A few years ago, a restaurant owner of an Italian pasta / pizza restaurant contacted me and asked me to photograph and video his new menu.

He suggested Saturday morning because it was always quiet at that time.

I said sure, and he prepared every dish for new the menu. I video the preparation of the food and took images of the final product.

And they all looked great.

But there was something missing.

No diners. And there for no sales.

We had built a database previously, so I sent emails and text messages to his customers with an offer - $10 for a taste test of the new menu.

Within minutes, we had a couple that were walking past the restaurant, received the text message and entered the restaurant.

And soon enough, more customers came in for the test tasting and some said they would come back for dinner.

That Saturday lunch, was the busiest it had ever been.

So here is the morale of the story; your restaurant doesn’t make money from your food, your service, or your location.

We proved that because we had all of those assets and we made no money.
But once we added the marketing, then we got sales.

So the point is, that the restaurant was open on a Saturday morning when it was always very quiet, because no-one knew of the tasting of the new menu.

So no matter how awesome of the food or service is, the money comes from your marketing of those assets.