How a Restaurant Won New Business in Tough Times

Vivendi’s Italian restaurant is owned by a married couple, Nick and Lucia Vivendi. They opened the restaurant 14 years ago after working in their parents businesses; they refer to the restaurant as their 'first child'. Vivendi’s is located on the main street in the town, close to several other restaurants including a Chinese buffet, a local pizza restaurant, and several fast food chains. Vivendi's also competes pricewise with large chains like Oliver Garden and Macaroni Grill plus some larger independents that located near local malls. Vivendi’s has been advertising in the local newspaper and the yellow pages for several years, always ru nning a ¼ page in the restaurant sections. The ad rarely changes and details many of the things on their menu as well as their event catering. The ad rep for the local newspaper told them that some of the local restaurants were cancelling the regular ads because business had lately gone down. Instead of cancelling their ads, Nick and Lucia decided to change their ad and now feature a different specialty every week. They selected meals most popular with their current customers. This decision created more work for the newspaper but Vivendi’s business picked up. Their 'old time' customers remembered how much they liked the specials and came in more frequently, and new customers said the ad caught their attention y since it featured an item that sounded unique and really good.

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