Pike Place Chowder: Growth Strategies & Customer Success

Pike Place Chowder: Seattle’s Iconic Eatery Since 2003

Pike Place Chowder has been feeding hungry Seattle residents and visitors since 2003. Only recently, however, has the iconic eatery, located at Pike Place Market, embarked on a fresh new marketing approach.

Owner Mike Hillyer, who bought out the brand in September 2024 from his chowder competition partner Larry Mellum, credits his daughter, Emily, for this new direction, which he says is paying off, even as labor and food costs continue to rise in Seattle. Here are some other things his team has focused on for continued growth.

Review Management to Connect with Customers

“I’m old school and never answered reviews on Yelp, but now we answer every review—good, bad or indifferent, and this has helped us connect with our customers,” Hillyer says. His daughter also had an idea to print business cards with QR codes for the main menu and even for menus translated into Chinese, Japanese and other languages to cater to Pike Place’s many international customers.

Sticking to What Works: Core Menu FocusDon’t Change What’s Not Broke

Sticking to the core menu also helps. Even during the pandemic and recent food cost increases, Hillyer says he’s never changed the recipes. “They weren’t broken before COVID, so we never changed it,” he says. “We source the best quality heavy cream possible, without carrageenan in it, so it has about a two-day shelf life. We make everything from scratch, and all of our fish is sustainable and sourced fresh. We just don’t cut corners. Even when heavy cream went from $69 for five gallons to $105 and crab went from $56 a pound to $80, we haven’t changed, and haven’t done a price increase, either.”

Hillyer says Pike Place’s corporate chef has been introducing some new items, such as seasonal sandwiches, which has also driven sales. “We did a codfish sandwich on a brioche roll and a lobster grilled cheese that just blew everyone away,” Hillyer says.

Diversify Revenue Streams

Hillyer says the company has been expanding shipping and doubling down on marketing efforts to drive sales to offset these costs.

Though Pike Place Chowder has been shipping for nearly a decade, Hillyer switched to the Goldbelly platform last year and the change has paid off, further helping boost sales during a tough time for restaurants, especially in Seattle. “When we switched to Goldbelly, their reach was a million. Now I think it’s upwards of 3 million,” he says. “We ship nationwide—and now we’re into Canada. The diversification is huge for us.”

Enhance the Customer Experience

Better line management has helped these efforts. “Our lines go out the door and down the alleyway—the biggest complaint we get is the line is really long,” Hillyer says. “So now we have two full-time line monitors who pass out our new business cards with a QR code for the menu on them and help take orders, so when [customers] get to the front, they just have to pay.”

Take Care of Your People

Taking care of teams has also helped growth efforts. “Our turnover rate at our Post Alley location is almost zero,” Hillyer says. “Part of that is because we keep seasonal staff on the payroll inactive, so when they come back from college, we call them first because they already know the system. We’re also looking into offering better health insurance, and we do a 100% 401K matching program. Maintaining our volume has helped us take care of our people like this.”