5. Market your makeover
“This is the hardest part,” Blind Dragon’s Terzian says. Operators must get existing customers to embrace the change while also bringing in new business. At Blind Dragon, this meant holding several friends-and-family tastings. It requires “true handholding of each customer,” he says. “That takes some patience. You can’t fake that.”
Burnt Barrel has focused on reaching out to customers via social media and the local press. “Transitioning the old customers is a little tricky,” Voss says. “We have lots of regulars who are still here … But we’re seeing new people, too, who might not have been in the Tilted Kilt demographic.”