The restaurant industry is extremely competitive and requires you to understand constantly evolving trends and strategies to maintain consistent sales, and subsequently, profit margins. While retaining customers is one of the most important aspects of your business, bringing new customers is just as essential for your growth as a brand. From tried and tested techniques to ingenious methods suited to your establishment, you will require a mixed bag of methods to promote sales and growth in your restaurant. We discuss 9 essential tips and tricks to help you improve sales and realize your goals as both a restaurateur and an entrepreneur. Read on to know more.
9 Ways to Increase Your Restaurant Sales
Offer Customers an Online Ordering Option
Expanding your business to include a pick-up or delivery service will be a surefire method to enhance sales. Customers that do not intend on dining in can seamlessly place an order with an easy-to-use website or app. You can either tie-up with a third-party delivery service or offer your own delivery services to customers that would prefer to order online. As for pick-up orders, you can designate some spaces in your parking lot to allow for easy pick-up and take-out options.
Optimize Your Menu
Your menu should not merely be a list of offerings but a well-thought-out document that promotes increased purchases. Since you must know what your customers sell and the demand for different products, engineer your menu to attract visual appetite. Focus on popular items, and also offer specials on order. This creates a sense of exclusivity for your customers, promoting intrigue and further sales. Also, implement an intelligent menu design that is visually appealing and easy to browse through.
Use High-quality Restaurant Equipment
Commercial kitchen equipment affects the quality of your offerings, a factor that directly affects customer satisfaction and repeat orders. It’s essential to understand how to choose high-quality restaurant equipment so you can raise the standards of your operation to operate both efficiently and profitably. Invest in trusted commercial kitchen equipment to improve the food quality in your restaurant and to improve delivery times for your dishes.
Implement a Restaurant Reservation System
With everyone leading busy lifestyles, it becomes imperative to implement a straightforward reservation system that will allow your patrons to book a table without hassle. The easiest way you can do this is by adding a ‘book a table’ option to your restaurant’s website or mobile application. This streamlines the system and offers greater ease for customers looking to book a table in your restaurant. You can also help your customers save more time by allowing them to order ahead for their reserved table, so that they can dine the moment they get there, cutting out wait times.
Use Social Media to Drive Growth & Reach
Social media is a great way to reach out to prospective customers that are looking for new places to eat at. It allows you to reach a large demographic and also offers targeted marketing options that can promote your establishment to customers looking for similar options. Engage with your customers regularly, and maintain a responsive social media presence. Uploading content for your social media platforms further drives engagement and reach, enabling you to remain active in the marketing arena consistently.
Improve Service Speed
Increasing the service speed also improves table turnover per hour, allowing you to serve more customers. This directly improves your revenue, enabling growth. Promote seamless communication between your employees and simplify their tasks by bringing in point of sale (POS) devices to assist your staff as they take orders. POS devices linked with kitchen display systems (KDS) can rapidly transform the way your staff operates and will improve service speed.
Try New & Unique Marketing Strategies
While old strategies such as print and email marketing might slowly be going out of vogue, it’s time to bring out new strategies to improve your engagement and reach with customers. Alongside social media marketing, you can also rely on text-message marketing options to promote your reach. Coupling text message marketing with weekly offers is sure to improve the response rate, especially from regular customers.
Create a Mobile Application
If you don’t already have a mobile app to serve your customers, it might be time to get one. Applications allow customers to access every detail about your business through a single platform. You can also add e-commerce features to your app to promote online ordering, delivery, and other options. Table reservations and ordering ahead too can be added as features to your restaurant’s mobile applications. Apps also provide a good amount of direct engagement with existing customers and allow you to convert new customers into regular visitors.
Use SEO to Further Sales
By using search engine optimization (SEO), you can make sure your website shows up at the top of search results. This improves your reach among potential customers on the lookout for new eateries. By increasing online visibility, SEO allows you to rope in new customers, thereby increasing the number of sales your establishment makes. Good SEO can also help you garner organic traffic and reach, helping you cut some costs on targeted marketing.
The Importance of Restaurant Efficiency
The efficiency of your restaurant directly affects the number of orders you serve. Higher efficiency leads to a higher turnover rate, resulting in higher sales. Clear communication between employees is one of the most important aspects of improving restaurant efficiency, enabling your establishment to function like a well-oiled machine. As the owner, you need to take the initiative to set the standard for communication and operations in your restaurant to promote an efficient kitchen.
By including some of these tips in your existing marketing and sales plans, you will be sure to notice a considerable difference in your sales and revenue. Reaching new customers will promote sales and also enhance word-of-mouth marketing, helping you expand your brand name to untapped customer bases.
