By What expert strategies can a business owner use to attract an endless flow of customers to their restaurant even if they are just new in the business or their business is located in the most competitive environment like Las Vegas, Melbourne or London?
The goal of every business, including restaurants, is not just to get more clients/customers, but to also have them coming back for more like Oliver Twist. Worthy of note is that cooking and serving the best dishes in the world doesn’t correlate to having an influx of customers at your restaurant.
Your restaurant is your brand, and it’s your responsibility to market it until it gets into the hearts of your target audience. Sometimes, little incentives and promotions here and there could be the magic wand for attracting more customers to your restaurant. The same applies to you if you are running a bar.
Do you have a restaurant, but you’re not happy with the limited numbers of customers that are patronizing you? You’re not alone because many other restaurant owners are passing through the same challenge. Nevertheless, we have come up with the best experts tips and strategies on how to attract a steady flow of customers to your restaurant. Do well to read them with rapt attention and begin to apply them.
1. Offer Discounts
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Indeed, the customers you already have are paying you to satisfy their appetites. Your meals/dishes are tasty, but you need to spice up things. When was the last time you gave your customers a free drink or a plate of a meal for their patronage over the years?
Perhaps you haven’t thoughts in that direction, but offering discounts is one of the ways to attract more customers to your restaurant business. When you offer discounts on special days or periodically what it means is that you appreciate their patronage over the years, and you’re willing to serve them the more.
The discounts in question can come in different forms. There is the “2 for 1” deal where you offer two plates of dishes for the price of 1. You may also want to offer 20-30% off the actual cost of your meals and drinks. Free appetizers or deserts can also suffice.
It would interest you to know that the effects of such gestures come in the form of a snowball. It doesn’t end with the satisfaction and appreciation of the current customers. Those customers would, in turn, “preach the gospel” of your restaurant to other people. As you may have known, the “word of mouth” medium of marketing is not only practical but is cost-effective. Word-of-mouth marketing is the most cost-effective form of marketing you can find. Therefore, keep your current customers satisfied and watch them attract others to your restaurant.
2. Send Birthday Wishes
Are you one of those restaurant owners that still operate in the medieval ages of offering services without thinking of the future? You might be working on the notion that more customers would come of their own volition and not necessarily by the invitation of anyone. Such a mindset tends to create a communication gap between you and your customers. That way, you wouldn’t get to be intimate with them.
Instead, deploy strategies to get to know them better. Requesting their email and birthdays through a form with some discounts is one of the ways to gain insights into some of your customers’ details. Once you’ve gotten their birthdays, take the next step of sending emails containing birthday wishes.
In our business society of today, you can now use gift vouchers as a powerful small business tool to effortlessly promote your business, especially on such a memorable day in the life of your customer.
As a way to bolster the move, you may want to offer the customers discounts on meals they consume at your restaurant on their birthdays. It would fascinate you to know that those customers could come with more friends and family members that haven’t tried your food yet. Once they’re there, try to be cordial and exceptional with your services. They’ll come back for more!
3. Improve Your Services
A smart way to attract customers to your restaurant and dramatically increase your sales volume is to improve your services. Many things have to come into place on your end. You don’t have to keep doing the same things over and over while expecting things to change for the better in your restaurant. You can’t be that crazy!
There is a need to improve the in-store experience of your restaurant by giving your operations a touch of excellence. From the chefs in the kitchen to the barman and down to the doorman, everybody has to be effective in his or her line of duty.
For instance, the doorman should be able to politely request the names of your customers and remain the same for future purposes when welcoming or biding them goodbye from your restaurant. The waiter, on the other hand, should be the first to notice the empty glasses of the customers and proceed to seek their permission before refilling them.
Above all, you can serve little treats while the customers/guests are waiting for the meals to get served. Another amazing strategy for getting a steady flow of customers to a restaurant is being child-friendly. Parents often love to take their children to any restaurant where the service assistants treat their children in the most welcoming way.
4. Maintain the Ambience of Your Restaurant
Do you know that the interior of your restaurant could be an advert? You have to integrate unusual lighting to catch the attention of the passerby. What the headline of a marketing offer does in making people buy a certain product at whatever cost it is, that’s exactly what lighting up the restaurant environment does in making people stop by to patronize you.
Every other thing from the cuisine to the arrangement of tables and the bright patchwork on the sofas should be done in a way to reflect the unique details in your restaurant. Doing this goes a long way in boosting your brand perception to your ideal customers.
What makes a restaurant good goes beyond the quality of the food you sell but also in the kind of environment the food is served. Profitable restaurant business has both quality food and an eye-popping environment.
5. Partner with Local Businesses
How about working in synergy with local businesses? Many of these businesses have employees that do not have spare time to go out and get meals. Others work with more prominent restaurants that supply them with meals. You can propose real-time delivery and discounts on your meals and drinks.
Imagine being the official quality food supplier to all staff of at least 5 corporate organizations in your environment. Seeing how this will save them time will make it practically impossible for them to turn you down.
Related: Complete Management of Your Restaurant Through a Restaurant POS
You can create a mobile app for your restaurant and make it available in Play Store and Apple Store. With this restaurant app, people will be able to place their order in advance from the comfort of their office and you will deliver the food in say, 2 minutes to their break time.
Attract a Steady Flow of Customers to Your Restaurant
You should note that landing your first customers doesn’t translate to having more of that in the coming months. You might even lose the few customers you have if efforts are not in place to provide them with the best dishes and impeccable customer service. Therefore, don’t hesitate to apply the ideas we just shared above, as they would help you to attract and sustain more customers in your restaurant in Australia, USA, UK, etc.
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