Inspiring Growth Through Clear Brand Strategy
Manhattan Fish Market started as an American-inspired fast food and casual restaurant in Malaysia in 2002. The inspiration for the restaurant came from Fulton Fish Market, a 180-year old fish market in the US. The three individuals who started knew what they were doing. The idea was a success right from the start, and its American-inspired seafood culinary soon spread beyond national borders and into the neighboring countries.
Inspiring Growth Through Clear Brand Strategy
Manhattan Fish Market started as an American-inspired fast food and casual restaurant in Malaysia in 2002. The inspiration for the restaurant came from Fulton Fish Market, a 180-year old fish market in the US. The three individuals who started knew what they were doing. The idea was a success right from the start, and its American-inspired seafood culinary soon spread beyond national borders and into the neighboring countries.
The Challenges
The owners soon realized that franchising was going to be the best way for them to expand further. However, successful franchising requires a strong, well-communicated, and clear brand identity. Furthermore, the brand needs a short, concise, and striking value proposition that’s easy to deliver.
Additionally, the staff and management have to be on the same page i.e. sharing the same vision as that of the brand that they are working for. They had to know the core purpose of Manhattan Fish Market’s existence and the way forward for its expansion. That’s where we came in.
Our Solutions
First, we had to know what the perception of the brand was in the minds of the customers. We started that assessment at the restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore. We mapped out the customer journey and pinpointed its weaknesses and strengths. We created a strategy to help the management identify Manhattan Fish Market’s vision and figure out a way to reflect it in its branding.
We conducted a thorough analysis of various brand-to-customer touch points and suggested improvements based on our analysis. Some of our suggested enhancements included tweaking, renovating or completely overhauling aspects such as customer service, served portion sizes, restaurant environment, etc. We worked further to identify the differentiators of Manhattan Fish Market.
We strategized based on those differentiators to create a quirky and attention-grabbing persona of the brand. The last step was to train the trainer. The idea was to train a team of employees to internalise the new brand identity, its differentiators, strengths, and strategies to deliver the brand proposition consistently. These employees then cascaded the renewed brand to all other employees and franchisees.
Results
As management puts its heart and soul to communicate, cascade, and deliver the invigorated brand, their efforts bore fruit. It was not long enough before the brand earned accolades like International Franchisor of the Year and Singapore Franchisor of the Year. The brand performed strongly and continued to win many such awards as the years passed. Its popularity rose to new heights, so far into foreign lands that franchisee requests started coming in from Saudi Arabia. By consistently delivering its value proposition, capitalizing on its strengths, and improving on its weaknesses, Manhattan Fish Market is operating proudly in more than 10 countries today.