Cafe Maritime
About the Client
After 11 years waiting tables and earning his MBA in business, Mark Mitcheltree decided to open his own restaurant, Cafe Maritime, in San Francisco’s Marina District. The location close to the Bay seemed a perfect venue for Mitcheltree’s upscale New England-style seafood restaurant which opened in April 2004.
Objectives
In a city where new restaurants open virtually every night, Mark needed to get attention for Cafe Maritime yet didn’t have the money required to buy expensive advertising. He hired Galvin Communications to devise a guerrilla approach to gaining attention.
Results
Galvin Communications developed a targeted list of restaurant critics who had written favorable reviews for restaurants similar to Cafe Maritime. With personalized press kits and persistent follow-up, the campaign resulted in favorable reviews in the San Francisco Chronicle, SF Monthly, San Francisco Bay Guardian, and San Francisco Magazine which more than quadrupled business over pre-review levels.
We designed a program to leverage Cafe Maritime’s use of sustainable seafood to appeal to socially-conscious diners by requesting 5,000 Seafood Watch cards from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The tri-fold cards rank the types of fish based on their sustainability. Under an arrangement that we established with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cafe Maritime began distributing these cards to diners with their bill, resulting in favorable comments and repeat business.
Galvin Communications also researched charities in the San Francisco Bay Area that provide programs that support the marine ecosystem to determine which ones would be good partners for the restaurant. Save The Bay agreed to a fundraiser hosted by the restaurant in exchange for promotion on their website and in their member newsletter. The event raised several hundred dollars for Save The Bay and exposed the restaurant to thousands of new people. People who heard about Cafe Maritime through Save The Bay came into the restaurant long after the fundraiser took place.