Restaurant Marketing

Why do you suppose an Italian restaurant in New York’s “Little Italy” quickly goes out of business?

In terms of the 5 criteria for defining a market segment:

1. Substantial: there were not enough people in the neighborhood to patronize another Italian restaurant. They either ate Italian food in their own homes or they ate Italian so much, their idea of going out was to eat something else. – Chinese, anyone?
2. Homogeneous: inability to identify what group of people would patronize this restaurant.
3. Heterogeneous: the place failed to form a separate identity with respect to other restaurants in the area. Suggestion: “we’re the place for Tuscan food.”
4. Accessible: Location, location, location. Could people find it?
5. Operational: Difficult to find out the attitudes of the target market, since people in the neighborhood might be reluctant to admit they were tired of Italian food.

This kind of thing illustrates the importance of planning a marketing strategy. Who are you going to sell to and then, how are you going to approach them?