How to find cafe/food industry experts, managers, owners for market research?

Alex Bell

Hi there,

My name is Alex and I'm part of a small team that plans starting own business. We have an idea for cafes and restaurants but before we invest money in it, we’d like to understand whether it is worth it or not.

I was looking for some ideas about how can i get hold of industry experts, venue managers or owners in the UK to participate in a short survey/chat that will take 5-10 mins or at least complete my survey online.

So far i tried contacting cafes, restaurants and venues through facebook, Linkedin and their websites with not much luck so far, they usually don't reply.

I was hoping to find some advice or ideas here about how else can i get hold of desired contacts and get my research completed?
Or perhaps there is someone here who is cafe owner and can spare 5 minutes to answer some questions (that would be greatly appreciated!).


Have a lovely day,
Alex

Ryan O'Bleness

Hi, @Alex Bell. Sometimes a more grassroots approach is necessary. Physically walk into to these cafes and restaurants and ask to speak with the owners and managers directly. Tell them you are conducting research and you want to use their store as one of the subjects. Offer them something in return, such as your findings when completed that could help their business grow. 

Use a word of mouth approach: maybe you post a survey online and you print off business cards to hand out with the URL. So people can fill it out on their time. Tell people to spread the word next time they're in a cafe. 

Join social media groups of resturant owners and managers and ask them if anybody is interested in participating in a quick phone chat or survey. 

Just some ideas!