A New Take On Restaurant Demographics

Two questions:

1. Who is your target audience?
2. Does target audience really matter at all?

The answer to the second question depends on whether you plan to use mass media. If you do, target audience is important in choosing your media. If you do not plan to use mass media, then I suggest definition of target audience different than the traditional definition.

My definition: Anyone who likes your category of food and is willing to dine out at your price point is your target audience. Male, female; old, young; rich, poor; they're all your audience as long as they have money to spend.

Wait a minute. You can't fool us. We know from our marketing classes and years of experience that we want to attract certain demographics.

True. To a point. You see demographics are good for determining where to open your location, what your interior should look like, what menu items you offer, what your price point is, and a whole range of decisions.

But if you're reading this, those decisions have been made already and your restaurant is open. So your new target audience is anyone living or working within a 5 minute drive who likes barbecue (or salads or burritos or pizza).

If you can't get locals to visit, good luck getting someone who fits your demographics to a T to drive 15 minutes in heavy traffic and pass countless other, similar restaurants just because they like you better. It rarely happens. You wouldn't do it, why would they?

Plus, if you're the Mayor of Your Village, shaking hands, kissing babies, then your efforts are more about salesmanship than marketing. Marketing is a message sent to the masses, but local store marketing is about crafting a message for a particular group in the community. Love me, love my product. You are the brand.

Ok, Ok. Demographics aren't completely useless after you're open. They can help you figure out who your heavy users are, what's important to them, and how you can get them to bring their friends.

Demographics matter, but once you've signed the lease they're secondary. Now it's all about convincing those who are near you to frequent you.