Aunty Laureen is a marketing wizard
Aunty Laureen is a marketing wizard
Aunty Laureen runs a Ban Mian store in the canteen at our workplace. She is an evolved marketer. She understands her customers well and treats them super good!
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Let’s get to it then - Aunty Laureen. She is gooood. A clever marketer. At work, I have lunch at the same canteen every day. It's easy, relaxing, and a no-brainer. She runs a ban main soup store there.
Aunty Laureen accepts cashless payments. No one else does.
The first time I went to her was because she was the only one who accepted cashless payments. I abhor carrying cash.
The margins in these coffee shops are razor-thin. So every penny saved counts towards profit. While the world would think Singaporeans are rich, but most aren’t. Banks charge a fee for receiving payments via Paynow SGQR. So, Aunty Laureen does not use SG QR. Instead, she slapped her PayNow number on her store. Now instead of being business transactions, they become personal peer-to-peer transactions. She saves between SGD 0.20 to 0.50 on each order. Estimating her daily order count to be 35, she saves between SGD 7 to 17.5 every day. Don’t write this off, it’s a lot for most people.
She gives special treatment to her customers
A typical hawker stall has a “cold” service (I don’t entirely agree with this statement - if you are a regular, they smile and talk to you). Most interactions are transactional -
“What you want?”
“Having here or Daabao?”
“Okay. That would be 450” (yes, 4.50 is called 450. Let’s call this cultural nuance)
“ ” (pushes the tray towards you. Sometimes, rings the bell. Take it and leave 😅)
Aunty Laureen, on the other hand, engages with her customers. She laughs, checks on and always gives them extra soup. She calls our group “pretty ladies and handsome boys”. Lame, yes, but it does feel good to hear it. Some days if a colleague is missing, she would ask - “Where is your other pretty friend?”
She introduced a steamed dumplings dish for two of our colleagues - K and C. Isn’t Aunty Laureen amazing?
She takes extraaaa-special care of her new customers
For the first few days, she would come to my seat and ask if the food is good. You can only imagine this treatment in a five-star restaurant. She would also guide you through the menu when she doesn’t need to.
Another colleague, Q received free soup for 3 straight days. Other colleagues buying lunch with her got treated special too. Can I tell you how ecstatic we were?
She upsells like a queen
Even though her dishes are priced at 4.5 SGD. I always end up paying 5 or 5.50 SGD. Look at these instances -
Do you want to add a chicken wing? Boom, you paid 50 cents extra.
Do you want to add minced meat? Boom, you paid 50 cents extra.
Do you want honey-glazed chicken? Boom, you paid 50 cents extra.
She puts everyday new special products and upsells them (definitely)
She has a new special dish every day. This is priced 50 cents to 1 SGD more than regular dishes.
On Tuesdays and Fridays, you can buy nasi lemak for SGD 2.2. Now, do you want to add chicken wings? Do you want Otah? Boom, the dish is now SGD 4.5. 😏
I am not complaining lor. I am appreciating her intrinsic marketing and sales execution.
She provides value to her customers
SGD 2.00 Nasi Lemak
I have been in SG for 2 years. I haven’t had this cheap a meal ever before. She introduced the Nasi Lemak for 2 SGD on week 1. Let’s call it the launch price. We were obviously hooked. I was so happy that I bought two of them for 4 SGD.
Next week, she raised this to 2.20 SGD. Still a great deal! She would also offer to add chicken wings to the combo. You are back to paying 4.5 SGD. 🤣
She is a smart businesswoman.
Interestingly, the same Nasi Lemak is sold for SGD 1.50 in a coffee shop 600 m away. It doesn’t matter because you will have to walk through the sun to save 70 cents. She knows she is giving value.
She fights competition
The store near her started selling mixed veg and rice for 2.10 SGD. It was the cheapest meal I ever had in SG, again. So I changed my lunch meal to this store. Another colleague got her meal for SGD 1.70. Damn, food had never been so cheap in SG. Three days later the store raised the prices to 4.10 SGD. I wasn’t going to pay an increased price and that too in cash. Yes, I had taken the pain of taking out cash to save 2 dollars. When this incentive disappeared, I was sad.
I went back to buying from Aunty Laureen. She had won her customer back.
How do you think this price increase happened? Aunty Laureen talked to this guy and gave him some piece of mind about his prices. She also saved him from losses.
Some other instances of her wizardry
If it takes longer for her to prepare the dish, she will serve you in her seat.
(this is not a practice in SG hawker stalls)She knows her customers will be repeat customers from nearby workplace buildings. She understands that how they feel is very important. Her extra efforts make customers feel special during their lunchtime.
Even if you don’t eat with her, she will nudge you. She will tell you about her new dish.
She gives freebies such as free soup and salad from time to time.
F&B is a difficult market to be in.
Let’s look at some market perspectives. When you read about F&B, everyone tells you that is a difficult market to be in. In fact, one popular claim is that rich people open restaurants to rotate their money. Sometimes, this could be an ill gotten wealth as well. However, that’s out of scope of the writing today. Restaurants close faster than startups.
Let’s look at Aunty Laureen’s challenges-
Her customer base is limited. Total potential client base would be 200 people. This client base does not change. They are the people coming to work in the building.
She cannot upsell beyond 5-6 SGD. So her upside is limited.
She can sell only once, during lunch. People don’t come for breakfast or dinner unlike hawker stalls in HDB areas.
How can she make her business more successful?
She can scale to a few stores. Potentially start franchisee stores. She needs to create a brand for this.
She can offer her expertise as a service and charge a training fee.
She could herself become the product - she could make herself famous via social media to attract more clients.
I was thinking about online delivery. How will she differentiate her food and price against other players? Her strength is her personal touch. Online delivery is a different game with different rules. I would avoid it.
I feel bad that I could not take her picture. She has been sick this whole week. I might add a picture in comments later.
Okay, that’s a wrap for this week.
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I hope you have a relaxing weekend. Also, have a great week ahead 🙂
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