Can a restaurant succeed without advertising?

Whether or not to advertise, as it relates to the success of a restaurant, is sometimes a controversial matter, and I would like to share my impressions on the subject based on my experience.

I want to share something personal with you (as almost always :D)…

A while back, especially in my early days in the restaurant industry, I decided to join several restaurant associations. That let me spend some time around people I have always admired a great deal. I am talking about the owners or directors of large restaurants that have been around for years, restaurants with a deep tradition, the kind you probably used to visit as a kid and that almost become part of a country’s history.

You have no idea how valuable it can be to listen to these people and learn from them. They are usually fairly older guys who could not care less about teaching you what they know, because with their long track record it is almost impossible for a competitor to put a dent in their restaurant empires. So they tend to be open to giving advice and ideas to colleagues with less time in the industry, because at the same time they end up benefiting the sector as a whole.

  Years later, this is a bit like what happens to me today in one of our restaurants, specifically in the Japanese restaurant area, where we have a very well positioned brand in several countries and giving advice to colleagues with new, small restaurants turns out to be ideal and beneficial for the whole sector.

Now then, back to the topic…

On one occasion we were debating some new regulations and taxes the government was implementing regarding street advertising (billboards) for hotels and restaurants, and blah blah blah…

After we dealt with the matter and everyone, or most of us, had “let off steam” out loud, bad-mouthing the government and its ideas, as almost always happened :D, the conversation began to focus on the importance of advertising in general, not only billboard advertising but every kind of advertising in our industry, and on how effective it is.

It was very interesting to see how one group of colleagues leaned toward advertising permanently and how another group leaned toward simply not advertising at all.

The argument of the latter group is almost a commandment in the traditional restaurant industry:

A restaurant does not need advertising: if the food is of good quality, people will recommend it and that will attract more customers, and those new customers, in turn, will bring in others, and that is how the business will grow.

  This has practically been the paradigm applied in many cases, and yes, IT WORKS.

But honestly, that is not something I share as a primary strategy today…

It worked before, but not anymore…

After creating several restaurants, going through the stressful early phases and all of that, I consider that to be a much too slow and expensive approach. At the same time, I consider it one of the main reasons many new restaurants die before their first three years of life… sometimes sooner.

My experience has shown me that if I want results in less time and greater guarantees of success, today… I need to have quality food and also advertise…

  Frankly, I like that paradigm better.

I advertise all my restaurants constantly…

It is that simple…

I do not do it out of habit; I do it because I have proven it is a convenient way to always attract new customers in shorter periods of time, and it lets me grow faster.

I have always believed that when you are in the business, you should aim to make a lot of money with your restaurant, and if the time it takes to get there can be reduced… that is better.

So, as conclusions…

• A restaurant can indeed succeed without advertising… but it takes a long time, and you will need a fair amount of capital to sustain it for a long time until you reach that point.
• It is easier to succeed with a restaurant when you advertise. As long as your food is delicious.

Keep this in mind; it will be very useful to you if you want to improve the numbers in your business.