To become a great brand, it will have to do a whole lot more than what it is doing right now. Let’s first see what it has been up to. If you want to get a feel of what sort of goodies they are offering, head over to Restaurants Uncut analysis.

There’s no doubt that Studio Café is far ahead of any café or restaurant in Pakistan in terms of its marketing endeavors. Except maybe OPTP (One Potato Two Potato) which has actually come up with an app for Facebook which enables it to conduct contests and offer prizes in terms of OPTP goodies.

Studio Café has a presence on Facebook, and a favorable one but it hasn’t gone to the extent that OPTP has done. But it sure is able to generate quite a following there with a whopping 1,227 fans and counting. And the reason it has been able to do that is because it keeps itself relevant and updated to the latest happening. Come Valentine’s Day, it tailored itself to that. Then when the U-19 Pakistan cricket team got to the finals of the World Cup, it offered a cup of free coffee per table if Pakistan won the Finals, and it communicated this with the help of a poster on Facebook. Someone asked whether it’s one cup per table or per person. So it would have been better had they offered one cup per person. That would have provided more motivation than just one cup. I mean it’s only coffee and not one of their main entrees. And anyway, Pakistan didn’t win and so the offer didn’t materialize.

By and large people on Facebook seems to be quite happy with what they are offering, so Studio Café has a real time feedback system and should be able to tell them if they do something horribly wrong. That does not mean they shouldn’t have a feedback card in place at the café which they don’t. People will usually not remember any small foibles by the management enough to comment on it later on facebook but they may well remember it in their subconscious, enough not to come back. That’s one area where they need improving.

Then although they have created a Twitter account and they have not written a single Tweet since the place opened shop on 6^th December. Can you believe that? Twitter has become one of the most effective viral tools on the net and Studio Café is just keeping it dormant. They need to focus on it more. But what can they do with it? Same thing they are doing with Facebook. If they have a special offering, they should tweet it. Although they seem to be having seven followers on Twitter, on closer inspection you will notice that at least five of them are just spam accounts. So it needs to ensure that it has proper followers on Twitter.

The wisest thing Studio Café has done is promote the brand on karachisnob.com. Karachi Snob is fast becoming the online hub of eating houses both for the restaurateurs and the consumers. Not only that but if you Google any restaurant, chances are its going to be mentioned on the top 10 results courtesy Karachi snob. And Karachisnob does do a great job of promoting a food joint, taking brilliant snapshots of that place to create a virtual tour which it showcases along with the general description as well as the menu of the restaurant.

They even have a presence on Youtube, but a five second clip containing a solitary image does not make for a good Youtube video by any stretch of the imagination. And this was uploaded by them as part of the publicity hype before the opening. They need to add more material there. But what?

It could make a video clip showcasing the portraits that they have taken, taking permission from the people whose snapshot is taken of course. Nine times out of ten people will be eager to be shown on Youtube looking their best. So that shouldn’t post much of a problem.

Studio Cafe

The biggest shortcoming of Studio Café to date is the absence of a website of their own. Sure they have a tremendous presence on karachisnob but karachisnob only offers this focus for a limited time and it costs money each time you want to be highlighted. Once that period expires, you are left with nothing, like it happened with The Original Crepe Factory. Sure there is facebook but facebook cannot compete with a proper website in terms of reach. Studio Café needs that badly before the arrangement expires on karachisnob.

Then if they can manage it, a blog to go with the website providing the details of the latest happenings as well as any new product they are introducing, what were the challenges they faced in coming up with that product and how great they think it’s going to turn out. They can even propose a free sampling of the new product, say between 7 to 8 pm only on a specific Monday. That will not only catch the fancy of the target market but ensure it doesn’t cost a fortune by severely limiting the free period range.

Which brings us to their menu. They have a pretty limited menu compared to the competitors, but it’s a good thing. Branding laws state that you can never be everything to everyone so why waste the energy? Instead of trying to offer everything under the sun, offer just a few items but focus on making them the best stuff the customer is going to taste that part of the town.

But this does not mean they should keep the menu static. Far from it. They need to keep coming with new and innovative dishes which they can promote on their blog, website, facebook and most importantly, within their café.. They could either put it on a blackboard or make a small plaque advertising the new hot stuff. It’s nothing new, most of the big brands like Copper Kettle and Arizona Grill indulge in it, and it’s worth emulating. You need to make the customer coming back for more by tempting him with new exciting recipes.

Studio Café is taking maximum advantage of the promotion on karachisnob by including the product of their studio section as well along with the food snaps. But the snaps are almost all wedding portraits, which gives the impression that they only offer wedding portraits. What they need to do is show off a couple of casual photographs as well to show that you don’t need to snap a photo only on a wedding occasion, but you can make every occasion a memorable one and savor it by getting your group photographed.

And they would do well to showcase their studio packages as well on karachinob just like what they have done with the menu. In fact they need to showcase these to the diners as well who come to the place, especially the first-timers. The management is assuming that whoever walks into the café is already aware of the three different offerings of the place. Never assume, especially in this business.

What they can do is create a master menu which offers the three services: dinner, sheesha and photograph, and then have individual menus for them. In fact, give all the three menus to the customers so that while they’re indulging in one service, they can be tempted to try the other two services as well.

We for instance didn’t know about the different offerings of the place and just stayed at the diner lounge because that was where we were seated by the waiter in the first place. During the course of our stay, no one from the management approached us whether we would like to get our group photographed. And that is a serious blunder. Don’t pester the customer but at least let him know what other things you’re offering and what are the price points, then leave him to decide on his own.

All in all, Studio Café has done a good job of promoting the place especially online. Just Google it and you would find the top 10 results not only mentioning the place but highly in favor of it. But, and there’s always a but, it needs to further jazz up its marketing especially in the first two years of its life. Remember the happening café Caffeine near MacDonald Sea View which used to offer pretty much the same things as Studio Café minus the photography part. Well, it’s no more.

Another rumor doing the rounds is that the whole Khayaban-e-Shahbaz strip on which Studio Café is situated is jinxed. Grapevine has it that quite a few restaurants opened on this strip, did roaring business for the first three months, and then all of a sudden ceased to exist. Studio Café will have to guard against this trend, even talk to the previous entrepreneurs who opened shop here to find out what precisely what went wrong with their business.

Getting off to a rollicking start is a good measure of whether the place will survive for long. But it’s not an absolute measure as Caffeine cafe found out the hard way.

If you want to get a feel of their sumptuous factor, head over to Restaurants Uncut.

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But it’s not a new trend by any stretch of the imagination. Pakistanis have always been into eating big time since God knows when. Whether it’s the lack of entertainment options or something else hasn’t been unearthed as ye,t but one thing is crystal clear, this industry is going to be the biggest earner and possibly a big contributor to the GDP in the days to come. And yet, it has not attracted the attention of MNCs, TV/radio channels or big shot marketers. Nor is the industry marketing-savvy. Yes, there are notable exceptions, like Dawn News is providing some ‘food for thought’ with the program ‘For the Love of Food’ which aims exclusively on this industry.

You would have thought by now one of the giant MNCs – Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser or P&G – would have launched a restaurant or a café based on its brands, similar to what Igloo has done with the Dip Shop concept.

But by and large, the industry hasn’t been put in the limelight by the electronic media. Brandasy.com has tried to cover it to some extent, only to realize that an industry of this size requires an entire site dedicated to it and not just one category on a branding website.

restaurants uncut

Hence the birth of Restaurants Uncut, a website which is a comprehensive review guide of the restaurants, cafes, ice cream parlors, ‘dhabas’, ‘thelas’, anything that sells an edible item. All reviews are categorized according to the cuisine (French, Italian, Pakistani, fast food, BBQ), price range (Rs.100 to over Rs.1000), area (from Clifton to Buffer Zone) and special offers. Initially, only the eateries of Karachi are going to be covered, hence the categorization according to area and not city. But later on, other cities’ specialties are going to be put to the sword as well.

That’s the consumer’s part.

It doesn’t stop there. It then goes on to provide an in-depth analysis of the food joint from a marketer’s point of view, what it is doing right or wrong, what more it could do and whether it should just close shop or continue to press on. No subtleties here.

There’s going to be a ‘Consumerater’ at the end of each review, which would tell the prospective customer at a glance whether to indulge in a particular joint or not. Plus the map of each restaurant is shown courtesy Google Maps and Paktive.

The site would develop with time and consumer feedback of whether a particular review correctly guided the person or not, and what more information can be divulged to aid the visitor in making a better eating-out decision.

Finally, Restaurants Uncut provides links to all websites that offer advice on the eating-out scene.

In-short restaurants uncut is a one-stop solution for all the restaurateurs and their consumers.

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Why do I reminisce about it now? Because a new Chinese restaurant has opened up in the same area (not the exact location) with the name New NanKing. It’s location should be a bit of a worry for its restaurateur, Aamir, for it is situated right behind Tariq Road, on the corner of the narrow lane leading to Jheel Park from Bahadurabad. It’s the same lane you take when you want to get to Tariq Road from Bahadurabad but want to avoid the berserk traffic.

The New Nan King Restaurant

So does this restaurant has any relation to the old Nanking? Not really, says the owner Aamir, but he adds the management of the defunct restaurant was supportive in setting up this joint. Whatever that means.

Does this place live up to the expectations of the original? No. But it has its own uniqueness.

The USP of the place is the quantity of the serving. It’s gigantic compared to what the other restaurants have to offer. Whether this is due to it being new is something only time will tell. But that’s how Nanking should try to position itself. It should first try to be crystal clear on what precisely its current positioning is -A low-cost Chinese restaurant in the premium Chinese category. If it’s not satisfied with this position, it should first try to change course from within before embarking on a marketing adventure.

Inside New Nan king

For me, Nanking is placed at a very unique position in the comity of Chinese restaurants. There are no’ low-cost + generous-serving’ brands in the premium Chinese category, as such Nanking holds an inherent advantage by virtue of its position. I don’t think the name Nanking itself holds any sway because not many people would have remembered that place of the yore.

For just Rs.1000, 4 people with normal appetites can have a hearty Chinese meal. What more can you ask for?

Bird

Taste-wise it’s not the best of the lot, but it’s not bad either. The thing is, it does not taste like authentic Chinese, but then how many of us know what authentic Chinese food tastes like? We don’t. Our taste buds have come to correlate authenticity of Chinese food with what we‘ve been weaned on by the local Chinese restaurants. Any new Chinese restaurant whose taste deviates from this ‘standard’ we disregard as lacking authenticity.

fried-rice-beef-chilli

However, the taste is more than offset by the humongous portion they are offering, especially that of the fried prawns. You would be hard pressed to find any Chinese joint offering more than six pieces. These guys are offering an awesome ten. Big succulent fried prawns, and that also ten! They don’t disappoint in the sweet and sour prawns either although the quantity is not the same as their curry-less counterparts.

What can New Nanking do to capitalize on its existing positioning?

1) Discount is the Mon Salwa

Offer special heavy discount deals on those nights which are the slowest of the week. Maybe an All-you-can-eat at dirt cheap rate with no loss in quality on the slowest night of the week would do wonders to the sales. At the very least it would get those people to try it who normally wouldn’t.

2) Differentiate the Offering the Buffet Way

They say the winning combination in marketing is to be different rather than better. The best differentiation a Chinese restaurant can offer in the Karachi foodscape is to offer Chinese buffet. No one is offering that currently or even has, to the best of my knowledge. Red Dragon did that for some time, but it closed shop before I had a go at it. Yes, almost all the buffets in town do offer a couple of Chinese dishes like fried rice and chowmein, but they aren’t any good.

So new Nanking would do well to experiment with a Chinese buffet maybe just for a night a week to gauge the response.

3) Spread the Word Around on a budget

Since it’s a low-cost brand, spending heavily on advertising is neither recommended nor can it afford it. However, a minimum of advertising is essential. What to do? Make brochures not flyers, and distribute them to the shoppers on Tariq Road and even to the shopkeepers. Another good way is to create brochure stands and place them in some of the hot-selling shops on Tariq Road with the brochures.

Pizza One menu

It’s essential that the brochures should be appealing, good quality and most importantly free of typographical errors. The brochure should include the entire menu with price points and the snapshots of the most sizzling dishes, taken by a professional photographer. Any special deals should also be a part of it.

4) Consumers love to fall in love with ‘Special Deals’

Offer special economical deals especially at the lunch hour to the surrounding area residents. This may or may not include free home delivery.  The thing to focus on is the deal itself. It should be really reasonable pertaining to the amount consumers usually spend on a good lunch. And the quantity should be substantial, just like what they’re offering at their usual rates. That and the quality of the food is the most important thing. Pakistani consumers are especially susceptible to anything even remotely deceptive when it comes to special deals. One false move on the restaurateur’s part and the customer is not only to never return, he’s going to ensure everyone within his circle of influence does the same. Deceive a handful of consumers with a large circle of influence and you’ve got a major dent in your sales.

Ginoginelles menu cover

Here’s an example of a deal :

ü  Chicken fried rice

ü  Chicken chowmein

ü  Fried prawn.

ü  Chicken egg roll.

ü  Soft Drink.

Serving for one person.

            Rs. 200 only!

Ginoginelles deals menu

5) Tie them in with Membership Deals:

Annual Membership at a nominal cost with special discounts as high as 50% is something which has been used to tremendous effect by the Pakistani marketers. The pioneer of this technique, or at least the one who romanticized it was none other than Pizza Hut. Eager to penetrate the B-class segment of North Nazimabad and Gulshane Iqbal, it offered membership deals only for outlets in these areas where you could avail an amazing 50% discount on any meal. The card cost a mere Rs.500 and although the number of times you could avail the 50% discount in a year was limited, it still was more than enough to last a year. In fact a single membership bought by one of my friends was used by all the other friends in our group. It was that good.

Nanking should definitely make use of this strategy.

The bulk of the worth of a restaurant is built up through word-of-mouth. However, most of the time word-of-mouth is a slow process. In order to catalyze it, nifty marketing is a must. Yes, the brand equity is established over a period of time, but the sales part is the crucial part which the restaurant needs to survive and prosper till the brand equity takes over the. And for the sales to take off, good old-fashioned marketing with a good honest offering is the only fool-proof way to go.

New Nanking has had a decent start. It should definitely capitalize on it with some shrewd marketing.

Innovative menu of Pizza One

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