One Year Old Steakhouse in Southern Illinois

Situation

An investor opened a 5,000 square foot steakhouse in southern Illinois.

Problem

Their market is crowded, and the restaurant has not performed as well as expected. Client engaged us to assess the overall health of the business and generate ideas for increasing revenue.

Solution

Our assessment was generally favorable. The restaurant is extremely clean and attractive, with an excellent menu, a great chef and an excellent manager. After a year, the restaurant reached breakeven and was close to making a steady profit.

However, our assessment revealed significant problems with marketing and customer service. The manager had too many responsibilities; processes were documented, but not conveyed well to the staff; the portions were too large and a lot of food was being wasted; key market segments were not being reached; the brand image was unclear — despite the fact that some excellent videos and themes were developed before launch, they have not been deployed consistently.

Client initially wanted us to help develop ideas for revenue streams outside of the core business. We advised the client to instead focus on the core business, which has great potential, and defer any external business ideas until the core business is solidly profitable and operating sustainably.

Benefit

Client took most of our recommendations to heart and is now in the process of implementing them.

For more information, contact Andrew Clarke at 312-498-4071 or [email protected].