Yesterday, I witnessed a pretty creative business move. I mean, a real move. Picking up from a retail lease for a restaurant that has been in the same place for years (and years.) Why would a successful restaurant move from a good location only to open a new restaurant in that same retail space?

Well, how about this…

Loyal customers who show up at the old restaurant location to find that there is a new, but similar restaurant open and in it’s place. It looks similar, but with a face lift. New tables, chairs and a much better “entry waiting area”. The place smells delicious. You are hungry. You have no idea what happened to your old favorite, go-to place for a date night with your husband – you have a sitter (and a time limit) – so you decide to try this one.

It’s awesome; at least as good, if not better than the old place.

Then, they tell you. Oh, yea, you know the other place you love, it’s right up the street in the next shopping area. We own that one too, this is our “sister restaurant” – please come back again soon.

So. Will we go to both? Yes, definitely. Will we go more often? Maybe. But certainly, we believe that this new restaurant will be at least as crowded on a weekend night as the other one. They deserve this success, why? because they creatively used their customer following from their first restaurant to launch their second without resting on their laurels – they didn’t overtly say, “we are the same” – they wanted you to try it and love it – and we did.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl