MARKETING: How Your Restaurant Can Target Millennial Guests
It doesn’t matter how amazing your restaurant is. If you don’t know how to promote it — simply assuming that the quality will shine through — you’ll struggle to compete. And you need to target the right guests the right way. Take the Millennial bracket, for instance. Much maligned, they’re the key to the future of your business regardless. If you want to thrive, you need to work to be seen, so let’s go through some basic tips for how you can target Millennial guests with your SEO work and social presence.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Brussel Sprouts Gin
The alcohol industry is a never-ending realm of experiments. Pickering’s Gin, a Scottish gin company, has announced its annual set of “Festively Flavoured Fin Baubles” which includes figgy pudding, spiced pear and cinnamon, plum and ginger, cranberry, clementine, and their new debut – “the world’s first Brussels sprouts gin.” Maybe it’s a Scottish thing, but we never really connected Brussel sprouts with Christmas. Anyways, we’re morbidly curious enough to give this one a shot.
Consumer Confidence Takes Huge Dip
Preliminary figures published by the University of Michigan on Friday show that consumer confidence in the United States took its biggest monthly dip since December 2012, dropping 8.6 points from July’s numbers. Receding consumer confidence is reflective of consumer anxiety around U.S.-China trade tensions. Despite the setback, confidence remains high overall standing at 89.8, as the following chart, dating back to January 2000, shows.
Changes to #MeToo Laws in CA, IL & NY
California, Illinois and New York are among 15 states that have adopted sexual harassment protections over the past two years. Of those 15, 10 states and NYC have also added prevention measures that include mandatory training and workplace policy requirements for employers. Here’s how the new laws are being enacted in CA, IL and NY.
YOU CAN BET ON IT
Why it matters to you: Legalized sports betting coming to a restaurant near you soon?
When the Supreme Court’s landmark decision regarding sports betting was made in May of 2018, few people knew exactly where it would lead. Some of the biggest players in the restaurant industry and online gambling were scrambling to determine a way to take advantage of this new found legality.
Take Buffalo Wild Wings. Last football season they embarked on a program with Draft Kings that rewarded guests with in-store prizing for picking great lineups. That program only lasted the one season and was not renewed. Fast forward to the 2019 football season and it appears that BWW won’t give up on the opportunity to blend sports betting with their best-in-class sports viewing experience.
Back in the early 2000s, I operated a 23k square foot sports bar on the Peninsula near San Francisco. The place had 80 TVs and three 25’ foot big screens. Upon arriving, many of our guests would compare it to a Las Vegas sportsbook -- and they were right. Where else can you watch multiple games over various sports and enjoy the comforts of a hospitality venue? Consequently, it appears that with their announcement of a partnership with Roar BetMGM, BWW is trying again to access sports betting to build or improve traffic at their restaurants. They are beginning with their testing in New Jersey, the first state to legalize sports betting after SCOTUS’s decision. Stay tuned to see if this effort nets the biggest sports-themed operator on the planet, we’ll keep you posted.
[Source: Restaurant Business Online]
TALKIN’ BOUT MY GENERATION [Song]
Why it matters to you: How Gen Z will mitigate the fading of older generations as consumers.
My niece is a proud member of Generation Z and has taught me to love her generation. Gen Z is the group of people born from 1995 – 2012 and they are the first generation to exclusively have lived with the internet, smartphone, and digitally immersive culture. They are also seriously hooked on restaurants. Gen Z made up 24% of all restaurant visits through July of 2019. They favor fast casual, but also love great looking food that is diverse and exciting. As Gen X and Baby Boomers move into seniority, they are visiting fewer restaurant. It turns out the antidote to that volume loss are those Gen Zers that love their great tasting and looking food.
By replacing older generations with younger guests, we aren’t suggesting you abandon any of your standard approaches to your business. We are, however, suggesting you need to supplement them with a strategy to attract the generations that will supplant older folks. We see it already with the business market to Millennials. The brands that are winning, understand the role of digital interaction and have focused on being responsive in that way. Whether it’s Arby’s or Wendy’s amazing Twitter responses or brands relying on digital ordering/loyalty to create relationships with guests, the big brands are figuring out the value of these engaged youngsters. Do you?
[Source: Nation’s Restaurant News]
