By Matt Plapp
Recently, I sent you out into your community to win the 15 people who can influence thousands. Get out there and show up for the folks who show up for you. I meant every word. This week, we are coming back inside—into your pizzeria, because there is a fight you are losing right under your own roof.
I’m Matt Plapp, the CEO of America’s Best Restaurants, and we help independent restaurant owners win against the chains through our three pillars, ABR: Attract Attention, Build a Database and Retain Your Customers.
You already know you cannot out-footprint the chains. There are 11 Chipotles in my Northern Kentucky market, and I drive past five or six of them, just by running my daily errands. You will never beat that with a bigger sign. So stop trying. The chains win the corner, but you win the room. Your four walls are sacred ground. Every person inside chose to walk through your door and hand you their money.
For years, owners have believed that those people will keep coming back on their own. They assumed they’d see the same faces, coming through the door with the same cadence, forever. They won’t—at least, not all of them. That belief is the most expensive mistake in this business.
In the ABR pillars, Attract gets a customer in the door once. Build captures who they are. But Retain decides whether they come back a fourth time—or not at all. And the No. 1 place you win at Retain is inside your four walls.
Don’t Run a Special. Take Over the Building.
My guy Jake Grindeland at Cornerstone Pub and Prime in Wyoming, Minnesota, gets this better than anyone I know. Jake could run a St. Patrick’s Day drink special for a day and call it good. But he doesn’t; he takes over the whole restaurant.
After his Christmas holiday pop-up bar crushed it, he built a St. Patrick’s version. He filled his neon room with decorations, gold coins and glitter, ran specials like Reuben sliders and corned beef and cabbage all month, built a full March cocktail menu, and poured $7 green beer all month long. Not for a day—all month. He gave people an atmosphere they could not shut up about. Jake told me those in-store promos, plus the Christmas pop-up that ran clear through January, have given him double-digit sales increases.
Why does a holiday takeover belong in a conversation about retention? Because nobody knew who was driving across town for your drink special, but your regulars are. They come in, have a blast, post about it, and a few days later, they are back with friends who have to see it. Every time they walk in, they are wondering what you will do next. That wondering is retained attention, and it is worth a fortune.
Do the math. Say you want to grow sales by $100,000. Assuming a $20 check per person, that equates to a mountain of new strangers. But Jake’s average check is close to $40, so he needs only about 600 customers a year to come in a couple of extra times. We have all heard that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your people. Give that 20% a reason to show up more often, and the math gets easier.
Jake never stops giving them reasons. He had a huge celebration for America’s 250th birthday in July, with patio concerts all summer, and the last time I looked, a video about it had already pulled 12,000 views in three days. He is not chasing strangers; he is making the people who are already walking in feel like they cannot miss what is next.
Don’t Let Your Walls Turn Into Wallpaper
Here is the flip side of this strategy: The graphics and decorations inside your restaurant either grab attention or they become wallpaper. A stale sign is an invisible sign.
We once worked with Quaker Steak & Lube, a motorsports-themed spot with a night for everything: wing Wednesday, classic car night, kids night and steak night. Those were all great ideas. But the graphics promoting them went up and never moved. Within a year, every regular had stopped noticing them. They faded, and the promotions lost their luster, all because nothing changed.
So switch your graphics often, and reset them the second a holiday ends. If you are going to do a one-and-done promo on Valentine’s Day, clean up your promo materials on the February 15. If you are going to own a whole month, the way Jake does, then own it. Just do not leave a sad balloon floating over an empty stage.
Then add one engagement piece that makes people act. Jack at Blasiole’s Pizza in Streetsboro, Ohio, has cardboard cutouts and miniature Jacks scattered around the restaurant that customers scan to join his VIP program. That pulls a phone from a pocket and turns a visit into action. He even has a timer by the register: If it lands exactly on 10 seconds, you win something free. I have tried it three or four times and have never come close, but I remember it every time I walk in. That is the point.
Jake Wasn’t Always This Good
Here is the part you need to hear: Jake did not start out like this. When we first met in December 2023, he was just beginning to build his brand, and marketing was an afterthought. In May 2024, he decided to get serious and went to work. Two years later, he runs one of the best-marketed restaurants in Minnesota, and his sales are skyrocketing.
None of that was luck, and none of it was an accident. He did not dream up that March takeover in February. He planned it months ahead. You have to look 60 to 90 days out. Sitting here in July, Father’s Day is already gone. But back-to-school season is coming in August, fantasy football kicks off in late August, and the NFL returns in September. Then there’s Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Start assigning those promotions to your team right now.
Want to see exactly where your marketing is leaking attention? Take our free WIN Audit. The industry average is 28 out of 100, and we can typically add 40 points in a few months. And if you want to go deeper, join our free ABR Skool community, where we help owners and their teams dominate all nine strategies under the ABR pillars. We go live every Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern. Bring your questions.
And, in the meantime, here’s your bottom line for this week: Your best customers are already in the building. Go give them a reason to stay.
I’m Matt Plapp, the CEO of America’s Best Restaurants, and we exist to help independent restaurant owners win, not survive. We help them win through their marketing and by leveraging our three pillars: Attract Attention, Build a Database, and Retain Your Customers. The goal is to win new customers, win back lost customers, win more frequent visits, win higher check averages, win your community’s attention, and win against the chains.
