getting more Customers. So please tell me more...how many customers would you say come into your business on average during the week? and how many customers come during the weekend? Realistically how many customers would you like to have come in to your restaurant every day? and how many customers can you properly serve on a regular business day? To give you all the answers you need to grow your customers there are a lot more questions I will need to ask to better understand your business of serving Traditional dumplings and noodles. Again if 85% of your Customers love your dumplings it is clear to me that you have other problems too but your primary problem that is clearly obvious is that you do not know how to properly Cultivate Customer Relationships in order to develop Customer Growth.

Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant,

Deremiah *CPE (Customer Passionate Executive)

*Caring Promotes Exuberance

PS
REMEMBER... our only real problem in life is our failure to be "MORE Creative" than we’ve ever been. If you “Invent” your opportunity YOU WILL most definitely create your future.