We are very grateful & proud to be part of Padrino’s Restaurants success story for over 2 years now. As a team, we’ve accomplished many goals. We sat down with Laura Padrino, whose insights about our collaboration shed light on our process.
Thank you, Padrino’s family, for entrusting us with your business.
Sebastian:
Thank you for being here. Thank you for taking the time. I just wanted to talk to you briefly about your experience working with Breadth for the past two years. If you could please start by introducing yourself, and what you do and talk to us a bit about your restaurants.
Laura:
Okay? My name is Laura Padrino, I’m the Director of Sales and Marketing and I’m part of the third generation of the Padrino’s family and Padrino’s Cuban restaurants. We have five locations across South Florida and have been around since 1976.
Sebastian:
Before we started working together, what was going on with the business that made you seek support from a marketing agency?
Laura:
Well, we’ve had multiple social media managers in the past, but we needed something more comprehensive that would take care of all of marketing. We really needed a cohesive strategy, a plan, and an experienced team to execute. At the time, it was in 2020. So there was a ton going on pandemic-wise and with restaurant closures and reopenings. So we definitely needed more support. And also being as busy as we were with all the challenges operationally, I needed help and support from somebody to assist me with all the marketing needs that we had at the time.
Sebastian:
You’ve worked with different companies before, how many companies did you worked with before you started working with us?
Laura:
I believe it was five before we started with you.
Sebastian:
What were the challenges that you guys were facing at the time when we started working together?
Laura:
So specifically, in our Dania Beach location, we had just opened in 2019. A year later, a pandemic hit and we were only allowed to do takeout. And the takeout was just not enough to sustain the business. So we had to fully close this location and when we reopened, it was as if we were opening for the first time, but without all the marketing and PR that we had done the first time. And so we needed a lot of assistance. We needed to get the word out again that we were open! This location is at a new shopping center so it was a challenge to let people know we were there. Some of our other locations had other specific challenges so we also needed to come up with a plan.
Sebastian:
What were some of the things that we put in place for you that you’ve seen have gotten results and that have really helped you guys?
Laura:
I remember immediately the first time that you came by, and we did, we went to all the locations. But when we came here to the Dania location, immediately, you mentioned putting up an awning and how that would help with visibility in terms of people driving by and just our storefront appearance. It took a while because of permitting and everything. But we finally got our awning up. And I do believe that that helped quite a bit. And that contributed a lot to the growth in sales that we have seen here. This of course is not part of your scope but we started off in a good way with just that suggestion.
When you came on, you first developed a comprehensive strategic plan and created a marketing calendar. You helped set clear KPI’s and objectives that we track on a regular basis. We then analyze the data to see what’s working and what’s not to make informed decisions and improve. With previous companies, it’s kind of just been, let’s just shoot our shot and see what we get out of it. We hadn’t been able to tell if it was effective or not because there were no key metrics or clear objectives in place. So what we’ve done together, what you’ve done, what you’ve implemented is really a strategic plan with set goals, and then actually achieved those goals.
Sebastian:
How long have we been working together?
Laura:
So I want to say we started in October 2020. Yeah, October 2019. So it’s been over two years now.
Sebastian:
Yesah, it’s been a while. So why have you decided to keep working with us? And, what was your experience prior to working with other agencies?
In three years, we had about five different companies. So there was a lot of inconsistency. It was people again, goals and promises that were never kept. And we’ve stuck around with you for over two years. And I plan to continue that way for as long as possible. Because there’s always a plan, great execution, measuring results, and meeting goals. With other companies when I would interview them and before I took them on, it was okay, from all these things that you say you will implement, will we ever see a return? Is there actually a way that we can see if what you’re doing actually works? And a lot of them will flat out say, there’s just no way to track it, it’s something that’s not measurable, It’s just impossible in the world of marketing and social media. And that was obviously very disheartening because I don’t want to invest and pay for a service where they can’t even show me what they’re doing and if we are getting a return. With Breadth, it has been completely different. Because from the beginning, you’ve given clear goals and then shown how you’ve achieved those goals. So really, night and day, a world’s different working with you as opposed to the ones that I’ve worked with in the past.
Sebastian:
Do you think that having specific experience in restaurants, as our company does, do you think that has also played an important role benefited your business? How has that made your life easier?
Laura:
Absolutely! So working with a company like Breadth, which has specific restaurant experience, it’s very different from working with other marketing agencies I’ve worked with in the past or even when we’ve hired internal social media managers. It’s not all created equal, restaurants are unique, it’s a completely different field that if you haven’t done it before, you wouldn’t understand it. So having you that understands this world, that you actually came from it and are still in it, is very helpful. You speak the same language, so you understand all the rules of the game. I don’t have to keep you up to speed with it or explain operational things, systems, financials, and a myriad of other things that if you have not been as deep as you have in the industry you could not know. Many of these things drive strategy and of course execution. You’re in that world, potentially, you possibly know a lot more than me in a lot of areas which is super helpful. I want a partner, a company that knows more than me, that’s the value that we invest in.
Sebastian:
In terms of results, more specifically talking about sales numbers. I know that Dania Beach at that time was struggling as it was “reopening”, what do those numbers look like now, what has the growth been like?
Laura:
Specifically for our Dania Beach location, we definitely were struggling, when you came on, and what it looks like now, because of everything that’s been implemented. Again, some variables, but with a ton of help from Breath, and everything you’ve done, we’ve seen a 31% increase in sales from last year. So that’s obviously significant. It’s definitely the highest in all of our locations, and that I can say, has a lot to do with everything that you’ve been doing.
Sebastian:
How do you feel that our work has impacted, not only, of course, your business, because we’ve spoken to that now, but what about you personally, your life, how have we made it easier, have we had a positive impact in that because of our relationship and how we work together.
Laura:
Just because my title is Director of Sales and Marketing does not mean that I am all-knowing and things marketing, so having somebody that I can direct, but that knows much more than me when it comes to that is very freeing because it’s not all just on me. I’m not responsible for all of that knowledge, because you and your team are, and because I trust you guys to do it. Also, our relationship is straightforward. The fantastic thing that I’ve seen about working with you guys is you have your absolute, you know, your knowledge and your ways that you feel things should be done or could be done. But you’re always very open to listening to my opinion. So it’s very much a partnership, a team, that together I feel like we’re always working towards our goals. Having a team like yours has freed my time a lot, which is fantastic so I can worry about other things, and other priorities and get these done. We have constant communication which is very helpful and it’s really important. But yes, of course, it frees me up so much to do all the other things that are required of me in having five locations.
Sebastian:
Thank you so much Laura again for taking the time. I really appreciate it and look forward to continuing to work with you and your family.
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