Harbor Grill Operations and Marketing Assessment
Challenge
The Harbor Grill is a well-established seafood restaurant located in the Dana Point Marina. With three years left on their current lease and flatlining profits, Harbor Grill needed to streamline operations, increase sales, and evolve the concept for future success within the larger Marina Redevelopment project.
Solution
The Synergy team performed a three-day operations and marketing assessment to determine the best potential opportunities for efficiencies, cost savings, and improvements in the execution of the brand strategy. We initially visited the restaurant as paying guests, and then observed operations procedures, management and marketing programs, and company culture to establish a baseline for future development. We ultimately delivered a comprehensive set of operations recommendations as well as a list of “low-hanging fruit” tactics that the operator could implement to immediately impact sales. To help the restaurant team focus, we encouraged them to raise check average by $3 per person by adding higher-dollar weekend specials, elevating plate presentations to enhance value perception, and promote hyper-seasonal items to create a sense of urgency.
Outcome & Benefits
With the Harbor Grill team focused on the $3 PPA increase and implementing our strategies, they saw an increase of $4.42 per person within a month.