“You need to be an event business”
“It’s not enough to be a hospitality business anymore,” small-business owner Shelley Pippin says. “You need to be an event business.”
Here’s why Brewnuts has been so successful at using events to carve out a niche for themselves, and what small- and medium-sized business marketers can learn from “Ohio’s first and only doughnut bar,” regardless of your industry.
Meet the Master
Shelley Pippin
Founder and co-owner, Brewnuts
When you think of bar food, you probably think of things like burgers and sandwiches.
But Cleveland-based Brewnuts has a different vision: As Brewnuts’ “Ohio’s first and only doughnut bar,” as co-owner and founder Shelley Pippin puts it, the business pairs a carefully curated selection of beer and coffee drinks with a rotating selection of homemade doughnuts.
For Brewnuts, their menu is just the (sweet) start, however. “It’s not enough to be a hospitality business anymore,” Pippin says. “You need to be an event business.”
In addition to a menu of brews and dones, Brewnuts books weekends celebrating holidays (Halloween), pop culture (Twilight) and fandom lore (an annual December toast to Taylor Swift’s birthday called “Taylor Fest”). These special events often come with unique coffee drinks or theme-specific doughnuts; for example, a “Boston Scream!” for spooky season.
Photo credit: Emily Drapp
“I love creating things, and I see my job as being responsible for surprising and delighting people,” Pippin says. “That’s why I love the hospitality industry. It’s a place where you have the opportunity to create experiences for people. It really is about providing that little slice of escape and joy.”
Takeaway: Don’t underestimate the power of surprise, delight, and joy. Whether you’re selling doughnuts or databases, think about what experiences you can create for people.
Divide and Conquer
Pippin cut her teeth working in partnership marketing, sponsorships, and client work, so she excels at handling the creative ideation side of Brewnuts — a job that encompasses things such as menu development, event planning, and social media content creation.
Photo credit: Shelley Pippin
“I love the inspiration part,” she says. “Those things tend to just pop into my brain, and I‘m like, ‘Yep, and here’s 25 ideas about how I want to do that.’”
But from a business standpoint, Brewnuts is well balanced because co-founder (and Pippin’s husband) John has a background in accounting and finance.
“He handles a lot more of our operations,” she says. “It‘s great to have all the ideas in the world. But if you don’t understand how to run a functional business in terms of making the numbers …read more
Source:: HubSpot Blog
