Month: May 2024

Every restaurateur knows how important their digital footprint is but who has time for all of that? It’s hard to tweet when you’re backwaiting tables because your busier didn’t show up.

Then the pandemic hits and, like it or not, your entire livelihood is determined by an audience you chose not to grow online.

I found myself in the same boat and worried it was too late.

The good news is that it isn’t and Shawn Walchef of Cali Comfort BBQ is going to tell us exactly how he transformed his restaurant into a BBQ media company.

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SHOW NOTES

• The beginnings of Cali Comfort BBQ
• 2019 achievements
• Cali BBQ relied on digital marketing due to having a non-obvious location
• Getting people to care about BBQ, community and craft
• Becoming your own PR person
• A publicist was out of budget for Cali BBQ
• Shawn about books to learn about PR
• Focus on finding your own voice
• Internet has changed the way traditional business is done
• Cali BBQ became a media company when they were struggling in 2008-09
• Why the internet is more reliable for marketing
• Provides actionable, measurable analytics
• Physical ads in newspapers are not as measurable
• Creating digital hospitality
• Hospitality has a competitive advantage
• Connection to customers
• Willingness to serve
• Having a full-time host is an example of investing in hospitality
• Recreating this experience digitally
• Responding to online reviews
• Interacting no Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
• Proactive mindset to online audience building
• The difference between digital marketing and being a media company
• Digital marketing is about telling your own story online
• Media companies also tell the stories of others
• Cali Comfort BBQ share stories within the community
• Operators who are willing to be vulnerable online do best
• During Covid, operators are sharing their story and struggle
• Connecting with the community
• The key is reframing your relationship with your smartphone
• The pros and cons of outsourcing
• Outsourcing enables you more time
• You won’t learn as much if you outsource straight away
• Shawn originally did all social media, podcast editing, and blogging in house
• Now employs blogger and podcast producer
• Consumer habits have changed
• Pivoting during Covid19
• Asking the right questions during this time
• Your website is your #1 asset
• Be known for what you do best
• Book recommendation: Story Brand by Donald Miller
• Focusses for getting started in digital marketing
• Continuous experimentation is what got Shawn and his company to level it is today
• Personalization of digital hospitality
• Now is the greatest time to build digital infrastructure for the future
• Social media is just one aspect of online marketing

The chai tea latte you ordered at Starbucks this morning was made possible in no small part to the Shah family. Many believe that, Devan Shah, the prolific tea importer, is directly responsible for creating the American tea market as we know it today.

In this episode we chat with Devan’s wife and daughter, Reena and Bianca. Together they own Chado Tea Room, a 4 location tea salon based in Los Angeles.

Together we’ll unpack what it took to grow this 30 year old company and what it took to survive and thrive through a global pandemic.

For more on Chado Tea Room visit https://www.chadotea.com

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SignUp for Our Weekly Newsletter: https://pineapplepost.news

Booktime on Josh’s personal calendar: https://bit.ly/3otQm8z

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

Full Comp –https://restaurants.yelp.com/full-comp-podcast/

The Happy Mouth Morning Show –https://restaurants.yelp.com/happy-mouth-podcast/

Restaurant Marketing School –https://restaurants.yelp.com/hospitality-marketing-podcast/

The Playbook –https://restaurants.yelp.com/the-playbook-restaurant-stories/

Aging gracefully is not always the easiest thing to do. Our world has changed so much in the last 10 years and our values have as well. That has led some brands to thrive while others have withered. Hooters, a divisive brand to many, intends to maintain its position in the cultural zeitgeist and today we chat with Larry Linen, their COO, to discuss what’s changed with the times and what’s stayed the same over the last few decades. 

For more information on Hooters, visit https://www.hooters.com/.

Show Notes Bumpers

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Full Comp is brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to build tools that help restaurateurs do more with limited time.

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out our other content:

Yelp for Restaurants Podcasts

Restaurant expert videos & webinars

As you know, I’ve coached hundreds of restaurateurs to scale profitability through effective marketing and optimizing operations. These bonus episodes serve as mini-coaching sessions where I provide you with quick lessons to help you achieve the same amazing results without spending a dollar on marketing and advertising. Enjoy!

__________________________________________________________

Full Comp is brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to build tools that help restaurateurs do more with limited time.We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out our other content:

⁠Yelp for Restaurants Podcasts⁠

⁠Restaurant expert videos & webinars⁠

Bruce Nelson never dreamed of becoming the Chief Financial Officer of a restaurant group, he wanted to be a restaurateur just like the rest of us. But, when he achieved his dream of restaurant ownership, his life became a nightmare. Coming off hard years and the closure of the restaurant, he took the time to figure out why.

Check Our Restaurant Marketing Strategies to Improve Your Business Fast.

It was the math. On a foundational level, his business was doomed to fail from the beginning because he was using bad math. In today’s conversation Bruce walks us through what a sound financial strategy looks like to create a wildly profitable restaurant.

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Full Comp is brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to build tools that help restaurateurs do more with limited time.

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out our other shows:

Restaurant Marketing School

Restaurant expert videos & webinars

There are roughly 1300 self made billionaires in the world. That may seem like a big number but when you compare that to the 7.8 billion people on the planet, it’s incredibly small.

How did they get there? Is it luck, skill or a combination of the two?

Today we delve into the aspirational story of real estate tycoon Grant Cardone who elected to go back to zero just to see if he could do it all over again.

SignUp for Our Weekly Newsletter: https://pineapplepost.news

Booktime on Josh’s personal calendar: https://bit.ly/3otQm8z

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

Full Comp –www.restaurants.yelp.com/fullcomp

The Happy Mouth Morning Show –www.restaurants.yelp.com/happy mouth

Restaurant Marketing School –www.restaurants.yelp.com/marketingschool

Restaurant Influencers: The Playbook –www.restaurants.yelp.com/influencers