The story of how the rented curry restaurant "Spice Curry Izon" got its own brick-and-mortar store. This is the second part.
Click here for the first part.
Here's a quick summary for those who are too busy to read the first part.
- "Spice Curry izon" opens in January 2022
- I tried to run a second-hand clothing store in parallel, but it ended up in the red.
- In an attempt to overcome the situation, he started creating his own curry, but nothing improved.
This is the situation we are in as we enter April.
Considering the actual income and expenditure and remaining savings, we decided to try for another 2-3 months, and if it didn't work out, we would have no choice but to close the shop.
In the second part, we will focus on the improvements that the curry restaurant, which was in the red and rented space, made on its way to turning a profit and opening a brick-and-mortar store.
[Improvement point 1: Start of "Around the World Curry"]
- "This time, I'm traveling."
- "This time with seasonal ingredients."
- "This time, it's current events news."
As mentioned above, we thought that if the way we chose the theme for our creative curry was different each time, it would be difficult for customers to understand, so we decided to standardize the way we chose the theme.
He started "World Tour Curry", a project to create curry themed on a country around the world.
The source of the ideas varies each time: ethnicity, immigration, history, current events, food culture, etc., but by including the name of a country in the name of the curry, we aimed to create a catchy impression.
We'll start with Italian curry and change the theme country each week.
[Improvement point 2: Marketing strategy]
Branding
"I make curry with a global theme!"
However, even if we announced this, it was unclear whether it would lead to attracting customers, so we devised a strategy for how to communicate this to everyone in an easy-to-understand way.
I've read a lot of books, but this one was the most helpful.
The Art of Marketing Marketing Techniques – A Complete Explanation of the Perception Flow Model
This is a guidebook for designing and implementing marketing for the sake of benefit (customer profit). The templates used for branding and actual operation were very easy to use and applicable to a rented curry restaurant like "Spice Curry izon".
Based on the Perception Flow branding model,
"Izon's curry is the art of consuming history and culture, offering a new dining experience."
We have established the following benefit (customer benefit) .
marketing
Using perception flow as a reference, we started using Instagram to encourage people to actually visit the store. We tried to post in a way that would motivate people to visit the store when they saw izon's posts on their smartphones.
Forcing benefits on people will not interest anyone, but proposing customer benefits will resonate even with people who are not involved.
The initiative was successful, aided by Instagram's algorithm at the time.
Instagram operations at the time
At that time, Instagram was
- Photos of food that looked "good" were given preferential treatment
- Many people searched for restaurants on Instagram
- Hashtags were a key element
So, even if your post only contained a photo and text, as long as the quality was good, you could expect a lot of reach.
They focused on the beauty of the curry, carefully selected hashtags, and included text that described the creativity and story behind the one-plate meal, clearly conveying the message that "we want people to actually come to the restaurant and try it," and were successful in increasing their reach.
As of April 2022, the number of followers was around 500, but by June, the number had exceeded 1,500.
Understand the situation by the numbers
Increasing your reach means people you don't know are seeing your posts.
Indifference → Awareness → Interest → Decision to visit
The mind of the person who sees the post is somewhere in this bold text, and if you can move the → to the right, the number of visitors will increase.
I compared the hearts of those who see my posts to a pitcher of water, with the image that "if you continue to carefully draw water, the water will surely overflow" (→ moves to the right), and tried to post as often as possible every day.
Although the closing words of the posts encouraged people to visit the store, because we were pursuing benefits (customer benefits) rather than profits for the store, we assumed that "number of reaches and number of visits are proportional" and decided to count the number of new customers each day.
As a result, we found that increasing reach led to an increase in the number of new customers, which gave us confidence that our assumptions were correct to some extent.
[The result of working hard on the curry in a rental]
From red to black: Here's a rough timeline
- April → Red
- May → Red
- June → Break-even
- July → Profit
- August → Profit
The second-hand clothing store is closing down
The number of customers at the rented curry restaurant has increased to as many as 20 people on a busy day, and the situation has finally improved to the point where we can start to expect a profit.
This was around mid-July.
I was relieved and happy, but I was no longer able to devote time to the second-hand clothing store, which I was supposed to be running at the same time, so the store was closed.
At that time, the theme country for the Around the World Curry Project changed every week. Each time, I created 2-3 new types of curry and 4-6 new side dishes, so I couldn't do anything else.
I devote my everything to curry and barely make ends meet.
Deciding that it would be impossible to run both the original curry and the second-hand clothing store, he decided to close the store.
Even though the number of customers has increased, the space is still rented.
Even though they are starting to make a profit, renting space is still renting space.
As briefly explained in the first article , the business model of renting space remains unstable and may end at any time.
Still, because the business was finally starting to get on track, we decided to first challenge ourselves to see if we could continue for a year, and if we were still in the black after that, then we set ourselves the next goal of considering opening a physical store.
One day,
I get a call from someone I once knew who asked me, "There's a vacant space in the curry restaurant right now. Would you like to take it in?"
This tenant is the current spice restaurant Izon, formerly known as Naturemian Spice Curry.
Naturemian Spice Curry was a popular curry restaurant with long queues, but the owner fell ill and decided to close the restaurant before he could complete his business. Someone told me that he was looking for another restaurant to open.
After two interviews, I decided to become a tenant.
We have gained confidence from the fact that we were able to turn a loss into a profit in just a few months since April, and whether that is a year from now or right now, what we need to do is the same in terms of attracting customers to our new stores .
However, the contract would only cover a maximum of 20 seats. Compared to renting a space, the monthly fixed costs would be significantly higher, so I wasn't sure if it would work, but I decided to give it a try.
Opening preparations
It was a sudden decision, and we felt very sorry for our tenant at the time, but we told them that we would be graduating from our lease at the end of August, spent September preparing for the event, developing menus for evening service, and then opened the physical store on October 1st.
We were able to take over naturemian's interior and equipment exactly as they were, so the only physical preparations we had to make to open the store were to bring in stainless steel plates.
[To those who will be renting from now on]
Points to consider about Spice Curry Izon
- I didn't discuss opening the store with my family.
- I tried to do everything on my own.
- I hadn't really thought about how to attract customers.
- The contents of the curry were not explained to the customer.
- Did not calculate each task as labor hours
- It was haphazard and unplanned.
It looks like this.
Don't you think it's amazing that it came together?
If you feel the same way after reading this, then the risk of failure is greatly reduced if you start something in a rented space. All you have to do is do the opposite and do it steadily.
What you should do based on your reflections
- First, talk to your family
- Ask for help from people who can help you
- Properly consider and practice realistic ways to attract customers
- Make an effort to explain the product to customers in an easy-to-understand manner
- Manage your work hours and get enough sleep
- Make a reasonable business plan and implement the PDCA cycle
What do you think?
Maybe he suddenly became a decent person.
If you put these ideas into practice, if you are successful, it will be valuable and reproducible experience, and even if you are unsuccessful, you can use it as learning material for your next attempt.
Don't think of something as simple as going viral on social media.
Intentionally creating buzz on social media requires study and effort, and the algorithms of each social media platform are updated regularly, so you have to create content that matches the algorithms each time. (If you enjoy doing that, it's not a problem.)
It is best to think of SNS as merely one of the tools for steadily attracting customers.
【summary】
Room renting is an unstable business model that depends solely on the trust between the landlord and tenant.
In other words, the benefits for tenants are that "if you have the right connections, you can get started immediately" and "it's easy to withdraw."
Taking advantage of this benefit, you should start by aiming to turn a profit, and if that seems impossible, it might be a good idea to continue it as a hobby, or to withdraw and re-plan.
Although it is a little more expensive, there are also options such as rental space and rental kitchens that can be contracted for a few hours or a day, so if you just want to start something, it may be a good idea to consider these as well.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment and I'll answer them.
If you're going to rent a space, you don't want to make a mistake.
Spice Curryizon was pushed to the brink both financially and mentally, and at the time he seriously considered hitting the jackpot at the horse races. However, he has now grown to the point where he is able to try new things, such as getting designers to make T-shirts for him and putting his logo on deadstock military gear .
We would be happy if you could visit the izon store. We also sell our products in stores, so please feel free to contact us.
