souplantation-sweet-tomatoes logo

Sweet Tomatoes / Souplantation

How to generate new guest acquisitions and do it with an impact that is 4X times the industry average

Challenge: New executive leadership at Garden Fresh Restaurants engaged Ellish Marketing Group to undertake a “review and assessment” of Sweet Tomatoes / Souplantation’s historical and current marketing efforts and to identify marketing opportunities with a recommended marketing approach to allow for future direction for the brand and programs that could have an immediate impact on increasing guest counts – – with a focus on new guest acquisition.Sweet Tomatoes FSI by Ellish Marketing Group

Solution: We started by conducting a comprehensive review of brand consumer research, historical and current marketing plans and budgets, and historical marketing program sales and profit performance.  Based on that learning, we developed and tested new incentive offers that can drive traffic (both among current users and non users) and developed new brand messaging and creative designs (including new food photography) that can be used in FSI print, loyalty club email marketing and targeted direct mail.

Rationale: A focused message of “An Endless Array of Fresh and Cravable Choices” pictorially and clearly communicated (without ever showing a buffet setting) the freshness story from receipt of ingredients to the tossing of fresh salads throughout the day. Guests created their own salad masterpiece from over fifty fresh ingredients. Targeting direct mail pieces into the homes of potential new guests that live convenient to each restaurant location, with the right freshness message and seductive incentive offers to visit, created a dialogue with these potential guests to visit and allowed for a very efficient and effective use of marketing funds.

Results: The system-wide targeted direct mail program had an average redemption rate of 19.8% – – more that 4 times the normative redemption for retail / restaurant mailers.  More impressive was the fact that over 20% of the redeemers, were first time visitors of the brand.

Sweet Tomatoes direct mailer by Ellish Marketing Group      Sweet Tomatoes direct mailer by Ellish Marketing Group

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