Matchnode never settles for just “okay.” Working with them is a no-brainer.
Molly Currey, CMO, What If Syndicate
THE CLIENT
What If Syndicate
Industry
Hospitality
Location
USA
What If Syndicate is a growing restaurant group that’s pushing the boundaries of hospitality and service. Since it’s flagship restaurant, Maple & Ash opened in 2015 in Chicago, the award-winning portfolio of brands has expanded to include Mavens & Aficionados, etta, Celestina, Kessaku, Delilah’s and Monarch with locations in Chicago, Dallas, Scottsdale—and others are coming soon.
Challenges
Driving brand awareness during a pandemic
When COVID-19 hit in the spring of 2020, restaurants across the U.S. had to either reduce indoor seating capacity or eliminate it altogether. Almost overnight, they had to pivot to takeout to keep their businesses afloat.
The challenge was even greater for the What if Syndicate group of restaurants, which serve higher-end entrees instead of takeout fare.
Molly Currey, CMO at What if Syndicate, thought that paid social media would be a good marketing channel to drive awareness and demand, but the group had never made a focused effort in paid social media marketing before.
At the same time, given the potentially devastating financial impact of COVID-19, What If Syndicate couldn’t afford to spend recklessly and would need proof of ROI.
Then Matchnode entered the scene. In recognition of the direstraits of the restaurant industry as a whole, Matchnode offered to temporarily waive its fees and immediately got to work
“Right when we were flipping our business from dine-in to takeout—and were truly in need of a dedicated paid social marketing program—Matchnode stepped into the middle of the s***show and waived its fees.”
Solution
Matchnode connects paid social spend to restaurant orders
Thanks in part to Matchnode’s efforts, the What If Syndicate group of restaurants didn’t just survive but thrived during COVID-19 disruptions.
Further, as restaurants slowly opened up again to indoor dining and reservations, Matchnode put Molly’s mind at ease about ROI. In a feat of innovation, Matchnode connected What If Syndicate’s paid social campaigns to SevenRooms, its restaurant reservation and POS system, thus tying ad views to reservations, orders, and revenue.
At the same time, the Matchnode team proved highly responsive to lulls in bookings. If reservations were light at a particular location on a particular day, Molly would call up Matchnode and the team would jump on it.
At the same time, the Matchnode team proved highly responsive to lulls in bookings. If reservations were light at a particular location on a particular day, Molly would call up Matchnode and the team would jump on it.
As the impact of the pandemic recedes, the relationship between What If Syndicate and Matchnode grows stronger, especially as What If Syndicate continues to expand its restaurant brands and locations across the U.S.—opening five new restaurants in the past six months.
Today, What If Syndicate relies on Matchnode to generate brand awareness and reservations for restaurant openings on Facebook and Instagram and even facilitate the process of hiring new kitchen and front-of-house staff.
The concerted effort in paid social really helped us drive to-go orders during the pandemic. Suddenly, people were buying steaks and other high-end entrees to consume at home. We were killing it—and it had a lot to do with Matchnode.
THE AD CREATIVE
Results
10X return on social ad spend
Thanks to Matchnode’s ability to connect ad views to the SevenRooms reservation system, What If Syndicate knows its precise ROAS for social. For every dollar spent on social advertising, What If Syndicate is getting $10 in return.
Molly also confirms that revenue and reservations are up in 2021 when compared to 2020.
The recent opening of a What If Syndicate restaurant in Dallas provides the best evidence of Matchnode’s successful paid social strategy. Even though the brand is relatively unknown in Dallas, the restaurant was booked three months in advance and already had 10,000 followers on Instagram by the time it opened.[/one_half]
Matchnode manages a lot of brands for us and does it seamlessly. They’re the experts in paid social.
