Why You Should be Carving your Niche in the Industry – and how to do it!

In a highly competitive environment, with more restaurants and cafes opening every week in Australia, businesses need to stand out from the crowd in order to survive.

Carving out a niche in your community should be the focus of your efforts.

Why? Because doing the same thing as everyone else, when they are already established, is simply going to make your job very difficult. People are loyal and if they are already happy with the service and food at the local café, they are likely to keep returning. Having a niche product or service means people in the area think of you first, and often, when deciding where to eat. 

Having a niche means doing something much better than everyone else around you. There are a few ways of doing this: 

• Do what you do extremely well: this is the most effective way of carving out a niche. Find what you do extremely well, and just keep doing it extremely well. If you make killer falafels, make the best falafels money can possibly buy. Become the one outlet everyone thinks of then they want a falafel. Live and breathe falafels.
• A big capital investment: Not everyone has the means to do this but it can be an effective solution. Spend up big on your outdoor seating, a huge range of international beers on tap, or a decadent rooftop bar and you will attract customers looking for these kinds of things.
• Create a niche audience: If there are many outlets around you doing the same thing at a similar level, consider making the atmosphere or community associated with your outlet the niche. Cater to vegans, for example, or make all of your burgers gluten free. Consider having a crate of toys and kid-friendly areas for new parents, create a community with ‘lunch and learn’ events or invite recent migrant communities for monthly discounted dinners.

Creating a niche can be a time-consuming endeavour, and you can’t expect it to explode in popularity overnight (although it might!). Be sure to research your market well before you plunge head first into a niche product, but once you’re there we’re here to help. Get in touch to talk about our range of burger buns, pre-baked bread, garlic breads, rustic loaves and pizza bases.