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If you are either…

1. a)  Thinking about opening up your own restaurant, or
2. b)  Currently working within this industry

Then you need to be at the top of your game. Our high streets are littered with food establishments, and you have to do something to better them. This is especially relevant today, as we are going through a restaurant recession with many outlets facing closure. You see, it’s not only the smaller independents that have come under threat. There were over 1000 insolvencies in 2017, with larger chains, including Prezzos and Jamie’s Italian, becoming part of the casualties.

If you have any hope of keeping your doors open for longer, you will need to work harder to ensure your chances of success. The following tips are specifically geared towards helping you, so read through them, and implement our titbits of advice to give you the upper hand.

• Up your marketing techniques to ensure your business is seen. This means leveraging social media to your advantage, using digital and traditional marketing methods, and hiring a marketing team to specifically focus their efforts into pushing your business into the public eye.
• Increase productivity levels, so your customers aren’t kept waiting for long. You can do this with a professionally developed commercial kitchen design to benefit your busy staff, as well as taking on more employees, or training up existing staff to improve their working methods behind the scenes and when working with customers.
• Be remarkable, offering something that will grab your customer’s attention. This might include offering an enhanced menu, with foods that are rarely offered elsewhere. You should also focus on atmosphere, providing a relaxing and/or entertaining environment for your customers. Provided you aren’t being dull or generic in what you have to offer, you stand a better chance of customer engagement with your restaurant.
• Sweat over the small stuff, paying special attention to detail. From your staff offering a please and thank you when they are dealing with customers, to offering nibbles when your diners sit down, make the customer experience a happy one with every aspect of their visit to your establishment.
• Focus on hygiene, ensuring your staff and premises are spotlessly clean. Many food places close down at the order of health inspectors, and even when they reopen again, they are tarnished with a bad reputation. Ensure you don’t face this indignity within your establishment.
• Offer customer incentives, special reasons to keep them coming back to your restaurant. Of course, if your food and customer service are up to scratch anyway, this shouldn’t be an issue. Still, you might offer a rewards scheme, where every third meal is half-price, or offer discounts to regular customers. You might also have special offers for birthdays and other anniversaries, or special events that will attract customers through your doors.

The food business isn’t the only one suffering casualties, as there are many retailers closing their doors on the high street. Online competition is huge, but with foodies specifically in mind, you can battle the likes of online giant Just Eat by bettering your business, or joining forces with such a company to ensure you don’t get left behind by the food-hungry market. Think about our tips, and rethink your business strategy today.