Putting Yourself Out There

This one’s for the introverts! The wallflowers. Those of you who cringe at the thought of a bit of limelight. I write to you today in hopes that you will reconsider…

A Quick Catch Up

It’s been a few weeks since my last post – sorry about that. I’ve been heads-down grinding on a number of things. One, we’ve been tightening up our systems at Toasties in preparation for expansion. Of course it’s important to operate as tight a ship as possible before expanding your food business (I’ll talk about this in more detail in a future post), so we’re making sure we’ve got all our ducks in a row before pouring gasoline on the fire we’ve got going. Two, we’re preparing for a fund raise (another ‘fun’ experience I will tell you all about, particularly in the current macroeconomic climate). And three, we’re recruiting senior talent.

It’s been a busy Q1 so far.

To top it off, I also began a new role as a food columnist at ThisDay Style last month. Check out my first few articles here and here. Why, you might ask? All in the name of putting myself out there.

Some Backstory

Early on in my career, I chose the route of anonymity. When starting Toasties, it took a lot just to add my full name and work history to the ‘About Us’ page of our website. Not only did the introvert in me not crave the added attention, I always just believed that the brand would and should speak for itself. And whilst we’ve been fortunate over the years to have the brand grow organically, I have finally accepted the reality of the benefits that come with putting yourself out there. Intentionally.

I’ll tell it like it is. I have a dream of creating a large and impactful African quick service restaurant (QSR) brand. And when I began to research the brands that inspire me, I noticed that even seemingly inconspicuous founders like Steve Ells of Chipotle, or the Cherng family of Panda Express, had found time to do some press over the years.

So what was stopping me? What is stopping you?

At the end of the day, people like to know the stories behind the brands they know and love. So while you may not crave celebrity, if your goal is to grow a big and impactful brand, the founding story will help to accomplish that.

Understanding Your Market

Nigeria – particularly Lagos, where I’m based – is an interesting market. I recently spoke to a PR and marketing expert who has been in the industry for over 15 years in Nigeria. She explained that Nigeria is a country where many people want to know who the owner of a business is before they support that business. This statement stuck with me.

Our present dining-out culture, particularly in Lagos, only gained popularity within the last 15 or so years. Before this, unless it was a hotel buffet, or a well established restaurant, Lagosians were not so experimental with dining-out. You ate at home. Some of my early core memories with food involve being discouraged from eating outside of my home as a child – save for the exemptions mentioned.

This speaks to the element of trust.

Many Nigerians feel that if they know who the owner of a restaurant is, and they trust this person, they can trust their food. Or will at least be more willing to give it a try. Given that the food industry is still developing, and people are still building trust for the industry (particularly with health and safety practices, and taste), knowing and trusting the owner helps patrons believe that the food will be of a desired standard. In more developed markets, however, you tend to be able to trust the system that regulates food establishments, making it more likely for patrons to be experimental with food.

The Importance of Publicity

So how can you gain trust in such a market?

By putting yourself out there, of course. Telling the people who you are, how you operate, and why you should be trusted.

In keeping with my previously preferred anonymity, I purposely avoided press opportunities that required me to appear as the face of Toasties. It sounds crazy to me now, but I would even decline interviews with reputable press agencies for this reason. Oddly, I believed I would one day hire a public facing employee who would tell our story on my behalf. But when that day never came, and the realization of how important it is to draw attention to your business continued to dawn on me, I eventually had to give in.

In the words of Grant Cardone, “Best known beats best.” You can have the greatest restaurant in the world, but if no one knows about it…who cares? With this in mind, coupled with the compounding effect of time, I realized that it’s better to start now and maximize all the resources for publicity that I have available. This included doing more press. Over time, all these publicity avenues will multiply and scale.

So, what exactly did this mean? It meant returning to blogging, for one. Creating public personal social media pages. Becoming a magazine food columnist. Saying yes to interviews with the press. Saying yes to speaking engagements. I simply decided to exercise every opportunity available to me to share our brand message, and my expertise from 12 years in the food industry. All in an effort to demonstrate why our company should indeed be trusted.

While it is still early in my journey of putting myself in public spaces, I have already seen great results for my companies. We’ve seen increased sales all round, and more and more people identifying with our brand ethos. It’s easy to believe that your brand is already well-known when word-of-mouth and return customers make up the majority of your customers base. But if you’re not generating new leads through publicity, you stand to eventually slow down your growth.

Doing more press has enabled me to put our growth into perspective, as every bit of press means we get introduced to new customers who had never heard of us before. Thanks to these increased efforts to tell our story in a relatable way, we’re able to identify with more people.

Each day I get a little bit closer to my goal of building an impactful QSR brand.

Summary

While you might prefer to stay away from the limelight, I hope you will consider what you may be sacrificing when you don’t seize available opportunities to boost your brand. Think about all the avenues you can work on simultaneously over time to build up your business in the eyes of your customers. It takes time to build a reputable brand that people know and trust, and this time is shortened the more avenues you hit.

I hope you’ve found this information useful. Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, or via private message. Let me know about some of the ways you have tried to put yourself out there on behalf of your company. What were the results? What are some reasons that may have held you back? I’d love to hear about your experience.

Let’s Stay Connected

In the meantime you can follow @biscuitboneblog on Instagram and Twitter (“X”) for updates. Also check out Toasties and Board for more context. Or my personal page, if you simply can’t get enough.

Is there anything you’d like to know specifically about the food industry? Leave a comment or send a message.