The Cottage Cafe, Bakery & Tea Room

Since Leslie Rohland first opened The Cottage Café, Bakery & Tea Room in 2009, she has transformed one of Bluffton, South Carolina’s most historic cottages into one of the Lowcountry’s most popular quaint restaurants. Although the restaurant had built a strong following of fans of its “scrumptious fare with a Southern flare”, Leslie knew that some “smart marketing” could take her restaurant to a whole new level – and came to SmartMarketing Communications to put our many years of restaurant marketing experience to work for her and The Cottage.

Solutions

• Redesigned the restaurant’s menus to create visually-appealing and cohesive branding highlighting The Cottage’s cozy-yet-elegant setting, award-winning cuisine and established history in the community
• Worked to help the restaurant secure a number of prestigious local and national awards for its cuisine (including the Good Food Awards and USA Today10Best Awards) – using the awards as a further springboard for publicity
• Created unique restaurant promotions and special events to drive both old and new customers into the restaurant, including sold-out author dinners and holiday events
• Created and executed publicity campaigns surrounding restaurant news, including the launch of new menu items and restaurant events
• Developed and executed a unique, and fun, event to not only showcase The Cottage and its delectable desserts – but bring local restaurants and coffee roasters throughout the community together for the first-ever Bluffton Coffee and Chocolate Fest.
• Created and executed quarterly fundraisers for local charities – highlighting The Cottage’s community involvement and commitment to bettering the Bluffton area, and driving customers into the restaurant

Results

Since partnering with SmartMarketing Communications on a multi-faceted marketing and public relations campaign, the Cottage has grown even further to become one of the Lowcountry’s most popular restaurants. With its new menus and special events appealing to a wide variety of customers, The Cottage has become a favorite destination for both longtime area residents and visitors to the Lowcountry.  Smartmarketing’s execution of marketing and publicity campaigns surrounding the winning of a number of prestigious industry awards has further helped The Cottage stand out and become a leader in the competitive Bluffton restaurant market. SmartMarketing’s role in creating and executing the first-ever the first-ever Bluffton Coffee and Chocolate Fest in 2018 on behalf of The Cottage also played a major role in helping the restaurant gain even greater local awareness (and more customers) – with more than 3,000 local residents coming out to this packed event held on the Green right next to The Cottage.