You know how they say; running a restaurant is a cutthroat business. While we’re not in a mafia movie, you still need to attract customers and be better than your competitors. While restaurants have been doing this for ages, things have changed a lot since the Internet boom and the inception of social media platforms.
The game has changed and everyone needs to adapt. That’s why we’re going to talk about what a restaurant owner or their manager can do to attract customers. We’re not talking only about locals, but tourists too.
So, if you’re in the business of making food, in an area that’s brimming with tourists during the seasons there are a few things you can learn by reading this article. Let’s start with the basics.
Adapt The Menu
Tourism is all about m visiting new places, meeting new people, and trying out new things. But, when it comes to food some people do not like to experiment. Your menu needs to be filled with quality items in the first place. It all starts with quality food. When you have that, people will flock to your place.
While many tourists will want to try the local cuisine, you also need to pay attention to that small minority that doesn’t like to change their dietary habits. When you know the demographic of the tourists that visit your place, and you’ll learn this after years in business, you need to have a few items on the menu that come from their country.
Also, it is vital to have a few universal dishes that are popular in all corners of the globe. All big restaurants do this as catering to their customers is the foundation of every good hospitality business.
Promote Yourself
Promotion, advertising, or marketing. Call it what you like. If you want to stand out among the crowd and attract tourists to your restaurant you need to have it. We live in the age of social media platforms and the internet and doing this is much easier than ever.
You don’t even need professional help to take good photos of your food or make a few promotional videos of your food, location, staff, and service in general. The only thing you might need is a bit of time, a few good ideas, and good video editing software.
Use Social Media Platforms
This section bodes well with the previous one, and here we’ll address social media platforms in more depth. You can’t run a business, of any kind without the support of social media platforms. Restaurants and any kind of services that operate with food and drinks need to be present on these platforms.
You have Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and much more where you can talk about your business and present it in a positive light. You can share photos of the location, the setting, the atmosphere, the food, and the staff.
Of course, you can share the photos of people who visit your place, with their consent too. Once you start your social media promotion you must be always up-to-date. Regular updates are necessary so that people are aware you’re still in the business. New dish – share it!
Cooperate With Travel Sites
While social media accounts are important, your story and effort to attract tourists don’t end there. Instead, you need to broaden your horizons. So, once you have your Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok pages up and running, you need to turn your head to tourism-oriented websites.
You’ll need accounts on websites such as Yelp. Zagat, Google, and TripAdvisor. These outlets aim to provide valuable information to people who travel and visit restaurants. On these websites, you’ll find reviews and ratings for many hospitality establishments.
You need to ensure that you rate high and that your reviews are real and positive. Once you decide on this step you need to know that you must frequent them often, answer all the questions, and ensure that your picture remains unscathed.
Host a Few Influencers
Yes, that’s right, we’re talking about the real deal, people of influence on social media platforms – the influencers. They are all around us. Some work with more and some with less success. But, we can’t argue that many of these social media people have a strong and big following.
Their voices can be heard far and wide. All you need to do is to find a few that live close to your restaurant or are a frequent guest. Of course, their services don’t come for free.
In many cases, you will have to buy them dinner or a few for that matter but in the long run, it will be worth it as their fans will start flocking to your place. This is a trick that many establishments are using so you need to apply it as soon as possible in order not to be left behind.
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Make Your Staff Participate
Don’t force anything! Not to get the wrong idea here. Your staff needs to participate voluntarily, which they’ll certainly do as you have the same goals on your minds – more customers and more money. All they need to do is to learn a little bit. When we say learn, we’re not talking about the dishes on the menu or drinks on the wine card.
They need to learn a little bit about the history of the restaurant, the origin of the food, and the local landmarks. Tourists love to hear about all of these things, and having your staff trained to talk about the most popular subject will do wonders in attracting customers to your place.
Bottom Line
Most restaurants earn most of their profit during the holiday season. When your town or city is filled with people from all over the world the chance to earn more exponentially grows. But, everyone is counting on these newly arrived customers so you need to make your business stand out.
The best way to do it is to listen to some of the advice we shared with you in the article above. It all starts with quality ingredients on the menu and it continues with various forms of promotion that are available to you these days. Try everything out and you’ll bear fruits soon enough.