The funniest (and saddest) restaurant review ever

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New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells skewers a Tex-Mex newcomer, Javelina.  While the review itself is bitingly funny, the message underscores LEKR's tenets of restaurant success: identity, consistency and hospitality.  Javelina seems to be lacking in all three.  If you're a restauranteur, you'll be happy this review isn't about your establishment.  As a customer, thank the writer for the warning.  Enjoy the article.

LEKR launches to fire up extraordinary food businesses

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New agency delivers strategic growth strategies for restaurants and food products Chapel Hill, NC, November 4, 2014—LEKR, a specialty agency focused on growing exemplary food businesses, launched today. The agency, the first of its kind, guides restaurants and food product companies through all phases of growth. LEKR provides the perspective, strategy and execution to attract greenfield customers, develop a viable food business, and propel a scalable investment proposition.

LEKR’s founders identified a significant bottleneck: time and again, they found standout food products unable to achieve the market share they deserved, or not growing at a pace commensurate with the quality of their offerings. Most food entrepreneurs are heads-down in the day-to-day challenges and don’t have a minute to look up, nor do they have the expertise to create and execute against a roadmap of a high-growth company from day one. That’s where LEKR comes in.

“As the owner of a new restaurant, my focus was the kitchen and service, but I needed help to stand out in a highly competitive market,” said Al Bowers, owner of Al’s Burger Shack in Chapel Hill, NC. “LEKR became an instant extension of my team handling marketing strategy, public relations, website design, social media, and events, right out of the gate. They are here with me all the time. LEKR is an invaluable resource, giving my business a range of expertise that we did not have, and delivering real results. And we have only just begun.”

LEKR has a singular focus and unmatched approach to moving food businesses along the continuum from start-up to moonshot. This three-phase approach, supplying traction, focus, and expansion, turns the traditional attitude about the food business on its head. LEKR believes that food entrepreneurship deserves the same acceleration as any other startup wishing to escape the curse of conformity.

“At LEKR, we believe that a great food business deserves to be set up for success from the start in order to maximize their market potential,” said Dawn van Hoegaerden, CEO of LEKR. “We want to end the piecemeal (whack-a-mole) approach to operations and finance and offer food entrepreneurs a cohesive strategy to elevate every level of their organization and drive phenomenal business success.”

About LEKR LEKR is a specialty agency helping unique food businesses stand out and grow. LEKR, a riff on the Dutch word for delicious, offers services to accelerate growth throughout a business’ lifecycle. For more information about how LEKR can fire up your business, visit LEKR.net.

Contact: Dawn van Hoegaerden CEO, LEKR 919-537-9325 dawn@lekr.net

 

If You Build It, How Will They Find It? LEKR is Born.

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People might call me a “foodie.” I’m not sure what that means. I love good food, with an emphasis on the good. However, the term foodie seems to have been diluted and may be used to describe people who are not particularly discerning. I spend a good deal of my free time reading food magazines, food blogs, and talking to people about food. And, of course, I eat often. I am an accomplished home cook, but I also love to eat out. It’s a great way to get the pulse of an area, meet locals and find inspiration for my home kitchen. Often, I am the first in my circle to know about the newest restaurants, food trucks and food products in town. I even surprise friends in different cities by turning them on to new places in their own hometowns. This got me wondering. Why aren’t my food finds on the radar of my friends and neighbors? They all like to eat out often. Most of the time, the answer is awareness. They just aren’t aware that a business has launched. And this is understandable. Typically, unless you have an incredible budget, or an established name, people just find out about you by word of mouth. For most chefs/restauranteurs, marketing is not in their DNA. Their passion is for creating amazing food, not learning social media technology or designing marketing campaigns, but they deserve to be noticed. And that is how LEKR was born.

By combining my passion for food with my experience turning tech entrepreneurs into rock stars, LEKR (derived from the Dutch word for delicious), opened shop to provide high-value communications services to craft food and beverage businesses. The proliferation of new food businesses has increased the decibel level in the market. LEKR builds awareness and enables vendors to sell more. LEKR's combination of media relations, attention-getting content and social media expertise, plus unique research capabilities deliver the ammunition needed to fill restaurant seat or send product flying off the shelves. The LEKR team has a passion for start-up food businesses and more than two decades of marketing, business development and communications experience.   The company is moving high quality, under-recognized vendors to the forefront.

Stay tuned to this blog as I build the business and promote my clients and my food finds from my travels. And if by chance you are in the food business and need a marketing boost, contact us.