BRÛLÉE | HOSPITALITY CASE STUDY

From Brand Visibility to Business Growth

Brûlée Chicago partnered with Cat's Pajamas Marketing to strengthen its market presence and build the marketing infrastructure needed for long-term growth. What began as a marketing engagement grew into a coordinated growth strategy connecting brand, digital visibility, customer experience, partnerships, media, and analytics.

At a Glance

Client

Brûlée

Industry

Hospitality & Restaurant

Engagement

Strategic Growth & Marketing Partnership

Scope

Brand Strategy, Digital Marketing, Customer Experience, Partnerships, PR & Media, Analytics

The Challenge

Brûlée entered Chicago’s competitive dining market with a distinctive concept and strong culinary talent. However, sustainable growth required more than brand visibility. The opportunity was to build a connected strategy that strengthened customer acquisition, streamlined the reservation experience, elevated service standards, and turned guest engagement into repeat business.

Our Approach

  • Developed Brûlée’s website, optimized its Google Business Profile, improved reservation pathways, and implemented performance tracking to connect online discovery with customer action. Google Business Profile views grew 2,624% year over year, generating thousands of website clicks and reservation page views each month.

  • Directed social media strategy, content development, promotional campaigns, and chef-focused storytelling to expand awareness and attract new audiences, growing monthly Instagram views to nearly 100,000 and increasing TikTok views by more than 50%.

  • Strengthened Brûlée’s guest experience through front-of-house service standards, reservation procedures, guest communication, and online reputation management.

    Measurable Impact: Brûlée’s Google rating increased from 4.4 to 4.7 stars in just 90 days, reflecting an improvement in its public customer feedback during CPM’s engagement.

  • Expanded Brûlée’s business development through Choose Chicago, McCormick Place conference outreach, hotel and concierge relationships, corporate dining, community organizations, and strategic brand collaborations. CPM also pursued high-profile hospitality opportunities, including a major national awards event, building new referral pipelines for group dining, private events, and catering beyond traditional marketing channels.

  • Extended Brûlée’s visibility through earned media opportunities, including local television coverage, and public-facing storytelling that reinforced its presence in Chicago’s hospitality market. Brûlée was also voted Best New Restaurant in the Chicago Tribune Readers’ Choice Awards 2026.

  • Developed targeted initiatives around weekday dining, lunch, happy hour, private events, and customer retention. Email campaigns achieved open rates above 36%, and the average check increased 8.6%. Performance insights continue to shape the next phase of traffic-building strategy.

Work With Us

The Impact

The work drove measurable growth in demand, visibility, and guest action, along with data to guide next steps.

+178%

Waitlist demand growth, nearly tripling within three months

4.4 → 4.7

Google rating within 90 days

+2,624%

Google profile views YoY

+8.6%

Average guest check growth

More than Marketing

Marketing is not the goal. Growth is.

The Brûlée engagement demonstrates Cat’s Pajamas Marketing philosophy: visibility creates opportunity, but strategy and execution drive sustainable growth.

Through an approach that connected marketing, customer experience, strategic partnerships, media relations, and the Growth Accelerator Program, CPM helped build a stronger foundation for long-term business development.

As Brûlée evolved, the strategy evolved with it, identifying new opportunities, strengthening operations, and connecting every initiative to measurable performance.

Let’s Build What’s Next

Ready to turn strategy into growth?

Your business deserves more than a marketing plan. From brand visibility and customer experience to strategic partnerships and business development, Cat’s Pajamas Marketing connects the pieces that move businesses forward.

Let’s identify your next opportunity for growth.

Book a Strategy Call