Rough Draft

Billboards, flyers, commercials, social media, business cards, and to-go menus strategically placed where unsuspecting customers will come across them. These are all effective means of advertisement for restaurants, but a drawback is that they are all overdone. I know that I’ve seen so many advertisements that it’s almost second nature to tune them out. To stand out from the crowd it’s imperative to be unique.

How can that be accomplished you ask? Well, I’ll tell you how I achieved this very feat with the help of my boss, Emma.

I’m originally from a college town where I work as a waitress in a small, primarily organic restaurant called Emma’s Food for Life. Not only does Emma own the restaurant, but she also has her own farm where she raises a variety of animals. She has everything from cows and pigs to rabbits and chickens. We use the meat to create delicious dishes in the restaurant, and also have pork and eggs packaged to sell to customers who want it.

Emma’s has a wide range of interesting dishes on the menu that changes seasonally. In addition to our unique menu items, we also cater to a variety of food allergies and preferences including vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free options.

I could go on for a long time about all the great things about Emma’s because it truly is an exceptional place. Unfortunately, it is based in a college town, so during the summer months when the students are gone business is quite lethargic.

I remember one Tuesday afternoon in late spring of last year particularly well. Tuesday is usually our slowest day of the week, but we surprisingly were quite busy. During a short reprieve I was chatting with Emma and she made a sarcastic comment along the lines of, “Don’t get used to it. Within a month this place will be deserted.” Her comment confused me because this was still the first year I had worked there. After I inquired as to what she meant, she explained how dead we usually are after the students leave.

Over the next few days I thought about her conundrum. I quickly came to the conclusion that we needed to advertise, but how? Then walking to work one day, as I passed the town square (also called the Commons), it came to me!

The summer before this one, I helped my mom run a stand at the local farmers’ market that was held in the Commons. While I was working here I met Alison, the effervescent manager of Emma’s. She manned a stand where she sold the packaged pork and carton-ed eggs, along with talking off the ear of anyone who would listen to her. She was also the person who originally implored me to apply at Emma’s. (And thank god she did – I love my job!)

Unfortunately for the Emma’s crew, Alison moved to Maine the October after I started working there. This meant that there was no-one willing to do the stand for Emma. At least until I brought it up to her when I got to work that day.

When I asked her if she planned on doing the stand again she said she didn’t think so because it was something Alison facilitated and did on her own time. That’s when I volunteered to do it myself, and she jumped on the opportunity.

We were on the same page that the primary purpose of the stand was to advertise. She thought I would be a good fit because I had the past experience with the market, and I’m a charismatic individual who can generally start conversations with anyone while making them feel comfortable.

After we worked out how much I would get payed, we went about gathering all of the necessary materials from the basement. I’m not going to lie, the basement of Emma’s gives me the creeps: It’s dingy, poorly lit, and damp, but either way, we clomped down the rickety stairs into the dark abyss. It took a little bit to get everything together, but eventually we had what we needed including a collapsible table, whiteboard, coolers for the meat and eggs, a bright red gazebo, plastic bags, the colorful little box that Alison kept the money in, an orange and red checkered tablecloth, and a stack of to-go menus. All I needed now was a way to haul it all to the Commons on Saturday mornings.

It was just my luck that our handyman, Bubba, had a flatbed truck and was willing help me transport everything over. Another reason I was glad Bubba volunteered is because he’s from Georgia and speaks with a slow, southern draw, and tells backwards stories that teach valuable lessons.

Market commenced May, 16 at nine a.m., so around quarter after eight, Bubba and I arrived at Emma’s to load up his truck, take everything over, and start to set up. Right before we pulled out I remembered that one of our regular customers brought in a bouquet of wild flowers from his garden, so I quickly ran into the restaurant to grab it.

Once we got to the Commons, we unloaded the truck, popped up the gazebo, dragged the weighty coolers, snapped the table open, unfurled the table cloth, and propped up the whiteboard in front of the table. Once all of the heavy lifting was done, I thanked Bubba and he headed off to do whatever he does on Saturday mornings.

After he drove away, I continued setting up by fanning out the to-go menus on the table next to the vibrant wildflowers, and in front of the money box that is adorned with a plump chef, chickens, and eggs. When everything was up to my standards of perfection, I started decking out my whiteboard with markers.

I love to draw, so Emma let me decorated the sign we have in the window at the restaurant. For my whiteboard I did a rendition of the window chalkboard, the only difference being I listed out the pork products and their prices along with a little story explaining the happy conditions the animals are raised in.

My original sign I imitated.

Once the nearby church bell chimed at nine I put my game face on: a warm, cheerful grin. The early-birds soon started to trickle, and I enacted my plan.

Every time a patron strolled by I would call out a greeting. Then, if I could pull an answering, “Hello,” out of them (sometimes I would barely get an acknowledgement), I would strike up a casual conversation.

The conversation starters I used were to create rapport with them. I would perhaps compliment what they were wearing, or their hairstyle. My favorite strategy to use was if they had kids. I would talk to the kids, using pet names like buddy or sometimes I would use Italian nicknames. I’ve taken about 4 years of Italian, so if I start calling someone “Patatino” (little potato) or ‘Passerotta” (little sparrow) it sparks interest in people, and they’re more likely to be open to conversation, which was my whole purpose.

Once I had a conversation going, I would deftly steer it towards Emma’s. Like I explained earlier, there are a plethora of interesting things about Emma’s, and I would explain these to prospective customers. I would start by talking about the pork I was selling, and then clarify that Emma raised the pigs. I would go on to say that it’s the best pork they’ll ever eat because of how well they’re fed. At the restaurant we take all the leftovers and dump them into what we call the “pig buckets” from where Emma feeds the pigs. This usually is attention catching because there’s very little waste from our restaurant.

After I chat about that I implore that they should visit the restaurant and try out our scrumptious food for themselves. If they seem interested enough I offer them a to-go menu to check out the different options.

I continued this strategy throughout the entire summer until I had to leave for school in the fall. 

Thankfully, the results were instantaneous. Saturday afternoons soon became the busiest time of the week. There were times when I finished with the market at one p.m. that I would have to stay late at the restaurant just to help with the rush, and I noticed that most of the customers were people I talked to at the market.

Soon, Emma had to add another person to help in the kitchen starting at noon just to combat the increase in business.

The great thing about advertising at a farmers’ market is that it is more personal than just seeing an ad or review online. I created a myriad of friendships through the market, and many of the people I told to visit Emma’s became regulars.