I have recently involved in an ad-hoc and voluntary role for local restaurant business as a Social Media & Marketing Manager (kind of!). The business is called KAI Restaurant, which is a restaurant of my best friends in Birmingham. The name of the restaurant is set after their first child called Ky (I was holding him in the picture).
This is brand-new and just opened on the 25th of August 2019. I have spent my time during weekends to help out with the social media and marketing side to establish the presence of the business in the local and social media communities. I write this blog to record the involvement and also things I have learnt from being involved in this ad-hoc role.
How I got involved?
My friends, a couple from Birmingham, have been researching and aspiring to open a restaurant in Birmingham for quite a while. Their background and knowhow about food and business, in addition to their love of food, make them decide to establish an Asian restaurant with homey vibes. The wife, Vicky, has been taking care of the management, while Kenny, the husband, is the man behind the kitchen and delicious dishes.
As their friends, my partner and I have been helping out. While I have been assisting Vicky and helping her on by creating the presence of the restaurants, while my partner sometimes assist Kenny in the Kitchen.
Although I do not have extensive and direct experience in marketing management, I have some knowledge from managing my Facebook page and from my internship as a marketing assistant after my PhD. With this knowledge and willingness to learn and help, I took the ad-hoc role as my pleasant hobby during weekends. Also, getting paid with great food from KAI Restaurant in return for this favour… how could the job be more pleasant when you get free good food!!
Creating a presence for KAI Restaurant
I started by setting up Facebook and Instagram page for KAI Restaurant Birmingham in advance of the opening date. Setting the accounts before the opening date makes potential customers opportunities to explore what we will offer and also find their way here.
We had some bookings even before the opening nights. This somehow shows that the marketing that we had done yielding some good results.
Besides, we have set up a Google map and TripAdvisor profiles. They are really great sites to get feedback to improve what we are doing and serving at KAI.
Sometimes I pop into the restaurant to dine in and take some photos for the promotion. However, with the time constraint, I could only work for the role during weekends. Vicky, therefore, plays the main role in maintaining the accounts and responding to almost of the inquiries.
Things I have noted from KAI
Attention to detail and PASSION are essential
The great thing I have learnt is that opening and managing a restaurant (even a small one) is not easy!!! If you ever come to visit KAI Restaurant, you might think that the restaurant is small and might be easy to handle. BUT there are so many details that need great attention. With quite a large selections from THAI, CHINESE and KOREAN dishes in the menu, the complication about the ingredients is real!!
Food quality and taste are not allowed to be compromised as our Thai chef and Kenny are so passionate about food and cooking!! For example, proper Thai herbs and ingredients are not compromisable for our Thai food. Also, there have been several experiments prior to the opening before Kenny perfected KAI’s crispy signatures.
Photos of the food are a crucial part of the communication
Besides the great quality and taste of the dishes at KAI’s, it is important to use images to communicate with the (potential) customers. Images could help to promote some of the Asian dishes that local diners might not be familiar with. For example, Grilled duck red curry (one of my favourites!!) might not be something that is widely known as Thai food favourite. We promoted the dish by posting a picture of the dish in our social media accounts. During the week after the photo was posted, the dish seemed to get ordered so frequently. We also received good feedback from the customers on the dish as well. So please follow us on our social media to see new food inspiration!!
We grow and improve every day
Even though the restaurant has been trying its best to provide great quality and taste of food, we received some less favourable feedback as others do. I was a bit upset at first. But Vicky told me that we can take the feedback and aim to improve our food and services. We should be grateful that customers took the time to leave us feedback so that we can improve on those.
Almost a month that the restaurant has been open (and several months of the preparation prior to its opening), I have been learning new insights from restaurant business every now and then after getting involved with this. I also have developed my resilience when facing unfavourable feedback.
Another bonus of this involvement is that I might be able to use the insights and learning here for my main job (i.e. teaching) !!
I might be an amateur Social Media and Marketing Manager, but staff and chefs at KAI are really experienced!! Also, they really passionate about food, cooking and providing excellent services
Interested to try the food at KAI Restaurant Birmingham? Call 0121 453 3338 or contact them via Facebook and Instagram for booking and inquiries.