Marketing Lessons From Jack The Occasional Restaurant

The Occasional Restaurant

A few weeks ago I was in New York and totally loved it … in fact I can’t wait to get back.

I was wondering around the other day getting lunch when I started to think about one of the New York restaurants I came across some time ago. Actually I heard a bit of buzz about it online awhile back so I decided to investigate it further.

What I discovered astounded me!

You see the restaurant which is known as Jack is an ‘occasional restaurant’ … which means they only open occasionally. Now at first this seems a little crazy but on closer look I think there is a very sound marketing principle here for all small business owners.

The idea behind Jack is that they only open once a month or so. You have to be on the mailing list to be notified when they are going to open up the bookings for the night they decide to open. Aparently when they open up for bookings and announce it to their mailing list they pretty much book out straight away. If you miss out you have to try again the next time they decide to open the restaurant.

Now the chefs at Jack are Danielle Sucher and Dave Turner and they are the people behind the food BLOG Habeas Brulee So in effect when Jack is not open Danielle and Dave are maintaining contact with those on their mailing list through the blog … they are building a sense of community and connectedness with those who are desperate to get into Jack next time it opens. The blog also serves to talk about new dishes they will have on the menu … so it builds up demand and expectation.

So what can we learn from Jack to apply to our business?

Well I think by now you will know that creating scarcity around your product and a sense of urgency are key marketing factors. The problem is few of us do it effectively.

What we see with Jack is that they are creating built up demand through genuine scarcity. Can you imagine the word of mouth this is creating from people who either a/ tried to get a booking but could not, or b/ were lucky enough to actually get a booking for one of the few nights they are open.

If you are able to create a similar built up demand and geniune scarcity for your product or service then you can put yourself in a position where you would sell out like Jack.

I was sharing with my Attraction Marketing Inner Circle members recently about WaterColourSecrets.com. The owner of this site Bob is a very smart marketing. His product, which is a 9 DVD course on how to paint watercolour is only available for purchase a couple of times a year. In one year he has sold 1,500 copies.

Typically it sells out within a few days of being made available on the market, and then it is shut back down again until next time. If you miss out you have to wait.

Now what Bob does is to give away lots of free training videos, ebooks and other information throughout the year. This builds up his database of prospective customers. By giving away so much value he is preselling them on why they should get the course when its released.

In the weeks leading up to the next release he builds up the anticipation, has an actual date when it will be available for purchase, and limits the number of copies available. So Bob is a master, like the folks at Jack, at building up demand, and creating geniune scarcity.

One of the biggest mistakes I think many of us make is to always be trying to sell our products and services. We are always in sales mode which has the opposite effect to what we are trying to create.

So the questions I have for you right now are these:

How can you create a built up demand for your product or service were the prospects start to sell themselves on wanting it?

How can you create genuine scarcity when you do make it available for sale?

In the case of Jack they only have a limited number of seats for the one night they are open. So that is geniune scarcity built right in. In the case of Bob with his watercolour dvd’s he only makes a limited number available simply because he is retired and does not want to spend his whole life sticking products into envelopes.

As we move into the new economy in 2010 and beyond I believe that successful business owners will utilise this strategy to great effect. Build up demand, limit availability therefore creating geniune scarcity.

When you get this right you can charge a preimium for your product or service and you will create a viral word of mouth marketing effect that will sustain the growth of your business.

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