From Franchise to Hype

In 2022, the Belgian branch of the franchise group “Fastfine” opened its doors with V Modern Italian – Antwerp Tower. The team quickly found their rhythm, and plans for a second restaurant were in the works. However, this time, they wanted to approach things differently. Several pain points were transformed into valuable lessons, allowing them to continue evolving. At this stage, they reached out to the Dot with a request: “We want to make the opening a huge success.” And so, a harmonious collaboration began.

Objective

While mapping out the strategy, various factors were taken into consideration. We were dealing with two completely different restaurants: one located in the heart of Antwerp with a distinct target audience, and the other situated in the city’s fashion district.

This raised the question of how to cater to these two different personas and build on the lessons learned from the first restaurant, which was quite different. In addition, we wanted to create a spectacular opening – “create the buzz” was our motto. This buzz also needed to align with our long-term strategy and ensure continuous impact post-launch.

Approach

A complete 360° marketing strategy was developed. Collaborating with other partners, we streamlined everyone’s efforts so that the opening would generate massive buzz across all channels. 

From A to Z, everything was prepared for the opening of V Antwerp, from tracking to the full execution of the funnel strategy. The goals were to: (1) increase brand awareness and create significant hype around the new restaurant, (2) boost the number of reservations, and (3) maintain impact after the opening.

Results

From day one, the restaurant attracted a large crowd and was fully booked for the first few months. Website sessions increased by 377% for the new restaurant and 200% for the existing one, with both new and returning visitors contributing to this, positively boosting brand awareness.

What we’re most proud of, however, is our lasting impact. Not only did we deliver excellent results at the time of the opening, but even a year later, we continued to focus on acquiring new customers, with reservations continuing to grow.