In late February of 2024, I was privileged to speak with Pradip Karanjit, owner of EVEREST LOUNGE INDIAN & NEPALESE RESTAURANT in Market Harborough about his vision for marketing his new restaurant 'SU & SHI', which opened in December 2023.
This is a transcript or our recorded conversation:
Question: When planning the opening of Su & Shi Restaurant, knowing that the previous business on this site had not been so successful, what considerations did you take before deciding to proceed with this project?
Pradip: Any number of factors, could have been the main reason (including market conditions, business model and management), as to why the Fish & Chips business had not been successful, but just because one business fails does not mean another won't succeed. I was confident with my research, and together with my experience and ambition, I considered this was a promising project, but of course there's no guarantee of success.
Taking A 'Calculated Risk':
Sushi was always my ambition and I'd already evaluated there was sufficient demand in the region for this food but I was also acutely aware of the challenges ahead of me.
But I also had a plan as how to approach each one. My overriding asset was my passion, total desire and energy to make this work. As I've said, I had confidence in my experience and ability but as with any project, I'm aware if it didn't work out, as long as I could look in the mirror and honestly say I've done everything I can, I could analyse the reasons and would consider it to be a valuable lesson to take to another project, whatever that might be.
Question: You've clearly built an enviable reputation in the Market Harborough region and beyond through the success of Everest Lounge for running a highly popular restaurant. But your reputation stems from Indian & Nepalese cuisine. How were you confident in gaining that essential authority specifically in Japanese Sushi cuisine?
Ensuring Customer Confidence:
Pradip: My interest, inspiration and love of Sushi comes from my brother who has been a Sushi Chef for more than 20 years and currently works in a very successful Sushi restaurant in Portugal with a capacity of over 200 covers. So with his valuable experience and input combined with my local knowledge and passion for Sushi, he has been key to designing the new restaurant and initial menus here. He was also key to training my chefs and staff here before and after the launch to ensure we could always deliver the quality and memorable experience that our customers deserve.
Of course the first months would be experimental allowing for change as deemed necessary and according to customer demand, but we were all confident this was going to be a great success.
The Marketing Strategy:
Question: How did you go about launching Su & Shi Restaurant? What was your strategy and thought process for attracting your first customers?
Pradip: Knowing already that people wanted Sushi, that gave me a good idea how to create a buzz and curiosity in the town. The aim was to effectively get people talking and asking questions. We covered the windows of the restaurant to hide the structural work from the public and had a strategy to consistently 'drip feed' a little more information mainly through social media in 2 week blocks to maintain the curiosity.
At this stage, I didn't want to reveal what was coming or who was involved - I just kept the conversations flowing with tempting hints and watched peoples' reactions! From the start, it was important that Su & Shi stood out independently from Everest Lounge.
Introducing Su & Shi Restaurant:
Question: So at what point did you make the 'big reveal' and how did you announce it?
Pradip: Well, it was at the beginning of December '23 when we launched a social media campaign which coincided with a series of ads on Harborough FM radio when we finally announced what was going on! Our website was now ready, our facebook page was ready, the restaurant was fully revealed and ready for customers, the food was ready and all our staff were trained.
We also took full advantage of The Christmas Shopping evening event in Harborough Square where we were able to talk to potential customers. We launched a series of videos daily on our social media channels revealing our opening dates and the day before we officially opened our doors to the general public, we had invited a selection of our Everest customers, friends and associates to an Opening Day. It gave us the chance to put into practice our full service and get initial feedback from our respected customers, so if necessary we could make some last minute changes before the first trading day.
I'm a firm believer that you should never take your customer audience for granted, and you need to invest sufficient money and time in consistent marketing to firstly remind your customers that you are there, and secondly to make sure that they always have a happy experience and an opportunity to comment. And that means ensuring that you have sufficient supplies and sufficient staff to cope with anticipated demand.
Running out of stock or having insufficient staff will likely deny that customer of the happy experience which in the long term will be detrimental to the business. Reputation is everything.
Everest Lounge for example has been open for nearly 4 years now so you could say we are 'established', but I still believe in regularly posting new videos and posts to keep in touch with new and existing customers. But it's not about blatantly 'selling' our services, but more about maintaining a presence. Of equal importance is maintaining the quality and quantity of our supplies and staff to ensure we always deliver on our good reputation. And since Su & Shi opened in December 2023, I've continued with that strategy throughout and I'm sure it's greatly contributing to our current success.
Staff Relations & Training:
Question: And what I've noticed over the years I've known you, is the special relationship you have with your staff who you can clearly depend on to carry out your values and the same quality of service even in your absence. What would you say are your key training principles?
Pradip. The staff know they are key players in the success of the business, and their smile and willing attitude ensures a happy working environment for them, which translates of course to happy customers. It's therefore in my interest to ensure they have the best training and working conditions and are equipped to give customers the best possible service. The framework for training staff works the same for all our restaurants.
Getting To Know Our Customers:
But 'good' service doesn't just stop there. I'm regularly thinking about what else we can do to enhance their evening. I'm very aware that although 90% of my customers will likely come again, I'm constantly challenging myself to come up with ideas to endorse or even improve that figure even by 1%. For example, on many occasions, and not only with regular customers, I might add a complimentary extra dish to their order to tempt them to try something different. It might cost me eg.seven or eight pounds in the short term, but what I'll usually gain is a happy and loyal customer for the long term which is far more valuable. It creates a relationship with our customers and allows me to offer them something that might be unique to our restaurant, while understanding more about their wishes.
An important part of marketing our business is to be different and if we can encourage some of our customers to try our speciality dishes, next time they visit, they might order something other from Chicken Tikka Masala! Or if I were to lose a customer, it might help us to know the reason which we might be able to act upon.
It's also important to know where we want the business to go in the future - short term gains or losses are insignificant to the longer term plan. I'm always focusing on the next 2-3 years as well as the present time, and therefore some decisions are made planning for the future.
Creating The Right Environment & Social Atmosphere:
Question: Thinking about Su & Shi again, how much importance at the beginning was given to creating the right environment - the decor, the layout etc in relation to the quality of food and service?
Pradip: As a new business, it was absolutely key to create a 'stunning' first impression - presentation is key, environment is key and that is why I was conscious not to create an Indian style environment! With the help of my brother, we wanted to create an environment in line with Japanese culture to complement the food, while taking into consideration our targeted/expected type of customer - the table layout etc, the decor etc.
The thing is to accept that we won't always 'get it right' first time and to be prepared to make changes according to customer feedback. It's also important to me that if a customer is not satisfied with their experience, we won't charge them for their meal, because our intention is for every customer to have the best time and their feedback is more valuable to us.
Getting Customer Feedback:
Question: Over the years, I've noticed you are very good at encouraging customers to 'leave a genuine review' of their experience (even if negative). I've also noticed that you make a point of personally replying to every review which I know is always much appreciated. In my experience very few business owners pay so much attention to this simple yet very effective strategy. Why do you consider this to be so important?
Pradip: I think it's essential to thank and recognise the time a customer has taken to give you valuable feedback. Their comments tell us how we are doing which is invaluable not only for marketing purposes but to learn about any suggestions we can implement that might enhance their experience next time.
Well, Pradip, I'd like to summarise the main points of our conversation which I think people will find very useful:
1. ATTITUDE: Having done your market research into the viability of the Su & Shi project, we talked about your physical and mental determination, endorsed with your passion, to make this business a huge success.
2. MARKETING STRATEGY: Your method to 'tease' your potential customers prior to the launch in order to cause intrigue, speculation, curiosity and anticipation which resulted in massive viral interest over social media platforms!
3. GETTING READY for customers - by first ensuring building ready, facilities ready, staff trained, supply chain ready, website ready, social media platforms ready - before an OPENING DAY for invited guests only 'to experience and review with feedback' the process before the PUBLIC OPENING.
4. CONSISTENTLY promoting the new business with videos etc via social media platforms to INVITE/REMIND people to try the new restaurant in town and what to expect.
5. DELIVERING the great experience to all guests after the Grand Opening from the start, encouraging all feedback to respond to.
6. NEVER ACCEPTING COMPLACENCY - by always considering how to enhance the customer experience time and time again and instilling that consistent attitude with all staff.
7. And finally (linked with number 1), CONFIDENCE - reminding yourself of your ability, experience and attitude 'to do whatever it takes' to make this project a success, being prepared to put in 100% focus, energy and commitment to meet all challenges along the way, of which there may be many!
Thank you Pradip for sharing your marketing insight for running a successful business. I'm sure it will be inspiring and of great benefit to other business owners who are maybe struggling to find motivation after some very difficult years, through no fault of their own.
Simon Perry (the bestof Market Harborough) was talking with Pradip Karanjit of EVEREST LOUNGE And SU & SHI Restaurants in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.
Everest Lounge Indian, Nepalese & Tibetan Restaurant
46 St Mary's Road
Market Harborough
LE16 7DU.
Tel: 01858 433336
