How to Make Your Restaurant the Most Popular in the City

In our world today, the competition within the food fraternity is fierce, and you’ll need to give your very best to be successful. Your ‘Midas touch’ to get a lot of people excited about what you offer, always comes in strategies.

Let’s go through a few ways that promise to help you improve your business and get you the attention from growling stomachs everywhere!

1. Find out what cuisine is rare in your city and focus on it

The best way to start is to begin where no one commenced. Delicacies across cultures are numerous, and there’s a long list to choose from. Try and study the trend of servings around you and find out what cuisine is popular but rare – and that’s where you come in.

Identify two or more of such dishes and focus on how to prepare them on a large scale and still maintain the quality they deserve. Include a few other accompaniments to establish the richness.

Invite seasoned and trusted persons to assist in the preparation process.

This puts you a step ahead of your competitors.

2. Plan some events at your restaurant – parties and themed evenings 

Never forget that your goal is to have an urge over your competitors. Planning and holding events at your restaurant leave you ahead of the race. Events like happy hour, comedy nights, karaoke, ladies’ night, and live music attract more customers to your restaurant.

Recently, almost everyone celebrates their birthdays out. They invite friends and families to celebrate with them. And here’s another best opportunity to attract more customers. Send emails to your loyal customers on their birthdays adding a free offer. This simple act turns out to be one of the best ways to appreciate and remind them about your restaurant.

Also, having the same events and parties every week can make your customers stultified. Come out with innovative and additional ideas to your customers excited.

3. Invite journalists and restaurant critics – mention in the press won’t hurt you

Prepare to send invitations to renowned food critics and some popular media houses. With them, you’ll get free advertisements for everything you offer. Getting a positive review is a wonderful way for your business to introduce itself via the media. According to a study, about 75% of people are impacted by a good or bad review.

A good mention in a local newspaper or regional publication can aid any business to generate necessary buzz and get new customers. Discover more about which writers’ and publications’ reviews are in line with your focus before you reach out. After your first food critic visits your establishment and writes about a positive experience, another will likely follow, and so on and so forth.

To get a popular critic to review your business might take a lot of work than expected. You’ll need to apply the creativity you have and that’ll pay off eventually. Looking at it from the word-of-mouth perspective of business marketing, your loyal customers will spread the ‘good news’ without requesting.

4. Make discounts and special offers for your permanent clients

Everyone loves promotions. Interesting, right?  Well, various studies have shown that people are naturally attracted to discounts no matter where they are. In 1887, Coca-Cola distributed the first-ever coupon. That idea has since shaped the future of commerce. Think about how brands make a ton amount of sales during the holiday season especially during the popular Black Friday.

According to a 2013 global survey, it was discovered that of about 10,009 participants, 51 percent agreed that they were influenced by deals, discounts or sales when shopping online.

Analysis from BIA/Kelsey, an advertising firm, shows that, “Small businesses estimate 17.7 percent of their total business in the next 12 months will be generated by customer acquisition promotions such as discount deals, daily deals, coupons or similar offers.”

Apply this strategy on your customers and watch how your restaurant scale significantly. You may not need to wait for the next holiday season to pamper your customers.

5. Get yourself an informative blog and an aesthetic website

As a restaurant, your website is a crucial part of your business. Websites and blogs give you a controlled way of establishing the identity of your business. You also get the platform to provide basic information about your eating place including working hours, directions, delicious menu, payment methods and even coupons, promotions, or discounts.

But unlike other establishments, restaurants profit from including certain details on their websites or blogs. According to Toast Tab’s report, about 57% of everyday customers order their food from a website and this number is increasing each passing day.

Your website should look very professional and easy to access. Include some customer testimonials and leave room for suggestions to improve. This will help in building your credibility. Add videos and pictures of your scrumptious meals.

Blogs should always get the latest info in town. You may also include a few standard recipes as you build trust within your niche. Involve them in your success process.

6. Increase your chances – register in restaurant reservation system

With improved connectivity and the increasing advances in smartphone technologies, most people now do an online restaurant reservation service. This helps them to search and discover restaurants, as well as make reservations online.

Such apps provide services that allow your customers to find your place, and search for available time slots and then through the app, they communicate with your restaurant manager. Registering with this online reservation service maximize your chances of getting new customers from far and near. Tourists visiting your area get introduced to your services through the app. This is your best bet to expand your world.

7. Forgotten about social media? Not yet!

If possible, sign up on all social media platforms and stuff them with visual content posts about your restaurant. With social media becoming the fastest growing source of information, many businesses are diving towards this angle to provide good and relevant content to their customers.

According to the analysis of Locowise, “Getting users to take action with your dining spot isn’t difficult as 75% of Instagram users will visit a brand’s website after seeing an advertising post”. Moreover, Mashable reports that 49% of people search Facebook to find restaurants or eating places.

Further reports by Statista indicates that, quick service restaurants get 57% of the over 1 million Twitter mentions. To boost the publicity of your restaurant, you’ll need at least one social media account. 

Conclusion

In ending, don’t forget that your restaurant’s identity should be consistent. The consistency required indulges keeping the quality constant. This suggests that all the various parts of your restaurant need to have some common thread.

While several seasonal changes can be another way to keep things refreshed, the overall appearance of your restaurant should stay the same, so that returning customers can know what to expect, give accurate recommendations, and enjoy the experience.