Hi Neil,
I don't think you are fighting a losing battle at all. Unfortunately, in this climate, businesses are having to adapt to the demands of the market and offer things which are appealing to the customer, but which may previously not have been part of the original plans for the business.
I do think your location hinders you a little, but there is no reason why customers will not come specifically to your patisserie instead of others. It is about making your customers see that they NEED to come to your shop, because it will offer them a significant benefit. This may be that they will save money, that they will be in more comfort or that the quality of food/drinks on offer are far superior to those served in other shops. Others have mentioned that you should try offering different things (sandwiches/alcoholic beverages etc), and i would agree with this - you need to offer at least what your competitors are offering or you won't be on a level playing field! Then try to better it somehow, maybe include some sort of lunchtime meal deal or something?
I'm sure you are aware of the basic 4 P's of marketing (Product, Price, Place, Promotion), so i wont ramble on about them too much. However, each of these would need addressing and you should carry out a competitive analysis to see how each of your competitors are getting on in these areas. You can't really do an awful lot about Place, but the other three can certainly be worked upon. Price, for example - How much are your competitors charging for a standard Pain Au Chocolat? If you are charging more but cant afford to bring your costs down, why not add a promotion? You could offer a loyalty card, whereby someone buys 5 items and get the 6th free. You could also turn it in to a lunchtime offer - a croissant and coffee saves 50p or something. I think its definitely worth utilising lunchtime and breakfast deals as office works WILL come to you if they see a valid reason to!
I used to work in a pub without a beer garden, and in the summer months it was absolutely dead, but in the winter it was storming. Unfortunately, we cannot always help these things so you may find you just need to weather the storm until the winter months have reached us.
In terms of product, the world is your oyster really. I would certainly advise branching out in to sandwiches, jacket potatoes, soups etc. You could also put on some weekly specials which add a bit of variety to your business.
The key for you here is visibility. You are obviously at a slight disadvantage as you are not in the most visible position. However, you can make yourself visible in other ways - post flyers and leaflets to all the nearest offices, offering a lunchtime deal, or offer code, which can give them a discount. Leave some business cards/leaflets at the shopping centre information point, you'll be surprised at how many people will be driven to you from that.
I don't think you have too much to worry about, just keep at it, know your competitors and make yourself as visible as possible.
Best of luck!
Adam
Maybe you could get some small (A4 or smaller) flyers printed with something like "Special Offer! Buy one coffee and cake at (name of cafe) get another one half price!" Or free if you can afford this?
You need to entice people down the shopping centre and into your shop so you need someone at the entrance giving out flyers with some special offer on it. Why not get them to have a little stall at the entrance with samples of your delicious cakes ? And a big poster of your cafe/shop.
People need an incentive to come down your way - so will other shops in that part - you could do a deal with them on costs of printing and make people come for the coffee and cake, and whatever your neighbours sell?
Good luck.
As your business is doomed to failure and imminent shutdown you can only try the following to see if you can boost your customer figures, if it works you will survive, if not then at least you will feel you tried your best:
1. As the weather is nice and hot now, you might want to introduce cold drinks and different types of ice cream in your coffee shop.
2. Stand at the entrance and offer people 10% discount vouchers for visiting and eating at your place.
3. Change your lunch time menu to include different items as the current ones are obviously not bringing in the customers.
4. Do special offers like two for one, 10% off or 20% off on Thursday afternoons (when your business is the worst) etc.
5. Sack all of those pretty waitresses who are just hanging around filing their nails because there are no customers.
6. Offer some sort of live entertainment every Friday afternoon if you are allowed to - maybe even start selling cold beers if your license permits.
7. Go around to all of the local businesses and leave lots of 10% off vouchers for their staff to use.
8. Started selling sandwiches and packed lunches.
If you try all of the above and still fail then it is just not meant to be.
In the winter( if it gets cold where you are) you will probably see more customers anyway. The other option is to bake up a cake and let people sample a tiny peace and or give a sample of the coffee. I am a sucker for a 25% off coupon for something sweet :) maybe hand out a discount coupon to people who come in to sample. One more thing is that instead of giving a 25% coupon, you could give a coupon saying " bring a friend for a special 50% off the second purchase of"....... what ever you decide to put on the coupon. That way, they feel good about a discount and one more person knows about your shop. Good luck
FLyers, pass them out when you are not busy, go to local libraries post them up, grocery stores, get a sign in the fron with specials for high tea or after work coffee, Advertise on craigslist using pictures of your food. Have like one of those bowls where people drop a business card and give them a free coffee if they win, do it like once a week. Also go to local offices and hotels and take your flyers, they will put them in customers rooms. Do you have freee wifi? go and get it! Free wifi with any purchase is a sweet deal. Say people can conduct interviews in there, make a breakfast sandwich and a lunch sandwich speacial only do like 1 or 2 for them to choose from with some chips and a ice coffee for a set price, deliver large orders for companies hosting breakfast or hotels doing continental break fast, stand outside with a try and tooth picks and give people a little sample of the donut or pastry! also when you ask a question next time leave a city! lol I love pastry
It sounds like you will have to find the ABSOLUTE bottom number that you can sell your products for, and still cover your lease and expenses. After that, start promoting deals like crazy. TONS of specials. Start calling up those office buildings, and offering catering to them, and all kinds of lunch specials.
OR
You need to become a different kind of restaurant. Make yourself unique. Cook food that doesn't exist in your area
The strategy on how to gain more market is important. Try to have promotional products strategy to endorse business...
We have a patisserie/cake shop/ coffee shop in a shopping centre. Right now the centre is quiet and footfall down so our customer numbers have dropped. We are right in the bottom so anyone coming from outside needs to walk a fair bit and pass a few other coffee shops to get to us. Also with the Sun we are seeing less people come inside. How can we increase our customer numbers? are we fighting a loosing battle? what kind of things would get people in if there are not many people in the shopping centre in the first place? will office people come in with limited lunch time? or will they go to the more local cafe? Any ideas you have would be great.
