Seattle dwellers
and his cousins Rod Arreola, 29, and Alan Arreola, 27, had a
taste for teriyaki. According to Garma, 24, there were already many
teriyaki restaurants in their area-so they decided to import the
idea to somewhere new: Las Vegas. "They have a lot of Mexican
[food] and a lot of buffets," says Garma about Vegas,
"but we wanted to [offer] something different."
Would that something different translate across the desert to
the Vegas crowd? Jennifer Vessels, a certified management
consultant with Next Step LLC in Redwood City, California, says that
before you transfer any business idea to a new locale, you must do
some serious market research. "You move slowly, and you walk
before you run," she says. "Talk to people in those
existing markets."
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In this example, she notes that the culture in Las Vegas is very
different from the one in Seattle, and it's important to tailor
the idea to the specific market. If you're transporting a
restaurant concept, for example, find out whether diners in your
new city like low lighting and ambience or modern décor and
upbeat music in the background. Those small, cultural differences
can seriously alter how your business is welcomed.
"If people perceive they're being asked to enjoy
something that worked someplace else [and] isn't designed for
them, [or if] there's a perception that this is the Las Vegas
version of this restaurant, [they won't] feel you're really
meeting their needs," says Vessels.
Garma and his partners learned as much as they could about their
target market in Las Vegas before opening Teriyaki Madness Inc. in
August 2003. They visited the city to check out other restaurants
in the area and "modified it for the local people [and not the
tourists]," says Garma, who projects sales will hit $400,000
in their first full year of business. Many tourists come to Vegas
to indulge in the hotel buffets, so the partners decided to focus
instead on inspiring positive word-of-mouth among the locals.
They're still finding out what makes this community click,
but Garma says initial reactions from Vegas dwellers have all been
positive: "A lot of people get excited because we're
bringing something new." The restaurant offers an alternative
to the fresh-Mex, hamburger and other quick-serve establishments
common to the area.
No matter where you decide to launch, good customer service is
critical to finding success in any new community. "Make sure
you're getting the highest quality [employees]," says
Vessels. "Your first impression in a new location will be
essential. The customers that come in will go out and tell people
about it."