Big Restaurant Chains looking at Closing. Could This Be Good For Small, Non-Franchise Restaurants?

8/28/20: For the past five months, other than the narrow margin of industries that have remained un-phased, most businesses have either shut down (temporarily or permanently), re-tooled their business model and operations, or a mix of both. It's now estimated that roughly 16,000 restaurants have closed up for good, with the possibility of doubling that number by the end of 2020. However, there are some larger restaurant chains that were already looking at downsizing, or even closing before COVID entered the ring. For a mix of reasons, perhaps the greatest being a change in consumer trends with millennials, many larger-chain restaurants found themselves sliding into trouble before 2020 began. However, if you're a small restaurant that survives this COVID-ridden paradigm, perhaps there are a few nuggets of information to take away from the problems that the larger restaurants are faced with. Ideas that you can apply to your business model as you continue to create new opportunities to not only help you survive, but thrive moving towards…

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How To Promote Your Restaurant on Facebook – Kamron Karington

2/21/20: Restaurant owners, what’s your opinion of YOUR social media marketing skills?  Are you confident in using social media, to market your restaurant? How much engagement do you get when you post? And type of posts garner you the most action?  If you spend one second a month marketing on social media, these questions are all important to have an answer to. Your time is valuable, to put it lightly. "If you've ever wondered how to promote your restaurant on Facebook, you're going to love this video! Watch as I compare two restaurant Facebook pages and break down what attracts fans and the mistakes that turn people off..." ~ Kamron Karington

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Restaurant S.W.O.T. Analysis To Survive The “New Normal”

7/24/20: Kamron Karington is back with a vengeance! Yet, he believes that this is “the opportunity of a lifetime for restaurants”, and offers a brilliant SWOT analysis for these here and now circumstances. Again, now more than ever, it’s important to stay away from third-party online delivery services - "you can't control the customer experience with a third-party service". Kamron will cover that, and offer many other gold-nuggets of information to help you come out the other side of this 2020 craziness. In short, Kamron will give you hope, but he does go on to say that the restaurant business as you know it is over. ...Risks will have to be taken. Period. We at Bay State Merchant Services are serious about wanting our merchants to stay with us as long as they're in business, and with that, we want them to stay in business for as long as possible. We will always try to assist them in any way to do just that.

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Bar Rescue’s Jon Taffer: “I’m not certain a lot of [Vegas] bars will survive this.”

After rent, the cost to accept debit and credit cards is often the next biggest piece of overhead for a business, especially restaurants and bars. However, since congress passed legislation with the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, merchants now have options to give incentives to customers that want to pay with cash or check, and this can actually eliminate merchant fees from anywhere between 90 and 100%, even while continuing to take payment cards. This is a game-changer for businesses of all types, especially during these tough times. Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue is concerned that this second round of closures of Vegas bars - that don't serve food - will make it much harder for bars to stay afloat compared to the first shutdown. "I'm not certain a lot of bars will survive this." Taffer says. This is a closure in Las Vegas that affects bars (serving alcohol-only) as of July 10th, due to the recent spike in coronavirus…

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How I Increased Restaurant Sales by Double in 30 Days – Kamron Karington

6/23/20 - Marketing: "As I sat, defeated and hopeless in my pizzeria early one morning... an "aha" moment changed everything. The fog was gone... I knew EXACTLY what was needed to turn this failing nightmare into a pulsating business." ~ Kamron Karington The marketing principles used by Kamron to reinvent and resurrect his pizza restaurant are applicable for businesses of all types and sizes. On a macro level, it almost always comes down to a mindset. Episode #1:- 30 days into owning a pizzeria, was this the biggest mistake of my life? - How a night sleeping on top of the walk-in cooler led to the “aha” moment. - The single, unexpected question that changed my life. - The pitch that became the blueprint for every ad I ever put out. - Sales doubled in 30 days and rampaged upward from $12,000 to $149,000 a month. - Why fear crystalizes your thinking and eliminates weak alternatives. To paraphrase Tony Robbins (and perhaps many others)... The brain will…

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Restaurants: Make Bank With Adaptive Marketing

6/18/20 - Restaurant Marketing: Another fresh lesson straight from the oven of Kamron Karington with RepeatReturns.com. Author of "Gun To The Head Marketing", KK lays out how important Adaptive Marketing is right now for restaurants as we move out of this shut-down... and beyond. This - rather scientific - approach has made big companies a lot of money, because they cater a huge portion of their marketing directly to us as individuals. They follow the ebb-and-flow of our spending habits over time. However, restaurants can do this too, and typically with the info you're already collecting with your POS system. A general problem with coupon offers is the one-size-fits-all model, which gives customers a chance to spend less. However, a customized points or rewards program will drive more spending from your customers. In fact, Kamron tells the story of one restaurant that went into the COVID shut-down strong, was already using adaptive marketing, and came out three months later much stronger. "Use adaptive marketing to incentivize your…

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COVID-19 Crushed Restaurants. Will “THIS” Kill Them?

Kamron Karington breaks down what's really going on with third-party delivery services like Grubhub, DoorDash, UberEats, or Postmates. He explains “why third-party delivery services could be the MOST EXPENSIVE (and fatal) mistake restaurant owners make right now. Kamron walks you through the false promises, pitfalls, and permanent consequences of third-party delivery services so you can make the best, and most informed decision for your restaurant during this confusing time.

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