If you think that a large business can always absorb and destroy a small one, then you are mistaken.
The owner of a small establishment in Melbourne withstood the blow inflicted by a competitor’s advertisement and defeated a large fast food corporation. The story began after a famous fast food line with a billboard hung a massive KFC sign on the front of its building.
The appearance of KFC ads on the institution’s wall
Jim Hally, the manager of a small family-run entertainment center called Chicken Central, arrived at work Friday morning and saw a massive signboard from the famous KFC fast food line glued from top to bottom on the wall of his store.
“KFC is only 800 meters away,” the inscription read. Mr. Hally, who had run a café serving chicken dishes for almost ten years, said that he initially thought that this was the end for his business. After all, it seemed unrealistic to compete with such a well-promoted and powerful company, and its delivery system threatened to deprive him of another part of its customers.
The advantages of a small cafe over a chain restaurant
Mr. Hally can also order fried chicken, Coca-Cola, french fries, and of course, in order for his business to survive, he had to make prices more expensive. But at the same time, his dishes can be made taking into account the taste and preferences of each buyer, in addition, this is a place where you can sit in an almost homely atmosphere, which cannot be created in institutions of large food outlets. Any buyer from the street would prefer to walk another 800 meters to save money and get good service in a well-known network.
But here lies the advantage of small enterprises. They are not similar to each other and have regular visitors who find special conditions for relaxation, come to sit from houses located nearby, gather for years to celebrate anniversaries and holidays with the same companies. Therefore, for them to be without a favorite institution can be an unpleasant event and the destruction of established traditions.
Competition with fast food chain enterprises is not always a hopeless business
It is not easy to be a small business owner, when all responsibility for success is practically laid on one shoulder. Mr. Halle spends seven days and 90 hours a week to keep everything working smoothly.
Large networks have an infinite amount of money to promote their products, modern marketing tools, media advertising and profitable promotions to attract customers. Huge amounts of money are being spent on this, which small enterprises cannot afford.
Numerous billboards from other locations were displayed in the same place, but not one of them was a direct competitor, such as KFC, which also offers visitors a variety of chicken dishes.
Local support played a role
Jim Hally, the owner of Chicken Central, was devastated after KFC placed his ad on the store. But suddenly he received support from his regular visitors and local residents.
They began to come every day to his cafe and place orders, instead of stopping using the services. It was great.
As a result of community support, sales actually even increased.
The company apologized
Today, the KFC billboard is finally removed.
According to a representative of a fast food restaurant chain, he was removed after the corporation found out about Chicken Central's problems.
The billboard was part of a broader short-term campaign conducted by one of the local affiliates in the area, which was interested in facilitating the opening of its new restaurant on this street and was in no way intended to harm the activities of Chicken Central.
After the KFC management learned about the problem that arose around the situation with Chicken Central, it instructed to remove the sign by the end of the week. All this is due to the support of regular customers, whose intervention could end in a big conflict, which also does not need the reputation of the company.
Was the big company so repentant
Mr. Halley said that he did not accept apologies at face value, the statement seems not entirely honest.
And that's why. The billboard was designed with an arrow pointing in the direction of his store, which indicates that the company had planned to place its advertisement in this place in advance.
Nevertheless, it is a large corporation, therefore, perhaps, it did not reflect on how its work can affect small enterprises that can start to incur losses and that they can be brought to bankruptcy and even closure. In addition, no one apologized to him for experiencing great stress, from the moment the shield appeared until the day it was removed.
The store owner thanked the community of locals for supporting and preserving this place where they can come and chat with each other, order their favorite food, which means that people need small cafes as places where they can fully relax and enjoy themselves. eat together.