10 Ideas to Improve Your Restaurant in 2018

Restaurant owners may have a lot of confusing and conflicting ideas about promoting their restaurants, but the truth is growing a business is a simple organic process that requires a lot of nurturing.

You can start by limiting any promotional ideas that may devalue your restaurant. You need to build a solid foundation for your culinary business and avoid creating unsustainable expectations from your consumers like paying half the price for their meals.  

The competition in the restaurant industry is stiff, and you will need to give it your all to get to the top.

Great Ideas to Improve Your Restaurant

Here are 10 effective strategies and ideas that will help your restaurant get the much-needed attention from growling stomachs in your area:

1. Hold Special Events

There are so many fun events that you can host at your restaurant without breaking the bank too much. You could have improvs at the restaurant, a daddy-daughter night, a ballroom dance, an annual anniversary of your business, Taco Tuesdays, Wine Down Wednesdays, and other similar special events.

If promoted well and strategically structured, these events can significantly increase your revenue.

2. Design a Mobile Restaurant App

A mobile app for your restaurant will improve your customers’ experience by allowing them to review online menus and make orders remotely. This is both convenient for them and saves you a lot of cash in operation costs.

Apart from the online ordering, you can also have a loyalty program as well as a push notification feature on the app to update your customers on what’s new on the menu.

3. Deliver to Your Customers

Promoting your restaurant may sometimes mean literally hitting the pavement. Offering delivery services is not only convenient for your customers but also provides a great opportunity to advertise your brand.

4. Verify Your Restaurant’s Online Information

According to research, about 90% of customers do a quick online research about a restaurant before dining there. This is why it is crucial for you to ensure that all of your business information is true and up-to-date – from the address and the phone number to the open hours and current menu.

5. Utilize Your Social Media Platforms

In this time and age, if you are not using your social media for marketing, then you are losing out on business. Social media is the best place to find out what’s working for your customer base, your cuisines, and the general concept of your restaurant.

Ensure you post useful content regularly with keywords that relate to your products to keep your followers engaged.

6. Share Your Positive Press

When you are mentioned in a local magazine or news outlet, be sure to share your positive publicity on your website and social media platforms. Your loyal fans will definitely spread the word, and more people will be encouraged to visit your restaurant.

7. Profitably Raise Your Employees’ Salary

It may seem like simple maths – the more you pay your staff, the less profit you get.

But this is absolutely not true. It’s unrealistic to expect your staff to offer exemplary services, if their salaries are too low to comfortably pay for most of their personal needs.

Your employees are assets!

By properly remunerating them, you’ll make them feel more competent, confident, and motivated.  You’ll notice a tremendous improvement in the services offered to your customers.

8. Use Email Marketing

If you are serious about getting more customers, start collecting emails. You can do this on your website by providing opt-in forms or offer coupons in exchange for emails.

Use these email addresses to promote new dishes on the menu and special events at your restaurant. However, be sure not to spam your customers with emails as this will quickly annoy them.

9. Keep Your Website Simple

You don’t need an extravagant flash website for your restaurant – it probably won’t work efficiently on mobile phones. And certainly, you don’t need that annoying theme music, it adds no value.

Remove all the unnecessary distractions from your site and leave in what’s important like your location, menu, contacts, and hours of operation. Ensure this information is easily visible.

10. Get a Cloud-Based POS System

The Point-of-Sale (POS) is the keystone of any restaurant. It records daily transactions, generates customers’ checks, and processes orders for your kitchen staff. But, since the industry is becoming more competitive, you need to step up your POS game.

Consider using a cloud-based POS system which will minimize your business risk with off-site data backups, enhanced data security, as well as minimized expenses caused by human errors.