When Bob and Corrine Frick opened the first Roosters restaurant in 1998, they knew they hatched something special. Combining Bob’s passion for food with Corrine’s genuine hospitality, Rooster’s today is known for its fun, casual atmosphere for employees and guests. Today, Roosters has more than 40 locations across Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana, all serving up delicious wings, pizzas, subs and more that are loved by guests of all ages.

SUCCESS STORY

How customized local marketing helped an under-performing regional restaurant franchise reach new customers—and increase sales.

The opportunity

When Roosters needed help driving local awareness for its Morgantown, West Virginia franchise location, they enlisted the support of Approach Marketing to develop a customized program to fit their needs (and budget).

We immediately got to work, researching opportunities in the local Morgantown market and developing a strategy to quickly build local awareness that would translate to lasting sales results.

The approach

With extensive experience in restaurant and franchise marketing, our team knew Roosters needed a multi-faceted program to achieve program goals. Starting with an on-site photo shoot, we captured crave-worthy (and share-worthy) photography of Roosters menu items and the store environment to showcase the delicious food and fun atmosphere to potential customers.

From there, we launched a local influencer program, tapping regional foodies, moms, and students from nearby West Virginia University—all with engaged social followings—to visit the store and share photos of their experiences.

To bring it all together (plus extend the reach of photo assets and influencer partnerships), we implemented a paid social media campaign, running fun, cheeky sponsored posts on Instagram and Facebook during the restaurant’s busiest season and pushed ongoing promotions with off-feed, targeted ads during their slower months.

The impact

In just over six months, the Roosters Morgantown program produced strong results - achieving the goals of building awareness and driving sales. During the campaign, six influencer partners shared content that reached thousands of potential customers in the Morgantown area.

Highly-targeted social media posts and ads generated more than 300,000 Impressions and more than 16,000 Engagements, with content designed to build brand interest, share ongoing promotions and encourage in-store visits.

Most importantly, the program proved to be a huge success in driving traffic to the restaurant, as evidenced by a 12.8% increase in year-over-year sales during the program timeframe—transforming the store from a low-performer into a model of marketing success.