This is brilliant.

Not going to lie. This technique would work on me.

Me too! I’m very loyal. Good service means everything.

He’s amazing. I used to watch him on bar rescue. Rough around the edges but highly effective.

I’ve heard of that show, but I’ve never watched it. Now I’ve got to check it out!

He's wrong. It costs him $8 to keep a customer, not to get him. In order to get him, he must've invested previously in marketing. Once he is acquired, then you can pay $8 to make him recurrent.

I was actually addicted to watching bar rescue back in the day. I am a small business owner, and I have always thought that this man was a genius!

It’s funny I didn’t know who he was until yesterday and I started watching the show last night, he’s a must watch! Totally agree.

@TheSkalez He’s kind of like the Dave Ramsey of the bar/restaurant world. He comes in and berates you for everything you’re doing wrong. Many people deserve it though.

Exactly. But he doesn't just do it because he's an asshole. It's like tough fatherly love. Because once you get your act together, he usually gives you a hug and tells you what a great job you are doing. The people he demolishes, are people that are destroying their own lives due to their laziness or incompetence.

You know where he didn't learn that? MBA school.

And it all comes down to one thing: Quality. Those ribs, that chicken, the cheesecake…. Need to be flawless, along with the service. This is how small businesses survive and succeed!!

Great stuff! Since OP didn’t credit the source/creator: this was Jon Taffer on the Shut It Down podcast.

He said it was getting the customer in for a third visit, but didn't he talk about four visits? Visit 1 - initial visit; visit 2 - rib dinner visit; visit 3 - chicken dinner visit; visit 4 - cheesecake visit.

This is correct. In the late 80s when I was a busboy in fine dining, our Maitre d' was from Crickets in Chicago. The man knew everything about a dining room. We were briefed on every reservation in the hostess's book. This guest is new. This guest is a friend of the owner. And so on. We learned preferences, we learned favorite tables and even favorite seats for some guests. The idea is simple; the guest is a star cameo appearance in their own personal little moment of theater. Make them feel like the leading role.

don't get too excited -- these stats are all made up.

If the ribs only cost $4 why tf are you charging me $32? Make it $12 and I'll be back once a week.

That is Fcking brilliant!

I’m guessing he does pretty well!

I know I want to try the cheesecake

Note to self. Bring red napkins to restaurants from now on.

Holy crap, that's experience hard core right there. Could be applied to basically any business that interacts directly with customers. Wow.

Yes, it is. He’s my favorite kind of restaurant owner. That’s why I always enjoyed working in mom and pop restaurants. It’s about being there for people, corporate restaurants can’t grasp this concept. They might give you a really nice coupon in the mail, but there’s a difference between getting something in the mail and being handed something from a manager, especially when is the same Manager multiple times. That’s how you build rapport.

Most of the bars he rescued failed within a year, & he started a restarant chain during Covid in 2020 & the keystone location has a 3/5 on TripAdvisor. The only thing this guy is good at is talking shit.

Um. No. Faking weird "relationships" and silly napkin props doesn't do it. It feels desperate. The parking/access has to be easy, food has to be good and the staff should be almost invisible. Stop it with the stupid banter.

I remember going to a nice restaurant with my grandparents when I was young. You always knew who the new people were because the owner would come out and meet them, then walk around and say hello to people by name who were regulars. After he passed away the restaurant went under.

I wonder if I always tell them it’s my first time here, will they treat me better?

Full interview with @jontaffer:

$4 for ribs? These lab grown or what?

I love hearing a genius talk about something I have no understanding of... maximum learning delta

Customer Acquisition Costs Certainly a misunderstood concept to a lot of companies and customers.

The reason the cheesecake is free the third time is because no-one goes in just for dessert, so they'll buy a meal just to get the free cheesecake.

Been watching a lot of Bar Rescue rerun clips lately, all the fake production aside, Taffer is actually a genius. The dude is legit and knows his stuff.

cmon i love taffer but this is very flawed, in this scenario the customer is already through the door, you already acquired him. He's talking customer retention. The challenge is to get him through the door the first time. and dude coupons? whats next gonna do daily specials & 2for1's? this works for cheap restaurants but you don't wanna be handing out coupons for fine dining it feels cheap.

Goes to show that in an increasingly digital age, human to human connectinon, creating an an extraordinary experience is an asset- scarce and valuable.

Having been to his (failed) restaurant in dc can tell you firsthand that this is all BS

It is brilliant. I know a lot of restaurant owners that have similar strategies. This is actually pretty well known in the industry... But this guy seems like a pro.

Brilliant

It's not hard to make good food, but bad service can kill the vibe in a split second.

We did same thing offer someone 10% off on a dinner wasn’t much , offer a free bottle of wine , very very happy, the wine was cheaper than 10% off

Eh. I feel like most of the statistics he's talking about are driven by mere proximity. I love Les Cantines du Troquet, but it's kind of hard for me to go to Paris on the regular to eat there.

This is how I had so many repeat customers at my coffee shop. I lured them in with freebies, upgrades and I remembered all of them and what they like. People love to be remembered while getting free stuff

The proposed system STILL requires flawless food and experience. Hard to replicate