Key Partner Recovery Program Saves Dozens of Small Businesses

My story today is about a family-owned restaurant in difficulties.

In a previous article we highlighted our Key Partner Program, specifically created to support retailers and F&B operators by increasing sales and avoiding lengthy vacancies and costly legal action.

The client is a multiple mall owner in the UAE.

Our task - to try and save 20 retailers and restaurants from going under.

As part of the Key Partner Program, a list of twenty tenants was compiled by mall management. Each of these tenants were considered an asset to the mall tenant mix but were underperforming and had mounting receivables.

The store was situated in the food court but behind the escalator to the upper trading level, so at best a secondary position …

Financially it was a challenge with rent to sales ratio in excess of 55%. Anything over 20% should be cause for concern and over 30% is generally fatal.

*?Staffing levels were at 30% of gross turnover.

*?Cost of food preparation was roughly double the industry average.

*?Marketing spend? ZERO!

So, all in all a candidate for closure and a lengthy legal case on the horizon.

BUT….?when our program director sat with the young couple, who were owner operators, we were immensely heartened by;

a) Their extreme frustration that the business wasn’t performing and just as importantly - willing to take advice and open to ideas.

b) The passion they had for their product (which was actually excellent)

This was their first business, and they were great cooks! but didn’t know / understand how to operate nor measure KPIs in a food outlet.

We devised a three-step recovery plan (which was supported by the mall) with over 30 initiatives, including -

1.?????Increase the awareness of the product by signage at the top of the escalator and food tasting in other parts of the mall.

2.?????Form a “WhatsApp group” of tenants (a captured customer market untapped) in the mall, have a daily lunchtime special and deliver to the stores within the mall.

3.?????Offer combo packages for residents who lived above the mall as part of a community special offer.

4.?????Reduce the costs by evaluating staffing levels and only having extra people when the business demanded it.

5.?????Review the value equation between portion size and price. Simplify the menu and focus on the most popular protein offers.

6.?????Create a clear promotions calendar with the tactical emphasis on the more the customer buys the better the value.

Their “to do” list was 30 plus tasks and all credit to the tenant, having been given the tools and support from mall management, they literally worked their way down out of trouble over the following 3 months. When we visited a month later, they were 60% complete tasks wise and sales had already increased by a factor of 200%.

At the end of their 3 months on the “Key Partner Program” they were a thriving and now profitable outlet in the mall.

Over 500 tenants have benefitted from this unique approach in more than 70 malls worldwide.

For more information to go www.malladvisoryservices.com or contact us direct on [email protected]