The Story Behind the Brand
Founded in 2006 with a single vision - offering a complete dining experience to customers at affordable prices - Barbeque Nation pioneered the concept of live grills embedded under dining tables. With this, it ushered the era of ‘Do It Yourself’ cuisines in India. The concept came into being when Sajid Dhanani, who ran the Sayaji Hotels in Indore, came across complaints of cold starters during winters. The unique ‘DIY’ concept was new for the Indian food-lovers, propelling Barbeque Nation on a rapid expansion spree. By 2012, it had opened 25th outlets. In 2014, Barbeque Nation added the concept of ‘Kulfi Nation’ which offered 8 variants with 800 combinations of dips. A few years back, in 2015, there was an addition of ‘Live Counter’ concept where a chef would cook according to the customer’s preferences. Today, the brand has over 95 outlets (one in Dubai) with a target of reaching 300 by 2020.
Reasons for Success of the Brand
The main thing that worked in favour of the brand was its approach of ‘keeping the customers first’. The reason the Barbeque Nation came into being was that Dhanani had unsatisfied customers and therefore, it became a mission to keep learning from the customers because of which Barbeque Nation saw ever-growing retention rate. This lead to Word-of-Mouth being their most elaborately tapped marketing technique. Due to this philosophy, two things happened – first, the brand fought competitors as it never cheated the customers and second, it passed the test of time as it remained relevant because of valuable feedback. The newer innovations like ‘Kulfi Nation’ and ‘Live Counter’ came into existence because of that.
The cultural trends that the brand was able to tap were that people were willing to pay for experiences more than the product itself. Thus, along with focusing on quality food at affordable rates, they also leveraged on the entire dining experience – from the rustic look of the outlets with wood and the open-brick wall surface to the live grill under the table – where customers experienced the countryside in the confinement of the city. They targeted the innovators and early adopters to experiment and experience the chain which now has the attention of the majority and is, therefore, able to cross the chasm.
Riding the Digital Wave in Marketing
Barbeque Nation predominantly advertises through digital platforms. With campaigns around the latest trends like movie launches, celebrations and special days. For instances, they came up with special offers on International Women’s Day along with creatives using #GangOfGirls. Along with this, they are present where their target customers are and therefore offer Zomato Gold Privileges. They refrained from using traditional media until 2017 when they came with their debut TVC - ‘Kyu Nahi, Barbeque’. They wanted to target newer customers and wanted the concept of ‘It’s Not Kyu, It’s Barbeque’ to be present in everyday conversations. The response was great with #KyuNahiBarbeque trending on social media
I picked Barbeque Nation because of the amount of effort they put to make customers feel special. This is reflected in the all touchpoints – from great and unlimited food to special performances and dessert on customer’s birthday to their improvements based on feedback. The customer truly feels like a king here.