Effect of facade

Hi,
    I am a new member to this forum.
    Me and my wife opened up a new (franchise based, pita) restaurant recently. A week after we opened, our neighbours (also a sandwich place, non-franchise) opened. Our neighbors have a much better facade and seating to their restaurant. We think our food is superior in terms of taste and healthiness and the town we are in prides itself on being healthy and foodie. We were seeing a steady rise in business before our neighbors opened but now notice that a lot of people just go directly to them. We suspect that the better facade has a major role to play. When we had a few promotion days like our grand opening where pita sandwiches were half priced we saw a lot of people come in - but without promotions we don't get as much business as we need while our neighbors always seem to be doing good business.
    My question is what can we do to counter the effects of our neighbors better looking facade and seating? The obvious solution of overhauling our facade to make it more attractive is not an option at this point because it will too expensive for us.
Thanks

Without seeing photos of the front of your (and their) buildings, it would be pretty tough to offer any useful suggestions. Can you post some?

You are right Foodbme. i might not be able to post images since images need to be posted as urls and not uploaded. I see the little message box that says all urls I post will be scrubbed for the first 30 days or until I have more post/reward points.
 
You are also correct about Boulder being more supportive of local M&Ps over franchise/chains and that is a factor as well. Our franchise only has a few locations in the US and we are the only one in CO. We are also locally owned and managed. We are trying to get that message out and downplay the franchise aspect as much as we can. I am pretty sure our food (in terms of quality and taste) is not a negative and we work hard to maintain those standards even if we have to take a monetary hit. We are also hoping that eventually the word will get around that our food really is healthy and not typical franchise fare. Do you have any suggestions for what else can we do to shed the "franchise" image?
 
In terms of the help from the parent company, we can see now where they might have erred in our facade design and location selection. We had input in location selection to be sure but everything else was handled by the franchisor. But there is no way they are going to take responsibility for that and we don't have the resources at this point to pursue that further. So given the way things are, we wanted to know what we could practically do to get more business.
 
We are already going door to door to businesses to get the word out and also boost catering business. We had a huge spike in sales when we did half price sales and even more sales when we had our grand opening with a half price sale and advertising in newspaper and radio. So I guess we need to work harder at getting the word out and reminding customers that we exist.
 
Another factor in play here is we are close to CU Boulder and most of the students are out of town. Our other neighboring business owners say that business should pick up a lot once school is in session. But that wont' be until mid-end August and we need to stop the bleeding asap.
 
I am sorry if this was a rambling post. I just wanted to paint a slightly fuller picture of our situation for you guys.
Thanks

What's the name of your store/franchise? Where are they headquartered? Since they're a startup, I'd think they would want to get a FLAGSHIP Franchise up and running so they can sell your "Success Story". You can be their friend or foe. Since the parent company is small and you're the only one in CO, it should be relatively easy to shed the franchise albatross if they're no help. Make sure nothing in the store hints of a franchise - Signage, napkins, bags, etc.
Do you have a web site/blog or healthy newsletter? Can people order on-line? Do you have WiFi?
Your community is educated and Internet friendly - use it to the max. When the dorks are back at CU, run ads with coupons in the school newspaper. Try to get the food editor from the town newspaper to do an article on you.
There's a local Pita Chain that started here and is growing like crazy. They're going into CA now. My Granddaughter is an ASU student and lives in the one in Tempe AZ. It's her favorite place to eat. She likes to eat healthy food. She's a Sustainability & Renewable Energy Major. God! A tree Hugger in the family!
If you look at their web site, ALL of their locations are in upscale areas and in PRIME locations. They appeal to educated, upscale, health conscious customers with disposable income. The ASU location doesn't quite fit the upscale location model however they get upscale locals and college prof's eating there and, oh by the way, there are 70,000 college students in their back yard! They don't need to run 1/2 price sales.
I suggest you follow their business model and copy what they do.
http://pitajungle.com/ 
(AND you can order on line!)

First off, can the half price deals. They drive a lot of temporary business, but they also severely devalue your product and make you look greedy (i.e. "wow, they sold it for $3 yesterday and today it costs $6, they must be raking in the dough and over-charging me to do it!") Half price deals rarely do any long-term good for your business. You are much better off doing buy one get one deals. The net cost to you (and for that matter to the customer) is the same, but for some reason the customers see it more as you giving something away at your loss and less as a devaluation of your regular menu.

Secondly, start a loyalty card program. This will help drive return visits. It is always less costly to get more revenue from an existing customer than it is to lure a new customer through those doors.

And speaking of getting existing customers back (and since you mentioned you do catering), put a fish bowl on your counter with a sign saying "win catering for your next office party!" Have customers drop their business card in the bowl, and draw two drawings a month. Take all the losing cards and send a letter in the mail saying "sorry you didn't win, but here's a coupon for 25% off sandwiches for up to 12 people". Make sure you include a copy of your catering menu. Throw in copies of your restaurant menu, too, and a sheet of coupons for the restaurant with a post-it note on it inviting the recipient to share these menus and coupons with your colleagues. If boosting your catering is a priority, this will work, and it might get some more lunch business, too.

By any chance are you on Arapahoe Avenue in the Village Shopping Center?

That's good Advice from Stubby77. Follow it.

6star - you are quite the sleuth - yes Arapahoe Av in the Village Shopping Center is where we are located.

Thanks for your advice stubby77. We are doing most of the things you have suggested and will start implementing the things we aren't. 
 
The half price deals were on only for a couple of days on our grand opening. All the other deals we are doing (like coupons and print ads) are BOGOs. We are starting a punch card program pretty soon as well. We also have preferred customer cards where regular customers always get 10% off.
 
Hopefully its just a matter of being patient for all this strategies to start working.

asitwagh:
Because of your location, I think you are going to have to use every trick in the book to get more business.  You are only about 8 blocks away (also on Arapahoe) from a competitor's pita franchise, which appears (at least online) to do a lot of promotion, including delivery and online ordering.  For the younger generation (more likely to be your best customers) anything they can do using their fancier cell phones is a plus.  Also, what are your hours?  This pita competition is open until 3 am on weekends, a time when young people usually get hungry, and offer 6 breakfast pitas on their menu.
 
I took the trouble to track down where you were because it just didn't sound right that a sandwich shop next door would give you so much trouble.  Now, knowing your whole situation, maybe some of the Roadfood professionals will be able to give you even more suggestions.

I'll ask again, What's the name of your shop and the name of your franchise and your/their web site. We can't help you without more info!!!

Our name is Extreme Pita and that is the franchisor name as well.
Franchisor website : www dot extremepita dot com
Our facebook page : www dot facebook com frontslash pages frontslash Extreme-Pita-Purblendz-Boulder-CO frontslash 117313428351378
Yelp page: www dot yelp dot com frontslash biz frontslash extreme-pita-boulder
 
Replace frontslash with / and dot with . above. Hopefully the algorithm is not smart enough to scrub the urls.
We do delivery to students through the same channels as pita pit (the competitor you were mentioning). Also we think (and have had most of our student clientele mention ) that our general standards - cleanliness, food quality, taste are better than pita pit. We are open until 10 pm every day and take delivery orders until 9:30.
 
We picked out the location we are in so that we weren't totally dependent on students.

Are you allowed by your franchise agreement to develop your own web site (I.e.www.extremepitaboulder.com if that address is actually available? If so, it would help cement you in the minds of your potential customers as locally owned and operated, and would help with your local marketing. Besides which, the corporate site is too flash-heavy and not at all mobile-friendly, which isn't doing you any favors in a college town.

I think the franchisor should be ok with that. I was also pondering the idea of starting up my own blog that talks about our recipes, our local involvement, other restaurant related news, etc. But wasn't sure if customers' attention would be divided across facebook, yelp AND a blog as opposed to getting focused.
Most of the students here order off of hungrybuffs dot com. We are on there and so is pita pit. 

stubby77, are you in Boulder as well if you don't mind me asking?

Heh... nope. Only been in Colorado in my dreams (would love to head out there skiing some day). I'm in Massachusetts. Why do you ask?

As far as a web site and divided attentions... here's my take on things... yelp is a review site and it has its own fan base. I've used yelp many times to check out places I discovered before I visited. But, yelp isn't going to sell your business for you, you need to do that. Facebook is great, and is a hugely helpful marketing tool, but people aren't going to your Facebook page to figure out what they want for lunch. A web site allows you to put your menu online. It allows you to push your catering. It allows you to describe a little about you and your team. Most importantly, when a potential customer is looking to find a good pita in Boulder, they're not going to Facebook and probably not going to yelp. Most of the time they are going to Google. Having your own web site will help push traffic to you.

You do NOT need a fancy web site. You don't need glitz or fancy stuff. You need a clean, professional, welcoming web site that includes the very basics: a menu, information about your shop, information about your products, directions, and that sort of thing.

I am still a newbie and am not allowed to reply to any PMs at this point.

The advantage of the facebook, twitter and other social sites is that the more people that "like" you or the more posts you have the higher your google ranking goes (closer to top). Google "website optimization" and there are tons of tutorials on how to do this.

I see you're listed on urbanspoon/boulder. That's good!
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/17/1596857/restaurant/Denver/Extreme-Pita-Boulder
right now you have a 100% "Like" rating but only 5 people have voted, (Including ME!)
When you click on your pdf menu link, the 1st page is the nutritional info and the food is on page 2. YOU NEED TO REVERSE THAT!
Use it to promote your business by asking your customers to post favorable reviews and click the "Like" button.
Here's an example of how powerful it can be:
 A small mom & pop pizza place down the street from my house printed up a sheet that they started  giving out to customers asking them to vote for them on Urbanspoon. It had complete instructions on how to get on the site and vote. Customers responded and got them into the Top 10 pizza places in the entire Valley of the Sun! They are BY FAR the smallest pizza place on the list. All the others have multiple locations and/or spend TONS on advertising. They did it by asking their customers to help. If you do this, people (& the Media) will become curious to find out what your place is all about and will start coming through your door, facade not withstanding.
Here's their urbanspoon link. Their name is Casanova Brothers. By the way, their pizza IS good and they are busy! They're #4 on the list against some heavy hitters!
http://www.urbanspoon.com/f/22/2144/Phoenix/Pizza-Places 
Your Competitor, Pita Pit, is # 8 on the list of Mediterranean restaurants in Boulder with only 10 voters & a 90% rating. ( I just voted and knocked them down to 81%)
With an aggressive campaign, you can top them and possibly knock them off the list!
It's called "Gorilla Marketing"

Thanks for all your help guys. We are going to print out a bunch of survey type forms for people to fill out and let us know how we are doing and update/like our facebook/yelp/urbanspoon pages. We are also signed up a sms text based deal and rewards program. 

stubby77, I hadn't realized that the forums lists peoples locations with there ids. Since you happened to know where we were - I just wondered whether you were here in Boulder.
 
I used to live in Boston way back when and you are right the skiing here is awesome - though I won't be doing any this season. Even the worst skiing day in terms of snow conditions here is better than anything you can find on the east coast.