A Taste of Philly at Lampeter Café
.jpg?width=2000&height=1333&name=TOP%204-29-23%20(11).jpg "TOP 4-29-23 (11)")
The Background
Kelly & Jimmy Fries own A Taste of Philly. They had a restaurant location in Oxford for over a decade, and have been catering for 40+ years!
Enter Britain Hill Venue & Vineyard. They have two locations: Quarryville (venue, vineyard, and tasting room) and Lampeter (tasting room). Their Lampeter Location, The Livery, has a neighboring building on the same property. That building was originally Lampeter Café (pre-COVID), but has since been split into two businesses: Lampeter Corner Boutique on the second floor and the now Taste of Philly on the first floor!
Britain Hill often has food trucks and catering, which is how the two businesses connected. Britain Hill pitched the idea to relocate their restaurant to Lampeter to complete what they call Lampeter Corner! Food, wine, and shopping- what more could you ask for? December 2023 edit: Britain Hill has now scaled back to just their Quarryville location.
First Steps
TOP had a Facebook page for their Oxford location. Kelly wanted to start from scratch, so I created a brand new FB page for the Lampeter location. We made sure to mark the Oxford location as closed and made several announcements on that page, updating those followers about the move. We will make one last announcement prior to deleting that page.
Let me just say that Lampeter Corner is a beautiful ecosystem! All the businesses support each other- organically and otherwise. Again, food, wine, and shopping. They complement each other very naturally. Someone will stop in for one of the businesses, and will be introduced to two more!
Back to this FB page: we had the advantage of Britain Hill's social media following to really boost the new page, as they shared the news. I am still impressed with how we gained hundreds of followers over just a few days!
Key Details for the Facebook Page
I met with Kelly on a Saturday and they were opening the following Wednesday...XD
Here's what we needed on the page:
- Hours
- Photos of the location (road view is the cover photo)
- Photos of Jimmy & Kelly (1. Photos of people seem to perform best, 2. they're the owners, and 3. customers will see them when they dine at TOP!)
- Opening information
- Menu
- Phone #
Soft Opening
When it comes to your online presence (socials, website, Google Business Profile, etc.), your must haves are going to vary. With a restaurant, hours, menu, and location are a high priority. You need to make that info easy to find.
Leading up to the opening, I posted photos of Kelly & Jimmy with their story, and promoted a prize for the event: gift cards! Doesn't hurt to sweeten the deal to get people out to see a new business. The first 10 people in line received a gift card for their next purchase. Customers are happy to get something free (and exclusive!) and it incentivizes them to return again to spend the gift card! I handled the process of getting these gift cards created and printed.
This soft opening went well, but that's just the start! It's one thing to have a new business be busy the first few weeks when it's still new and fresh, and another thing to maintain a steady stream of customers. Not to mention just finding your footing! TOP had to hire, tweak their menu, hours, etc. It's all a game of seeing what works and what doesn't.
Other Elements
Google Business Profile
I created a GBP with photos of the inside, hours, menu, and phone #. The traffic to the profile was insane! In the months following their opening, I replied to reviews, added new photos, updated the menu link, etc.
Menu
The chef provided a plain text menu in Google Docs, which I then entered into a menu template on Canva. What's beautiful about this setup is that with the foundation done, it's easy for TOP to tweak the menu as time goes on. I helped get these menus printed as well.
Signs
I give my boyfriend full credit for the idea to order yard signs! TOP is located in a high traffic area, at a traffic light no less. I designed front and back yard signs, had them printed, and placed them on both sides of the building. Anyone who drove through the intersection, from any direction, would be able to see them!
I also ordered what's called a swooper flag, that says "restaurant." Those tall, skinny flags, that will say open, wine, etc.
Catering Collateral
TOP had an existing catering brochure with each of their packages, but it was in need of an update. I created a new one on Canva and had several size and paper options printed at a local print shop to see which was best, before committing.
I also made an online version, as "55% of website traffic comes from mobile devices" (explodingtopics.com). It needed to be readable on a phone VS the digital version of their brochure!
Website
I can help with simple websites, which is really all TOP needed. As of now, it's just one-page, built on Squarespace, with the key elements I've been reiterating. You have to make info easy to find. I even recommend repeating it!
I also included catering info on their site, in addition to the rental info on their summer kitchen, which became an option in July 2023.
POS Set Up
A few months after opening, TOP found a POS system to use. I was recruited to confirm what the company had for a menu, and to help set up the online ordering, which was built into that POS. I tweaked and tested as necessary, linked the online ordering to the site, and advertised it on Facebook.
Business Cards
New location, new business cards! I created a design on Canva and had them printed through Vistaprint.
Photos
Kelly & Jimmy needed a few updated photos, so I grabbed a few with my camera at a ribbon cutting event they had in April! I am a board member for the Southern Lancaster Chamber and coordinated the event on behalf of the Chamber.