Two years ago I met a restaurant owner, and he told me about
his rocky path to success. He said for
years his business muddled along until one day people came in droves and kept
coming back.
2013 for Standing
Sushi Bar is the year when something “clicked.” Since January, the 8 Queen Street branch has
been packed out nightly (except Sundays, that’s another nut to crack), the
Marina Bay Link Mall location has boomed up, and Tanuki Raw is happy hour madness. Knock on wood this continues; it’s as if a
piano, cargo truck, and building were all lifted off my shoulders… still
leaving a monkey on my back. (That may
not have made sense to anyone but me :D)
So why did business pick up so dramatically?
My guess is a combination of promotions, ads, publicity, and
increasing brand awareness. Sounds like obvious
stuff, but the confluence of events necessary to reach a tipping point (I hate
myself when I use that phrase, but it’s applicable) came through some planning
and luck.
Promotions
– I had toyed with various incentives to get folks in during off-peak periods,
but at the beginning of the year I decided there was no point in half-assing
around with weak promotions. My
philosophy is, it’s attractive to the diner if it’s making you (the business)
feel uncomfortable.
Ads / Getting the word out there – Of course I wanted people
to know about the new promotions, so I spent more on ads and made it a point to
let people know in e-mail about what new things we were offering. It was great that with Facebook ads and
attractive offerings, people helped by sharing the information along their
network.
Publicity – There was a good amount of press (traditional
and online) focused on Tanuki Raw since
it recently opened. Almost every article
referenced that it was by the folks behind the Japanese restaurant Standing Sushi Bar,
which brought renewed attention to SSB at the same time as we were launching
the new happy hour and weeknight concepts.
Increasing brand awareness – After 3 years, we’re not the
new kid on the block anymore. I would
hope plenty of people have heard about Standing Sushi Bar! I think that people have, and many of them
may have made assumptions about the restaurant (too far, no seats, etc.) so
never considered coming. After seeing
things shared by their friends and reading the name in the press, it may have
been the nudge they needed to check us out.
I always wondered whether it was true what my friend
said. Seems like it.
