Since opening in 2007, Brooklyn restaurant Sidecar has paired a warm and inviting atmosphere with a homey menu. To continue successfully serving up their comfort food, they’ve had to maintain an edge to keep up with the rapid growth of its Park Slope neighborhood.
“There’s a lot more competition in the neighborhood than when we started, so it gets everyone to step up their game,” said co-owner Bart DeCoursy, who runs the restaurant with his brother John. Like most small businesses, Sidecar operates on a limited budget, so the DeCoursys needed to choose wisely when trying to set themselves apart.
“Most of the time, I’m not certain print or other advertising really works. Foursquare Ads was a better use of our money.”
“Most of the time, I’m not certain print or other advertising really works,” said Bart, “We originally started using Yelp years ago, but it’s kind of a thorn in our side. Foursquare Ads was a better use of our money.”
Bart said Foursquare Ads has been an extremely successful and cost-effective use of their budget. They’ve paid just $2.02 per customer action, including 126 visits (and counting) for a ROI of 165%. But beyond the results on paper, they’ve also seen lasting results in person.
“It’s a pretty great return and it’s the kind of thing that also grows over time,” said Bart, “Getting someone in once and taking it from there is really what you want to be doing. Over time, when you have more return customers, it fills in gaps on certain nights and you start noticing the slower nights aren’t so slow anymore.”