A new restaurant/bakery opened next door to us last week. It’s called The Next Door Cafe and it’s run by the same folks who run the Bearded Frog, the dinner restaurant in our building. I have always enjoyed the folks who run the Frog, as we call it.
I have been worried about sharing our rather small parking lot with a restaurant that promises to be very busy all the time. I was speaking to the manager about this and he suggested some sort of reciprocal marketing.  In a very simple, and extremely cost-efficient way, we are promoting each other’s places with our register receipts. At the bottom of each receipt is a simple statement: Bring this to the Next Door Restaurant (theirs says Flying Pig) for 10% off any one item. Good today only.
This has been a huge boon to us and them. For us, it’s ensuring that some of their customers become our customers. And for the restaurant it gives patrons something to do when it takes a little longer for their food to arrive. Already, the staff has called over to the bookstore to let us know that someone’s order is ready. As I ring folks up, I happily tell them about the new place and suggest they go over with their books and have a pastry.
We have been collecting the receipts daily just to track them. In one day we got 12, and only 3 of those 12 were regular customers. This is a wonderful way to get new people into the store without spending a penny. The momentum can only build. The restaurant is so new they don’t even have a sign yet. Another great thing about this new lunch place is we no longer have to worry about not having food at work. Only one restaurant delivers and it’s only pizza. If someone forgets her lunch and is working alone, there is precious little that can be done in terms of getting food. But being able to call something in and walk 10 feet around the building makes life a little easier.
Working with other retail places has never been this easy or this fun. The food is great and they serve Bloody Marys on Sundays.