Restaurant Balzac – Chef, Matt Kemp.
We began working with Restaurant Balzac in November 2009.  It had been in business for 10 years.  It was a “Two Hat” fine dining restaurant in the wealthy Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.  It had been a very successful business in the early days with people queuing to get a table on Saturday nights.  However since around 2005 the numbers had dwindled and even though Matt’s standards and exceptional food quality remained as high as ever, walk in’s were looking elsewhere for the “new” latest or coolest place on the block.  To compound things regulars weren’t coming back so regularly and revenues were looking bleak.  In desperation Matt turned to a PR company, he invested thousands but saw little to no return on his investment.
 
Our Solutions…
The first thing we did was to establish a good understanding of what Matt wanted to achieve, obviously he wanted more custom and revenue but he wasn’t going to cut corners, lower his standards or do anything to damage the restaurant’s brand or name.

Themed Events
We decided to build on the reputation that Balzac had.  To reach out to those who already loved Matt’s food and to breath new life into the place by creating more reasons to visit such as events, themed meals, wine dinners and special occasions linked to the marketing calendar. 

Lunches
One of the very first things we did was to work on improving the numbers of people dining at lunchtime on Fridays (Balzac only served lunch on Fridays).  The numbers were desperately poor with numbers around 13 – 15 people.  We instigated just three changes and within a week numbers were in the 30s then 40s and eventually 70+ was the norm with some Fridays scoring 90+ people dining.  Instead of being a headache, Friday lunches became a dream, the revenue paying rent for the week!  Now in 2011 Balzac is opening twice a week for lunches and the price has increased!

Increasing The Customer Base
Next we focused on growing the customer base for Balzac – we ran several competitions, worked with strategic partners, started a VIP club and collected regular diners details when they dined.  Quickly we had thousands of people on the database and by the end of the year we were into six figures.  This was “our market”, no more need for paid advertising magazines, newspapers, radio or TV.  We saved Matt thousands on marketing costs while increasing his revenue and profits!

Creating More Events and Buzz
Throughout the year we used Balzac’s “ever growing” database to promote many special events, VIP only nights, wine and beer dinners and themed celebrations.  The results have been spectacular adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the business.  Balzac is now back on the map.  The place is buzzing with energy, guests are booking out events weeks in advance and instead of wondering if he can survive in business Matt is opening another restaurant too.

How We Did It All
You might wonder if all of this work is overwhelming?  Well we took care of most of the marketing (along with one of Matt’s staff team).  We designed cards, letters, flyers, posters, data collection forms, post cards, emails and surveys.  We made sure the printing was done and the mail went out on time every time.  We discussed how the staff should respond to the marketing and promote up coming events too.  And we are happy to report Matt totally invested his energies in everything we did, he became a mad twitterer and guest speaker… plus he also managed to get in several holidays in the year too.

If you are ready for a profit boost in your business call 02 4362 2468 or email us via the “contact Us” page for a personal consultation.