The Local 937 and Lily’s Dayton both reached out to customers on Facebook, asking simply that they consider coming in for a bite to eat.
That’s exactly what customers did, judging from reactions on social media.
“We can’t imagine Dayton without Lily’s,” Facebook user Melanie Wagner wrote on Lily’s page, promising a “weekday girls’ dinner soon” at Lily’s.
The Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance regularly conducts “business impact polls” from Ohio restaurants and hospitality businesses. Earlier this year, Ohio restaurants surveyed said with rising food and labor costs, 70% of them planned to increase their prices this year.
Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality President and CEO John Barker said inflation is driving changes in the restaurant industry. Inflation for ingredients is up about 32% from the pandemic, he said.
“If you go back in history, a three-year increase on costs like that would be more like 6% instead of 32%,” Barker said in a release. “They really have nowhere else to go other than to begin to adjust their menu prices, and they don’t want to do that.”
But raising prices doesn’t always work if a restaurant doesn’t have customers coming in on a regular basis.
The Local 937 is a sandwich shop in the St. Annes Hill Historic District, at 1501 E. Fifth St., in Dayton.
“We’re a new restaurant,” Local 937 owner Rachel Gannon said in an interview. “So obviously there are struggles starting out.”
And while struggles are to be expected, she said, some stretches of this past summer were brutal.
“Everyone was on vacation, I guess,” Gannon said with a laugh. “It was just bad.”
She and her crew worked the tried-and-true approach, adding new menu items and more. Gannon said the restaurant had a great Porchfest, an increasingly popular festival for the St Anne’s neighborhood.
“And then it was super slow again,” Gannon said.
That’s when Gannon borrowed a page from Emily Mendenhall, owner of Lily’s Bistro.
“Emily down there is fantastic,” Gannon said. “She just laid it out on Facebook a few weeks ago. She said, ‘Guys, we’re struggling. We’re not going to make it.’”
Added Gannon, “And then the next day, you know, they need to hire someone. And I just took that lesson as, if you’re transparent with your community, they will come and support you.”
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
In early August, Lily’s posted on Facebook, saying, “I’m writing this post to say we are struggling, bad, and we need help.”
The post got an evident response, on and offline, and quickly.
Two days later, Lily’s posted (also on Facebook): “We have NEVER in 11 years had a Thursday like this and the turnout was incredible and we are so grateful to everyone for their patience and their support!”
“Lily’s is an Oregon District landmark and a Dayton institution,” Facebook user Jason McKiernan wrote.
“We love you guys and we’re rooting for you! Always recommend you to folks looking for a great restaurant to grab vegan/vegetarian options,” The Dublin Pub wrote via its Facebook account.
Archer’s Tavern owner Dan Apolito doesn’t need to be sold on social media as a tool to drum up business.
“I think social media is very useful,” he said. “It’s a great platform for restaurants to get information out to their customers about new food items, any special or any events they might be running.
“It’s a very economical to reach out to your customers,” he added.
Mendenhall did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story. But when Gannon decided to emulate Lily’s social media approach, Gannon said there was a payoff.
“It took a couple of hours and then all of a sudden we were just slammed,” recalled Gannon, who has worked in restaurants since she was 14. “It didn’t take any time at all.”
Sharing on social media brought in “tons of new faces,” she said.
Gannon said she also took a suggestion from customers on social media, installing a soft serve ice-cream machine recently.
“I think social media works, and it’s a great way to contact your customers,” said Amy Zahora, executive director of the Miami Valley Restaurant Association.
Said Gannon: “We’ll be fine if this keeps up ... we’re super grateful, super grateful for all the support we’ve gotten right now.”
Zahora’s advice: Reach people where they are.
“For the most part, just getting on social media and sharing what you do and everything, you’re going to intrigue people and catch people’s eye, because people are on their phones all the time,” she said.
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