Ready to Drum Up Business? 8 Tips to Grow Restaurant Business & Sales

What’s the best part about owning a restaurant? People will always be hungry for more.

Literally.

Breakfast, lunch, drinks, or dinner...the world, it seems, can never get enough. If you can keep customers dining, offer them great service (and even better food), and ask them to help you spread the word, it is only a matter of time until you have a gem of an establishment on your hands.

Tip#1: Invite the locals...that talk

Reach out to editors at local magazines. Search for local food bloggers. Invite local tourism employees in for a bite at lunch. Invite newspaper reporters. Invite the entire news stations.

See what happens when you extend an invitation for these individuals to sample your new springtime menu before it becomes final or to sip wine and try the cheese pairings you’re debating between to iron our your new charcuterie plate. Imagine how the buzz from their own reviews and experiences could extend the reach of your business. The possibilities, truly, are endless.

Tip#2: Make sure your details are correct

If you do not have a website or are relying on Yelp and Facebook as platforms for customers to find your business, make sure your hours, location, and other basic information is all correct. Double check and triple check these details. What’s worse than someone making plans to meet for lunch at your restaurant only to find out you never published you were closed on Mondays? The Internet can be a vast and wide resource. If you want to try and cover all of your bases, try using Yext to make sure all of your details read just as they should.

This kind of “dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s” thinking may seem elementary, but when you’re losing business, you’re losing business.

Tip#3: Create a loyalty program...that is all yours

Brainstorming what might work best for your business will look completely different from another. If you’re fine dining, your loyalty program will look different than the local lunchtime barbecue hut. A local coffee shop that encourages patrons to buy a mug to leave it on the “mug wall,” and if they use their mug, coffee will only be $1? This loyalty program is sustainable, affordable, and will keep people coming back for more. Guess where these individuals who own a mug will want to have their next coffee date? Guess where these individuals will plan their Saturday morning gatherings with friends? You guessed it. The place where coffee (...for them) is only $1.

Tip#4: Dig in deeper with the local community

Targeting customers who live close by may work best when you care about what they care about. Same with those people who constantly drive by. These are the people that will certainly keep coming back for more. What organizations does the community stand behind? Could you offer support, discounts, coupons, specialty menu options, or start your own fundraiser? This can look different in every town, so get as creative as you can.

Tip#5: Get in at the grocery store

Have you considered the options of putting your logo on the back of a grocery store receipt, a shopping cart, or even the pamphlets at the pharmacy? People who shop local also support local. The more times they come across your logo, the more likely they will be to actually stop in for a bite.

Tip#6: Become a member with the Chamber

A local chamber of commerce can be a great way to not only network with other local professionals, but also position you and your business with opportunities that may not have been readily available before. As a restaurant, could you offer to cater a lunch for the Chamber? Does your establishment do breakfast? Could you cater the monthly coffee meeting? When you join, you will get a link on their website which will also help boost your legitimacy, your brand, and your search engine rankings.

Tip#7: Respond to your reviews

Thank those who leave you glowing reviews. It’s only polite. But when it comes to the nasty reviews, you still need to follow up with them, too. If you missed that blog post, you can read more about it here. 

Tip#8: Learn your customer’s name

No one expects you to remember their name, so imagine their surprise when you do! Even if you’re not a pro at getting on a first name basis, when you see returning customers again and again, it shouldn’t be hard to remember their face and thank them for their business. Over time, the fellowship you create with others will help attract others. A friendly establishment will be a place people want to return to again and again.