MuMu Grill Case Study

Leading restaurateur throws out the book!

The Challenge

MuMu Grill in Crows Nest claims to be "Sydney's best 100 percent grass fed beef steakhouse" and if the glowing reviews are anything to go by; the diners agree in their droves. Its commitment to sustainably grown produce has set this meat lover's haven apart from other steakhouses and since opening in November 2007 it has specialised in grass fed beef because not only is grass fed beef better for you and better for the environment; but according to owner and head chef, Craig Macindoe, it also tastes better.

The Good Food Guide featured restaurant has an 11m long bar where patrons can enjoy a variety of tapas, great cocktails, wines and ice cold beer in a relaxed atmosphere before they dine, has been a very popular haunt on Sydney's North Shore. However, in these challenging times and without an extensive marketing budget to promote itself Craig Macindoe and his team needed to find a way to increase bookings, particularly on traditional quieter days for restaurants. 

MuMu Grill had already been featured on some of the leading online restaurant guides, which generated interest but potential diners had to make an email enquiry or phone the restaurant during busy service hours to book a table.    

The restaurant already had made a significant investment in its own website and Craig Macindoe was keen to incorporate online bookings so people could make reservations more conveniently and out of normal service hours. He saw online bookings as a pivotal component to his online marketing strategy. 

The Approach

After carefully researching the options, MuMu Grill discovered Dimmi - Australia's first real-time restaurant reservation service. So in late 2010 Dimmi's was launched at MuMu Grill allowing diners to make an immediately confirmed booking via the restaurant's website 24/7 and throughout  Australia's largest restaurant booking network, where over five million diners search for restaurants every month.   

"Online bookings are definitely the future and Dimmi has allowed us to boost our restaurant's overall reservations and to fill our empty seats on quieter days. I love it, bookings just appear out of cyberspace and they are instantly booked and confirmed without us needing to do a thing!" said Craig Macindoe, owner and head chef of MuMu Grill in Crows Nest, Sydney. 

Adopting Dimmi has turned out to be a great business decision for Craig Macindoe because of its 100 per cent performance based model, which means that MuMu Grill only pays when bookings are generated by Dimmi.

The team at MuMu Grill have thrown out the highly inefficient reservations book it relied on so heavily before and replaced it with the Dimmi Online Reservation Diary that synchronises and checks instant availability for diners 24/7. The team have found it easy to implement and the improvements to operational efficiencies have been significant.  

"Implementing Dimmi's real time reservations system was one of the smartest business decisions I've ever made for MuMu Grill and one that I am constantly recommending to other restaurateurs. I could never go back to using the book and I believe that using Dimmi has truly enabled us to give our customers a more complete experience," said Craig Macindoe. 

The Results

Just months after partnering with Dimmi, MuMu Grill is achieving its goal of significantly increasing MuMu Grill's online presence and boosting the number of diners the restaurant seats on a daily basis. Bookings at MuMu have increased by over 10 per cent and MuMu Grill's owner, Macindoe said he now sees his own website as a money making device.

"We were surprised to find that our customers gravitated to it so quickly, we are now taking 25 per cent of total bookings online via Dimmi's real time booking engine. It's clearly demonstrated diners' preference for this type of service," said Macindoe. 

Dimmi's 24/7 booking availability has also proven to capture traditionally lost bookings, with 90 per cent of MuMu Grill's bookings being made after hours or during traditional peak service periods. The Dimmi 24/7 booking engine helps to ensure that MuMu Grill never loses another booking.

Macindoe has also been impressed with Dimmi's integrated marketing tools including customer management and promotional tools which enable MuMu Grill to develop its own customer database to drive repeat bookings. 

"Dimmi has widened our scope and has attracted people to the restaurant that otherwise may never have heard of MuMu. Online bookings has also allowed us to build our database of customers and communicate regularly to help drive increased revenue from repeat bookings," said Macindoe. 

"We know that the secret to running a profitable restaurant is to fill as many seats as possible during every service, so what Dimmi does is to help put more bums on seats by marketing and promoting our partner restaurants through Australia's largest restaurant booking network," said Stevan Premutico, Managing Director of Dimmi. 

"If you don't use this system you are an idiot! The Dimmi booking system is magic - 200 people booked using it in our first two weeks, which no other system can beat. In addition you get all your customers' information without having to bother them with comment cards," concluded Macindoe. 

Dimmi helps to drive more bookings and helps to fill empty seats by promoting partner restaurants to over five million diners searching for restaurants every month through Australia's Largest Restaurant Booking Network. They include the likes of NineMSN/YourRestaurants, Best Restaurants, Eatability, My247, Australian Good Food & Travel Guide, Food Wine Sleep and many more high profile online restaurant guides.