Starting a new restaurant can be an exciting adventure that yields high success. However, opening a new restaurant also takes a lot of hard work, time, money, and patience. No restaurant succeeds without a great chef, good location, and unique concept. They all work together to create the perfect brand. Even with these key elements, however, the restaurant business can be difficult to launch and maintain. Aside from the big three components, several other things contribute to the success or failure of many new restaurants.
As hard as many aspiring restauranteurs try, around 60 percent of new restaurants fail within their first year. The biggest reasons for restaurant failure are lack of planning and marketing. When it comes to opening a new restaurant, it can require a bit of micromanaging. Restaurant owners have to be involved in every detail of the planning process, from kitchen renovations to opening night specials. Let’s take a look at some tips to set your new restaurant up for success.
Focus on the details.
Planning is key to opening a successful restaurant. As such, it is imperative that you pay attention to all of the details. Every detail could be the key to your success or failure, from menu selections to tablecloth colors. Before opening your restaurant, you could test menu items to see how well people respond to them. Try throwing a dinner party for friends, family, and community members and serve some of the main items on your menu. Try to solicit feedback to ensure that your dishes meet the mark. Apply this concept to other decisions as well so that you don’t leave anything to chance.
An additional menu item that you might want to take a special interest in is your alcohol offerings. This might require that you venture to a beer distributor to sample selections of domestic, imported, and craft beers. If your restaurant offers various beer selections at a bar, you’ll want to be known as a beer enthusiast heaven. Depending on where you live, you can search for “beer distributor in Allentown, PA,” for example, to find a great draft selection in your area.
Promote your brand.
Perhaps the most essential aspects of creating a successful restaurant are marketing and brand awareness. Once you have spent the time to plan and carefully craft your restaurant, you’ll want to be sure to promote it to customers. Social media has become a critical tool for reaching a target audience. From Facebook and Instagram to Twitter, you must maintain social network profiles for your restaurant. This will allow you to promote new products, offer promo codes, and create an impression with your customers.
In addition to a social network marketing campaign, you can also use social media platforms for influencer campaigns. Influencer marketing ROI can be very high depending on key performance indicators. You can watch things like referral traffic and social platform engagement. The most important goal of any influencer campaign is to reach potential customers and expand your brand awareness.
Pay attention to customer service.
Nothing can sink a restaurant faster than poor customer service. In a market saturated with options, the restaurant industry offers plenty of choices for diners. Customers come back to an establishment because they enjoy the food and get excellent service. It is imperative that you focus on your service and how you treat your customers. If people find that your restaurant doesn’t offer good service, no advertising or menu offerings will get them back in the door.
Opening a restaurant can be difficult. However, with some work and dedication, you can craft excellent menu options and create a marketing campaign that can set your restaurant apart from the rest of the competition.