Sponsored by Popmenu
In many cases, restaurant operators are juggling marketing along with a million other priorities, which doesn’t leave much time to plan or analyze campaign performance. In fact, 61% of operators say they spend 3 hours or less on marketing per week, according to Popmenu’s survey of 367 U.S. restaurant leaders in April 2023.
The study also found nearly half of restaurant operators are only “kind of confident” about their marketing efforts and what those efforts ultimately achieve, while 1 in 4 (25%) say they are not confident at all.
Libby’s Neighborhood Brasserie, on the other hand, has their marketing down to a science (literally). Part of Tableseide Restaurant Group, Libby’s uses a range of data, insights, and automation to drive more business to their Sarasota and Lakewood Ranch, FL, locations. They earned over $500,000 in online ordering revenue in 2022 with sales continuing to climb today.
Ocean Deli Pizza in Wallops Island, VA, takes a similar data-driven approach. Serving the community since 1984, the restaurant’s total online and in-person business grew from $2 million to $3.1 million over the past two years, a feat that is especially impressive considering that their average order size is $47.
While the word “data” can conjure up images of mind-numbing spreadsheets with less-than-obvious conclusions, Libby’s, Ocean Deli, and other restaurants have found an easy way to measure progress and feel confident about next steps. Partnering with Popmenu, they keep close tabs on marketing impact, online ordering sales, and website effectiveness to understand current performance and actions they can take to expand their reach and revenue. Here's how it works:
The 411 on Marketing ROI
With Popmenu’s marketing overview, Libby’s and Ocean Deli can see the direct correlation between marketing impressions (how many people saw their offers/promotions) and online ordering revenue. They can view the number of messages they send over time and their average open rate and click-through rate. They can also pinpoint their top email or text campaigns based on revenue and top social posts based on impressions, so they know which messages to replicate or adjust.
In Libby’s case, the data showed they sent more than 3 million email messages to guests since 2020, generating hundreds of thousands in sales. While lucrative, Libby’s discovered that they could strategically reduce the number of times they contacted guests, but still maintain their open rate and level of attributable revenue.
“In marketing, you have to see if the things you’re pushing out are actually converting to sales,” said Alex Scott, Director of Marketing for Tableseide Restaurant Group. “Fifty percent of my job is just tracking ROI. It makes things easier, having everything on one platform. I look at the overview, see the trends and shifts, and make my decisions based on that.”
With the insights from the overview, Libby’s found that, instead of paying for a separate dollar-based loyalty program, they could replace it with automated emails that were performing well on Popmenu’s platform. For example, when a guest joins Libby’s VIP Club or has a birthday, it automatically triggers a special offer for a free app to bring in repeat business.
The Map to Boosting Online Orders
Like most restaurants, online ordering is a significant part of the revenue equation for Ocean Deli and Libby’s. They use Popmenu’s ordering overview to zero in on the best days and times to message guests and push more profitable items to grow their online business. They can track their daily online ordering revenue and week-over-week comparisons, most popular days and hours for ordering, and top-selling dishes. They can also see a breakdown of orders for pickup, delivery, and catering.
“The data is easy to read and makes us smarter about our menu and when to engage guests digitally,” said Pavlos Tiftikidis, Co-owner of Ocean Deli. “It also helps us to prepare for peak online ordering times and which dishes will be in high demand.”
The Dish on Website Performance
Libby’s and Ocean Deli both have interactive online menus and websites and closely monitor how effective they are in enticing hungry consumers. Using Popmenu’s performance snapshot, they look at website visits per day for new and repeat guests, new reviews posted by guests, and the number of “likes” they receive on individual dishes.
Tiftikidis and Scott said this snapshot, along with the marketing and ordering overviews, have helped to consolidate strategic information for their executive leaders and larger teams.
“The overviews have streamlined a lot of what I used to have to dig for…it’s extremely helpful for my day to day,” said Scott. “I can see what’s changed, what is notable to share with my CEO and director of operations and the team.”
“We plan to grow our online ordering to $1 million in 2023,” said Tiftikidis. “Our team doesn’t have to guess how we’re going to reach this goal because we definitively know what’s working and what isn’t.”
