A Strategic Snapshot of Degario's Ristorante

Veritas Advisory | Small Business Consulting
Jul 31
3 min read

Degario's Ristorante is a local Italian restaurant located in the West Union Village shopping mall. The restaurant is near a Safeway, a boba tea and Asian restaurant as well as two schools, a high school and an elementary school. The restaurant has multiple Italian items such as pasta, pizza, seafood, desserts and even salads. The restaurant is also known for its accommodations for dietary restrictions with vegan and vegetarian options available.

Degario's benefits from heavy foot traffic due to its location has the potential to become a premium restaurant. However, the restaurant's current business and brand strategy may hinder its growth.

Note:

This review was conducted independently through Veritas Advisory, a student-led consulting project that's focused on improving local small business strategy through data analysis, observation and creative thinking. This analysis was conducted using only publicly available information, social media insights and menu pricings. The report as shown below is a suggestion based on the findings of the analysis.

A summary of Degario's menu pricing:

Item	Regular Price	Specials Price
Pasta	$22–$25	$14–$15
Pizza	$20–$23	$15
Seafood	$25–$30	N/A
Salads	$10–$15	$14–$15
Desserts	$7–$10	$7–$10

Based on their pricing model it appears that Degario's is trying to appeal to two different tiers of customers by offering both fine dining prices as well as casual dining prices. For example some of their most popular items include the Lobster Ravioli and the Chicken Fettuccine which are priced at $25 and $15 respectively which just reinforce this price gap.

Veritas Advisory suggests instead introducing a three-tiered menu (Signature, Classic, Value). This way, the restaurant is able to better communicate to its customers the quality, price, and the value that they will get out of their meal.

Social Media

Degario's is currently prevalent on both Instagram and Facebook. Their Instagram is very active with over 700 posts and 538 followers, with much of its content consisting largely of photography about their food. When looking deeper at their posts, it was found that they had very low engagement, often with a single-digit number of likes on their posts, as well as hardly any comments, with not enough eye-catching content. Despite the restaurant producing content at a rapid pace, it lacks customer interaction, which may be one of the reasons that they aren't able to generate conversions into customers.

Veritas Advisory suggests to instead use content that builds personality and is eye catching. This can include using social media templates for their posts, sharing staff stories, customer spotlights, behind the scenes clips and etc.

Location

Degario's is located in a prime area with high school students, families and heavy food traffic from the surrounding stores and schools. However, the restaurant isn't capitalizing on their location as they should be. The restaurant is seen of more of a premium place to eat out yet it's located near a high school where students often don't have that much money to splurge. Compared to the nearby tea house, that local high schoolers love, Degario's is unable to get the same amount of attention.

Veritas Advisory suggests that the restaurant instead launches student lunch deals ($10-12), or partner with local schools for fundraising nights. These efforts can build a relationship with students and families from the nearby schools and generate steady foot traffic to their restaurant.

Customer Reviews

From online reviews, Degario’s popular dishes include:

Panna Cotta – $10
Lobster Ravioli – $25
Chicken Fettuccine – $15
Spaghetti Bolognese – $25
Lamb Chops – $30
Margherita Pizza – $20
Caesar Salad – $14

The overall customer sentiment is positive, particularly around taste, atmosphere, and dietary inclusivity.

However, negative feedback consistently points to:

Inconsistent service
Lack of authenticity in the cuisine
Pricing not matching food quality

Veritas Advisory suggests that Degario's conduct regular customer satisfaction surveys or a post-meal feedback form as insights can help the restaurant provide better service.

Final thoughts

Degario's Ristorante clearly has a strong promise with it's food being praised, menu being diverse and location providing heavy foot traffic. However, with slight adjustments to their business strategy, the restaurant can grow rapidly: