Cafe Deco Group looks to expand digital offering

With new concept restaurants and bars opening in hip districts such as Sheung Wan and Sai Ying Pun, large-scale restaurant groups are feeling the need to step up their game to remain competitive.Cafe Deco Group owns 27 restaurants in Hong Kong, and one restaurant each in Macau, Shanghai and Sydney.The group's director of marketing and PR Sheila Chan says in the past, the group promoted individual restaurant brands mostly through offline initiatives such as print and out-of-home ads, direct mailing and flyers."Moving forward, while we will continue to build our individual brands, we will also aim to raise the awareness of our Group as a whole for cross-marketing and promotion," Chan said.To further this objective, digital will take an increasingly important role in the group's marketing mix, especially with the emergence of dining news platforms such as Openrice and Trip Advisor, as well as food channels on Facebook, Twitter, Weibo and Instagram.Social media is the main medium through which the group has begun posting news of new store openings and offers to engage customers.Chan said, "We also have staff  members closely monitoring customer feedback on social media so that we can provide timely responses. It enables us to interact with customers directly and serves as a great channel for us to push out last-minute promotions.""We are also exploring the possibility of launching our own app to better serve our VIP members and customers."Cross-promotion and loyalty marketing"Cross-promotion is cost-efficient and helps to reinforce our group’s presence in the local dining scene," Chan said.One example is a 20th anniversary campaign in February where customers who dined at any Cafe Deco restaurant can enjoy 20% off their bill for a meal at Cafe Deco on The Peak.Size also means greater negotiating power for media buy.Chan said, "Operating a portfolio of restaurants and bars across Hong Kong allows us to enjoy economies of scales.  We can negotiate better advertising and media rates given our scale of media placements throughout the year."To retain existing customers, the group began running a VIP card programme in 2011, which was relaunched in 2013.After spending a minimum of HK$1,500 and registering as a VIP member, customers can get a 10% discount on all their meals at Cafe Deco, while accumulating 10% of their bill as dining credits that can be used as cash across all of the group's restaurants.ExpansionTwo new restaurants opened by the group in June and July are Peak Cafe Bar and Berliner respectively.  They target residents living in the surrounding areas and were marketed through formal advertising, social media, public relations activities and joint promotions with American Express.Further incentives for Berliner include offering double dining credits to VIP members eating out at the two new restaurants during the first month. Customers wanting to become VIP members can also become members after spending a lower minimum of HK$800.Offline initiatives were used to promote Peak Cafe Bar, such as mail drops, coupon giveaways and joint promotions.Next month, the group will be opening another Cafe Deco Pizzeria in Sheung Wan.  Berliner and Dim Sum Bar are two other brands that the group hopes to develop.In June, the group won the license to operate French restaurant brand FAUCHON's franchises in Hong Kong and in terms of expanding the group into mainland China, it has opened a restaurant in Shanghai's Pudong International Airport.