Restaurant Marketing

Marketing should not include shenanigans. Marketing should give you value, not trick you. When you read this promotion, it makes you think “Oh good, half off my order!” No, read the last part. It’s only up to $10. Keep in mind that Doordash is not free. It costs alot to have it delivered. So this promotion is basically just $10 off. If they just said that, I wouldn’t feel tricked. They might as well say 99% off up to $10.

Doordash is not a great business model (imho). I love the group ordering feature, but I would rather save the money and go direct with the restaurant. Chownow has been doing well as the platform for the restaurants direct sales.

Marketing for restaurants has become a major issue in the world of Covid. How does a new restaurant get your attention when you are at home all day? This new world will have winners and losers. The winners will be the scrappy eateries that put dedicated energy towards using the different platforms and experimenting. The ones who take amazing pictures of the food.

If you are a restaurant, considering hiring a full time “growth hacker”. This is someone right out of high school or college who knows how to use Instagram, take photos and videos, and is an expert is social media. Pay them a decent wage. Their job is not to server the food, cook or clean. Their job is to make sure your restaurant is seen in all the right places with beautiful pictures of the food.

I remember someone said (about Twitter) “Why would someone take a picture of their lunch?? What kind of job can you get by being good at tweeting??”

Well, the joke is on them. Now it’s a real job with real economic benefits. Marketing is social, not just for tech companies, but for retail shops too.

Bottom line: Marketing is hard work, not trickery. I think I am going to avoid Doordash from now on because of this one promotion.