6 Tips to Get More People into Your Restaurant

With the abundance of restaurants lining a single street, it can be more than a little difficult to not only attract customers, but keep them interested and wanting to come back to dine with you. People have a taste for different cuisines, and those tastes can change from day to day, so you’ll want to make sure that yours is the first restaurant customers think of whenever they’re in the mood for whatever style of cuisine you sell. Thankfully, there are several more things that you can do to draw in customers and keep them coming back for more of your great food and service.

1. Make a Plan

Make a marketing, organizational and business plan to ensure that your business and your success stay on track. If your restaurant becomes a success, is it the kind of success that you were hoping to achieve when you first started your business? Do you have a successful sports bar when you originally intended to have a successful sophisticated restaurant known for its air of elegance? Making a plan helps you set the course for your success and stay on it without wavering, that way you can take immediate action if you see things shifting in your business that you didn’t plan for.

2. Who are your Customers?

Do you want your restaurant to be all inclusive, or is there a certain type of clientele that you’re hoping to attract? Do you expect well-dressed people in suits, ties and nice dresses coming into your restaurant, or people in jeans and t-shirts? The reason you’ll want to figure this question out is so that you can plan your price, advertisements, services and location accordingly. If you’re hoping to attract the lower class, you wouldn’t place your restaurant in the middle of an expensive and opulent neighborhood just as you wouldn’t place your restaurant on the side of the highway if you’re hoping to attract the upper class.

3. How Much Will you Charge?

If you have a rather large restaurant capable of seating a lot of people, then you can set your prices somewhat low, maybe a little higher depending on if you want upper socialites to dine in your restaurant. There are tried and true menu pricing calculations that you may want to follow.If you have a small space, then you might want to set your prices a little higher in order to make a profit. If you have a small space and want to have affordable prices, then you should have fast service and meals that don’t take long to prepare so you can turn over a lot of tables in a short amount of time. There’s nothing wrong with having people on a wait list, but know that some people might not be willing to wait very long. The faster your service is and the faster that you can churn out food orders, the more customers you can accommodate.

4. Location, Location, Location

Before you figure out anything else with your restaurant, figure out where you want that restaurant to be and ask yourself if that location is a place that the kind of customers you’re hoping to attract can find. Upper class clientele may want a place that’s off the beaten path, while the majority often prefers a place that they can walk to or is located nearby. You have to go where your customers are.

5. Food Quality

You can have the best service in the world at your restaurant where the servers are the best in the business, but if your food is terrible; your restaurant will be practically empty. On the other hand, if your food is absolutely magnificent, people will come in throngs. Restaurants are mainly places for people to eat, so make food quality your highest priority. Order high-quality and fresh foods and take suggestions from your customers on what they’d like to see on the menu.

6. What’s Your Identity?

The second most important detail for you to tend to is the brand of your business. The name of your restaurant, your logo, advertisement strategy and the décor of your restaurant will either attract or repel customers. Your restaurant décor should be just as elegant and graceful or down to earth as the name or your restaurant. Themes can include Italian, Mexican, American, Classical, Thai, Cyber and even something that you’ve made up yourself.

Opening and running a restaurant is hard business, but it can also be one of the most rewarding experiences if done right. Always keep the customer in mind with every decision that you make from the menu design, the seating and even the utensils that you have.

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