CASE STUDY:

Melissa Clark recently became the manager of a full-service restaurant. The restaurant is in a midwestern resort town of 10,000 people. The town is located along the coastline of one of the Great Lakes and is approximately 10 miles from an industrial town of 150,000 people and 35 miles from a progressive city of almost 200,000 residents. The summers are mild and seldom hot, and the winters are often bitter and snowy.

The restaurant is part of a small, well-known upper Midwest chain. The resort town, although only about 2 miles from a substantial four-lane, limited-access road that connects coastal communities, is 10 miles from the nearest interstate highway. The restaurant is upscale and attractive to summer vacationers. The restaurant has an English pub look and feel to it, with yards of ale and artifacts from England and Scotland. The food prices are considered to be moderately expensive for this midwestern resort town. There is no restaurant of comparable quality within a 20-mile radius. The restaurant dining area can accommodate 250 guests at one sitting and can comfortably seat another 40 to 50 people in the bar area for cocktails. The bar sales consist primarily of guests waiting to be seated or who drink after dinner. On Friday and Saturday nights the bar has a folk singer or musician for entertainment. The restaurant is open seven days a week during the summer months, and Monday through Saturday after Labor Day. Lunch is served from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday through Saturday, with dinner from 5 to 11 P.M.

A typical lunch count in the summer is 100 to 120 meals, while a weekend dinner in the summer serves as many as 550 guests. During the off-season, Labor Day to Memorial Day, lunches shrink to 50 to 70 covers, and dinner during the week ranges from 10 to 50 guests. Friday and Saturday nights a range from 80 to 150 guests are served, depending on weather, holidays, and other local events. To accommodate the wide fluctuation in guests, the restaurant relies on college students in the summer. There are approximately 10 long-term employees and three managers who work year-round: a restaurant manager, a back-of-the-house manager, and a front-of-the-house manager.

The Problem

Every year during the resort season the restaurant is extremely busy. After Labor Day, business drops substantially and meeting operating costs becomes difficult. How would the manager get more local residents to frequent the restaurant in the off-season? With almost 150,000 residents living approximately 10 miles away, and another populated area of 200,000 people approximately 35 miles away, how would the manager get them to be part of your off-season market? There are no comparable restaurants within a 20-mile radius. The city 35 miles away has a couple of full-service restaurants with quality food and atmosphere, but they do not have the regional reputation that the resort restaurant has.

The restaurant is active in the local community. The Rotary and Lions Clubs hold their weekly luncheon meetings at the restaurant. The restaurant occasionally does outside catering, but demand is minimal. Special functions at the restaurant can be accommodated in the off-season, but the dining rooms are contiguous and relatively intimate, making it difficult to rearrange and close one off from the rest of the restaurant.

The restaurant benefits from billboard advertising and the positive reputation of the chain's five other restaurants. The closest of the other five chain restaurants are 80 miles and 120 miles away. The restaurant has just hired a part-time person as public relations director to help pump up community involvement and increase the restaurant's profile.

QUESTION:

How can Melissa and her new public relations employee generate more local customer business in the off-season?

What can they do to entice residents of neighboring communities to drive 10 to 35 miles for an upscale dinner?

What type of advertising and promotions might increase local community traffic?