Needing advices!!!

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K-ModPermalink Reply by Gumbo123 on April 22, 2011 at 3:05pm

Is there a website for your place so we could get a better understanding of your settup?  I searched by the name you gave above but could only find directory listings.  Maybe just need to get more info out there, because it doesn't help that a site like CHOWHOUND your establishment is listed under French cooking http://www.chow.com/restaurants/304551/teriyaki-bistro) . . . but at least you're getting good customer reviews at http://local.yahoo.com/info-45085144-teriyaki-bistro-lagrange

 

I'm in Dallas TX now but lived in Georgia for over ten years, and can tell you that what works in the big city (Atlanta) won't necessarily draw a crowd in smaller towns (LaGrange). 

 

For instance, in Athens (GA) there is a full service restaurant called Inoko Japanese Steakhouse (http://www.inokos.com ) with tableside hibachi cooking and suchi bar - - - 20 miles away in Winder GA they run Inoko Express which offers a much abbreviated menu and cook all the food in the kitchen, but it's still good eats and packs in a crowd in a small town (with a much lower overhead cost to boot). Must be doing something right to get 285 friends on it's Facebook account and good reviews from customers . . .

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-13791030R-inoko_japanese_stea...

 

Give us a bit more info and I'm sure the Mythical Beasts of this Kommunity will try to help out . . . that's just what we do.

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Permalink Reply by Novi iwanto on April 22, 2011 at 9:55pm

Hi gumbo123! Thank you for the response!  I don't have a website, but I Recognize the importance of one. We do have a good loyal fans. We serve at the hospital twice a week which does great and our other location does well too. The new one has high traffic but Daily I still get people saying that they don't know we are there. We have 2 hospitals and a college and the downtown area within 3 blocks. But we just don't have the volume and recognition. And you are right about small towns not beig able to draw a crowd. It's more about the buzz on what people are talking about. I came from Seattle wa and made the move to Georgia in 09. So far it has been tough to learn on how the habit of people here.

Gumbo123 said:

Is there a website for your place so we could get a better understanding of your settup?  I searched by the name you gave above but could only find directory listings.  Maybe just need to get more info out there, because it doesn't help that a site like CHOWHOUND your establishment is listed under French cooking http://www.chow.com/restaurants/304551/teriyaki-bistro) . . . but at least you're getting good customer reviews at http://local.yahoo.com/info-45085144-teriyaki-bistro-lagrange

 

I'm in Dallas TX now but lived in Georgia for over ten years, and can tell you that what works in the big city (Atlanta) won't necessarily draw a crowd in smaller towns (LaGrange). 

 

For instance, in Athens (GA) there is a full service restaurant called Inoko Japanese Steakhouse (http://www.inokos.com ) with tableside hibachi cooking and suchi bar - - - 20 miles away in Winder GA they run Inoko Express which offers a much abbreviated menu and cook all the food in the kitchen, but it's still good eats and packs in a crowd in a small town (with a much lower overhead cost to boot). Must be doing something right to get 285 friends on it's Facebook account and good reviews from customers . . .

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-13791030R-inoko_japanese_stea...

 

Give us a bit more info and I'm sure the Mythical Beasts of this Kommunity will try to help out . . . that's just what we do.

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Permalink Reply by Joseph (gluenicorn) on April 22, 2011 at 4:38pm

Do what Gordon Ramsay does.  Make your food not suck.  If the advertising and coupons aren't working, clearly people aren't enjoying the food.  Especially if they even don't want to eat your discounted food.  Take a good look at what you're serving and how you're serving it.  Try to find something which would set your restaurant apart from the others.  Quantity of food does not mean quality.  Having 400 menu items as opposed to 40 is not necessarily a good thing, unless the restaurant is a diner.

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Permalink Reply by Novi iwanto on April 22, 2011 at 10:02pm

Hi Joseph! I haven't had much coupons given out. I think our prices are priced fair enough. About $10 per average ticket. And I do ask for customer feedback. The food is great. Somebody did tell me in little town is who you know rather than what you know. I've tried our competitors food and and is just alright. They do have a much longer history in this town(Lagrange) though. I truly believe my food taste good with the best price point in town. However not many people have made our name a household name. Hence I need help with creating the "buzz" factor going. I listen and definitely appreciate all inputs and advices. How I found this kommunity is my good customer who told me.

Joseph (Epizeuxis) said:

Do what Gordon Ramsay does.  Make your food not suck.  If the advertising and coupons aren't working, clearly people aren't enjoying the food.  Especially if they even don't want to eat your discounted food.  Take a good look at what you're serving and how you're serving it.  Try to find something which would set your restaurant apart from the others.  Quantity of food does not mean quality.  Having 400 menu items as opposed to 40 is not necessarily a good thing, unless the restaurant is a diner.

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K-ModPermalink Reply by Kevin (UniSeal) on April 23, 2011 at 12:03am

If you want to get a "buzz" going, then I'd have two things to suggest.

1) Have a slogan or saying, like McDonald's and Taco Bell have "I'm lovin' it" and "Think outside the bun," respectively.  Just like a little catchphrase. Considering that you want a buzz, I guess it could be something as simple as "Catch the Bistro Buzz."  I don't know, that was just off the top of my head, but you get the picture.

 

2) Get a website or at least a Facebook page. You can search "free website hosting" on Google and find a number of place to set up a free and easy site. This will really help.

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K-ModPermalink Reply by Gumbo123 on April 25, 2011 at 1:13pm

CONGRATULATIONS!  I personally think you are doing a very important thing . . . asking for helpful suggestions.  Far too often a business owner will just run their business into the ground because they are convinced that they already have the very best product, best service, best menu, etc. Don't forget to ask your loyal customers for suggestions too, since they probably live or work in the area and know what brought them into your establishment in the first place.  Here are a few more suggestions, in no particular order:

• Loyal Customer Appreciation Cards - - you can buy perforated cardstock at Office Depot and print them up yourself for very little cost. And for your "very loyal" customers, you could even write a personal note on the back such as "Bring a new friend to lunch on us"  (a personal buy-one-get-one-free)
•  I'm sure that you have heard the old saying that the three most important things to consider for a successful business are: LOCATION, LOCATION & LOCATION. From your description it sounds like you are in a good spot but may be are getting passed by because you aren't noticed. Take another look at your signage and be creative with eye-catching colors. One drycleaners near my home increased their traffic by having the sign on the front of the building hung upside down.
• Two hospitals very close by? I sure hope you are offering delivery service or you're certainly missing out on business from hospital staff.
• I second UniSeal's suggestion about a website.  Doesn't have to be anything fancy, you're not in competition with the five-star restaurants in town (if there are any).  Just something clean and simple, but be sure to include a MENU page with pricing.  It doesn't take much time or effort to update as you make changes later.  Here's what you don't want to do - - I love this restaurant, but everytime I visit I get the exact same thing because I don't want to read a 22-page menu!  http://www.bistrob.com/menus.php  And their "To GO" menu? only 2 pages but one is upside down and unless you are fluent in Vietnamese you can forget about it.
• Also, as a person who orders take-out from work quite often, I prefer to place my order via internet rather than phone, so you could start that right away with a simple FaceBook page and orders vie IM (instant message) from your "Friends" customers. 

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K-ModPermalink Reply by Gumbo123 on April 25, 2011 at 2:09pm

OOPS, forgot one . . .  since you say LaGrange is a college town and you know how college guys love a challenge . . . buy some capsaicin oil extract at www.heavenlyheathotsauce.com for about $20 a bottle. The 2.0 ounce bottle should be good for about 20-30 bowls.  At 1,000,000 Scoville Units this food additive is 450 times hotter than Tabasco! Made with chile extract, habanero pepper extract and soybean oil. Don't get it on your skin, and keep away from children! And, before you even ask, I would personally NEVER be insane enough to order one of these for myself, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't by my friend's lunch at $10.00/bowl for the privilege of watching him try it on a dare.

 

Or, another idea "borrowed" from Bistro B . . . their challenge is the "Bowl of Pho" which is about the size of 4-5 of their regularly huge bowls . . . $20 per bowl instead of the $8 king size and to my knowledge, nobody has finished one yet!

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Permalink Reply by Novi iwanto on April 25, 2011 at 2:15pm

Oh my goodness! U read my mind! I was gonna ask some sort of challenge! That would go well with our restaurant too! And Lynn, Rhett and links assistant replied an email I sent! They will be busy for the next three months! So I gotta hang in there till then! Ur Ideas are awesome gumbo! Very helpful! I will definitely hand out personal coupons to good customers and new ones of course! Thank you and keep it coming!! :)

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K-ModPermalink Reply by Gumbo123 on April 25, 2011 at 4:27pm

GOOD LUCK!  here's an ever better item I found after a brief search . . . THE SOURCE - - advertised as the hottest available at 7.1Million Scoville units of heat, that's compared to the jalapeño pepper (2,500-8,000 units) or habanero chili pepper (100,000-350,000 units). Touted by the manufacturer as the “closest thing to bottling Chuck Norris”.  I know you could buy hotter, but probably don't want to spend $350/ounce for collector only bottles. 

Imagine the look in your victim's customer's eyes when you come out of the kitchen with face mask , goggles and surgical gloves to add 1 DROP to their bowl - - - $85/1.0 oz. bottle = enough to more than adequately season 100 pots of chili.

 

http://www.thesourcehotsauce.com/

It messed this poor guy up so bad his words won't match up with his lips any more:

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K-ModPermalink Reply by Gumbo123 on November 6, 2013 at 11:47am

I checked in to see if there was any update here.  No news on the komm, so I did some googling and found you are still getting great reviews online from diners . . . but I still don't find a webpage or FaceBook account for the restaurant.

 

I would definitely pay your shop a visit when / if I ever get back to Georgia

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g35051-d2143421-Review...

 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/teriyaki-bistro-lagrange

 

http://local.yahoo.com/info-45085144-teriyaki-bistro-lagrange

 

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/149/1585732/restaurant/Georgia/Teriyaki...

 

 

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