When I go out to pitch restaurants, I expect to walk away with at least one tryout at the very minimum. So, a lot of times I’ll make it my goal to get a tryout before I allow myself to have lunch.
Thursday I woke up hungry, skipped breakfast, met up with my associate, and we went out to pitch. Sure enough, it was a difficult area to get a tryout.
We ended up going to a huge mall in the area, wanting to pitch the restaurants within. After our first restaurant told us that it was owned by the hotel attached to the mall, we decided we’d have to talk to the hotel staff and the mall staff before we went any further.
That pushed our lunch back quite a bit.
Starving, with stomach rumbling, we set up meetings with the proper authorities at the mall and received permission to pitch to the individual restaurants. We did not have as much luck with the hotel staff. We got a couple of business cards and a cold shoulder. So, needless to say, we didn’t waste our time pitching to the restaurants next to the hotel.
I was hungry, I needed to eat, and I absolutely had to get a restaurant to say yes.
We decided we were going to go to the food court so that we’d be reminded just how much we really wanted to work.
Holding the prize before our eyes actually worked!
We saw a number of restaurants big enough to work in and we pitched them like there was no tomorrow. (Mostly because it felt like there would never be a tomorrow if I didn’t get any food.) Sure enough, all the persistence and hard work paid off. We were able to land 2 tryouts before we left the mall.
And as you might imagine, I scored a pretty hefty meal as well. It was a VERY late meal, but it was a big one.
On the way home, we pitched a few more places. We mostly gathered intelligence so that we could come back again on another day.
I’m writing this now to say that with a full day of effort, we were able to land 2 gigs a week. We still have some stuff pending, but it is not set in stone yet.
If you are trying to accomplish a goal, try setting a reward for yourself. In my case, it was a punishment until I completed the task and then a reward after the fact.
It also may help to have a partner with you that will hold you to your commitment. With my associate there, I wasn’t going to go back on my word, not even to grab a basket of fries for the ride home.
Nice article. I have to admit that I hate, hate, hate pitching restaurants – the rejection level is always very discouraging. I keep in mind that you might have to pitch ten restaurants to get the one jewel gig, but it can be discouraging! Especially when you find a restaurant that will be perfect for your services but the management isn’t interested, or worse – they are interested but can’t (or won’t) convince their “corporate higher-ups” to get on board!
So I’m just wondering HOW to go about pitching the restaurants? I really want to get restaurant gigs, but don’t even know how to approach them…..
Tips for pitching are still about the same.
Go when the restaurant is slower. (Not during busy times)
As for the GM.
And I use the following pitch:
“Hello, I’m Jonathan and I wanted to tell you I absolutely love the vibe in your restaurant. I am a professional balloon artist and would love to discuss the possibility of working together. Is there a time later in the week when you would be here when I could come in and provide entertainment for a couple of hours? If you like it, we talk more. If not, we can still part friends.”