Mike Coborn

Built a $10M+ marketing business in the restaurant space. I write about social media marketing tactics that help scale restaurants.

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

5 years ago, my best friend called me with an incredible startup idea.

Last year, that idea made us $10M.

What the idea was and how it made us rich 🧵

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

"Your next dessert's on us if you're back by Friday." Have AI write it so it doesn't sound pushy.

6. Every Monday, check what % of new members came back within 30 days.

People don't finish what they never started. So start it for them.

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

Your restaurant's loyalty program is a participation trophy.

47% of Americans are in a rewards program. Half say it doesn't change where they eat.

Here's how to make yours actually bring people back 👇

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

3. Make the first reward close. One or two visits, tops. Domino's members can score a freebie after about $12.

4. Give rewards that feel big but cost little. A $3.50 fountain drink costs you maybe 50 cents.

5. Text new members within a week.

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

@Inc Grilled chicken didn't die because people hated it. It died because it was slow, dried out in the holding cabinet and dragged drive-thru times. Beef prices just made the math sexy again. Solve hold time and it prints. Skip that and it's a menu board graveyard again.

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

@Delish 40 years with Pepsi, and KFC walks to Coke. Chick-fil-A and Popeyes already pour Coke. KFC wants to look like the winners, down to the cup. Owner lesson: your soda is the fattest margin on the ticket. Treat it like a menu item, not a utility. Coke or Pepsi with chicken?

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

6. Free app when a card holder brings a friend who's never been.

7. Have AI set up instant DM replies. 3 AM shoppers don't wait.

Paid cards can't expire for 5 years under federal law. Book the cash as food you still owe.

Photo: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

Your restaurant can get paid in December for meals you serve in January.

47% of Americans want a gift card this holiday. Most restaurants sell them from a dusty rack by the register.

7 plays almost nobody runs 🧵

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

3. Pull your top 50 regulars from your POS.

4. Give AI their names and usual orders. "Hey Mike, your Friday ribeye would make a killer gift." 50 personal texts in 5 minutes.

5. Ask AI for 30 local businesses that buy client gifts. 40 cards at $25 is $1,000.

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

@goran_vejzovic Most restaurants treat a frozen line as side money. The smart ones treat it as advertising. Every bowl in a grocery freezer is a billboard that pays you, and the fans it makes at home end up driving across town for the real thing. That's acquisition most brands pay for.

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

If you pick experience:

One dish or moment people film.
Train FOH to create it at every table.
Price for the memory, not the plate.

Chili's proved mid-price can win by being the deal AND the fun. What kills you is being neither.

Photo: US Mission to the EU, public domain

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

Jay Leno says the middle of the market is dead, even for restaurants.

He's half right.

The middle isn't dead. The forgettable middle is.

Your restaurant isn't competing with the place next door. It's competing with "why bother."

Here's the play 🧵

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

If you pick value:

One hero item priced so good it feels like a mistake.
Cut the menu until every item earns its spot.
Know that item's food cost % to the penny.

Be the default answer to "where should we grab food?"

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

@OwenGregorian Dynamic pricing works for airlines because you fly a few times a year. Restaurants live on regulars who come in every week. The day a regular finds out the person next to them paid less for the same burger, they're gone. Run real offers, not secret prices.

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

@Chefmarkcoakley Spot on!

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

HOW A RESTAURANT FINDS FREE $80,000 WITH CHATGPT.

Your vendors already know about it. You don't.

On $1.5M in sales, 1 point of food cost = $15,000. 1 point of labor = $15,000. That's where the money hides.

Your prime cost doesn't care how good your food is. Here's how AI fixes it, department by department:

1. Invoices. Photograph every vendor invoice into ChatGPT or Grok. Ask: "Compare unit prices to last month's invoices. List every item up more than 5%." On $450K in food purchases, catching 1% creep = $4,500.

2. Food cost. Run invoices through MarginEdge ($350/mo). Price alerts and recipe costing update daily, not monthly. Drop food cost 1 point = $15,000.

3. Prep. Paste 4 weeks of POS sales by day into AI. Ask it to rewrite your prep list and pars for next week. Cut waste by 1% of sales = $15,000.

4. Menu. Paste your POS item mix and plate costs. Ask AI to rank items by profit and popularity. Cut the bottom 5. Half a point of food cost = $7,500.

5. Labor. Use 7shifts ($79.99/mo) to forecast labor by sales. Cut one point of labor cost = $15,000.

6. Phones. Put an AI host like Slang ($399/mo) on reservations and FAQs. Free up 20 host hours a week at $15 = $15,600 a year.

7. Contracts. Before renewal, upload your insurance, utility, linen and waste-hauling contracts. Ask AI to flag auto-renewals, fees and rate hikes. 5% off $60K in contracts = $3,000.

8. Training. Record a voice memo walking through your closing checklist. Have AI turn it into a written SOP and quiz. Cut 2 shadow shifts per hire, 25 hires a year = $4,500.

The restaurants that win next year won't cook better. They'll count better.

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

@Chefmarkcoakley Bingo, thank you for sharing!

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

Owners: a $1.99 deal doesn't fix prime cost. A discount buys one visit. A reason to come back buys the next 50.

Hype is rented. Regulars are owned.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC0, CC BY-SA 3.0)

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

Crumbl's median store made $1,832 profit in September.

For the whole month.

Now they're selling a dirty soda and a cookie for $1.99.

Here's the story 🧵

[Mike Coborn @mikecoborn]

The fix? Starting Oct 23: a zero-sugar dirty soda and a thin cookie for $1.99.

It's a traffic play. Get them in the door and hope they add a box.