Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Glen,
Marketing ideas would come after a few of the basics are covered first. You seem to have a good location and I like the name - Oceans 23. Normally, these kind of things would come about after extensive marketing analysis - but now they are "givens" and it's lucky you have them going for you versus against you.

In marketing, first you want to define your market: Who are you customers and what are their needs? What motivates them? How can you best influence them (message and media)? Next you want to survey the competition and identify where the competition isn't satisfying those needs.

Again, what you have done is answer these questions - maybe with a lot of thought (I hope). You feel the customers need fresh produce, premium coffee, a child friendly environment, and someplace that addresses allergies. My question to you is: Are there enough customers who have these needs that are unsatisfied by the competition to fill your tables? If not, you need to drop back and make sure you are matching your offering to a large enough customer base to make your restaurant successful. Consider pricing (if child-friendly is the key, then they are generally price sensitive), menu choices (appealing to parents and children - heathly, yet tasty..), decor, and even details like paper table cloths for kids to doodle on, wait staff dress, what customers can do while they wait (kids get antsy if there is a delay in seating), etc. All these have to be consistent with your choice of who you are serving and their needs and likes.

Now, assuming you match the right offering to the right customer base, then you have to figure out how to get your message to them. This is two steps: 1) How do you structure your message to tell customers that you meet their needs better than the competition? What language and style motivates your customers? Maybe you concentrate on the child-friendly aspects, describing how you entertain the children, or maybe it's your special menu for people with allergies, or maybe it's the special menu for kids with allergies...whatever motivates your target customer your direction. 2) The proper media - choose media that your target audience is prone to frequent. A local newspaper, a radio station, a TV station, etc.

I realize this is a bit general and vague, but this is the best I can do given the relatively limited information you provided. If you would like some more specific help, either provide some more details, or better yet, take out a "project" and the experts on this site will bid on helping you.

I hope this helps.

Wayde