Restaurant owners want to earn high income from their business. The difficulty lies in the fact that all revenue depends only on the client.

How to increase sales in a restaurant? What tricks will help increase restaurant traffic and average bill? Read about it right now!

Increasing restaurant revenue: quantity or quality?

To increase the profit of a restaurant you will have to make a lot of effort. There is no need to wait for your guests to come to you and order dinner for a large sum. Constant work on business development is required.

How to increase restaurant profits? The first way is increase attendance. This method is used in economy class establishments where the cost of food and drinks is low. To keep prices the same but increase sales, you need to attract as many guests as possible.

Second option - increasing the average check in a restaurant. A whole range of measures is used for this. You need to push the visitor to buy either more or more expensive.

How to increase restaurant revenue using traffic

Do you want the number of guests to grow every day? Get ready for a fight. There are thousands of restaurants in Moscow and fierce competition. To attract new customers, your business must be competitive.

To achieve competitiveness and attract new visitors, expand the menu range, engage in an advertising campaign, improve the quality and speed of service, and develop a unified concept. The main thing is to offer guests something original. This way you can attract more new visitors.

It's easier to work with regular guests. We need them to come more often. Only high-quality service will help, treating the visitor not as a client, but as a good friend.

How to increase the average check in a restaurant: effective sales techniques

Average bill- this is common the amount of restaurant revenue divided by the number of customers. You can calculate the average bill for any period of time. This is not difficult to do, especially if you use systems for automatically accounting for catering turnover.

An increase in the average bill in a restaurant is only possible if the total cost of the order per person increases. The simplest, but not the most effective way to increase profits is raise prices on key menu items. It is rarely used, because the risk of losing visitors is very high. The only case when it is possible and necessary to raise the markup is when the target audience changes. For example, when an economy class restaurant is rebranded. The interior is changing, service is improving, and better products are being purchased. The establishment is outgrowing the “economy” category and can qualify for wealthier visitors.

Other ways to increase restaurant revenue don't require a large investment. The main thing is management skills and knowledge in the field of sales.

Menu that sells

Menu design is as important as the quality of the food. Due to errors in the text or unattractive design, visitors may refuse to visit the establishment. A well-designed menu takes into account the psychological characteristics of a person:

• When creating a menu, remember laws of attention. The upper right part of the page is the point of concentration of a person’s gaze. Place the most profitable positions there.
• Please indicate prices under names and descriptions of dishes, use the same font size.
• Use decorative elements(frames, underlines, pictures), but do not overload the menu with them. Focus your guests' attention on the positions that are most beneficial to you.
• The description of the ingredients will tell the visitor little. If desired, he can find out the composition from the waiter. Better describe the taste of the dish or give a brief history of the recipe.

Increasing sales in a restaurant: basic techniques

There are two sales methods that are actively used in public catering. One of them is upselling. It is aimed at increasing the cost of dishes. The other is crossselling - at increasing items on the menu.

Upselling(upselling) is an offer of a more expensive option. For example, a larger diameter pizza or a double portion of a dish is offered. You can add an original recipe from the chef or specialty coffee to the menu at a price higher than its analogues.

Methodology crosselling(cross selling) helps to increase positions in the check. This is the sale of additional ingredients, sauces, syrups. If the main course ordered will take a long time, offer guests light snacks. In Europe, it is common to serve drinks before guests have chosen their dishes.

How to increase turnover in a restaurant: secrets of profitable service

Are your employees pleasant to talk to and courteous, but don’t know how to sell? This needs to be fixed. Waiters and bartenders are your main source of sales.

How to improve the level of service in a restaurant? Use these tips:

• Develop service standards. Literally write down how your employees should greet visitors, when to offer dessert, and how often to approach the table.
• To sell, you need to know your product. Knowledge of the menu, ingredients, and cooking methods is mandatory for every waiter. Create an expanded menu, fully describe the composition, nuances of preparation, and taste characteristics. If necessary, arrange a tasting for employees. They must know what they are offering.
• Learn the principles of active selling. Create scripts, indicate which phrases are best to offer additional products to the client, and what cannot be said. In particular, it is not recommended to use negatives or interrogative sentences.
• Create "order expansion tables". In it, indicate which products can be recommended for which dishes. For example, with soups - branded bread, with pizza - double cheese, beer, juices.

Traditionally, waiters' salaries are wages and tea. It is beneficial for them to please the guest. If you add to the bet also percentage of sales, your employees will make efforts to increase the average check.

One form of employee motivation is competitions. Announce the dish of the day, let the person who sells the most portions receive a small bonus.

Restaurant sales: increasing profits with proven methods

The restaurant business in Moscow is at the stage of active development. New establishments are constantly opening, new “tricks” are being invented. To keep up with trends, study your competitors.

Pay attention to all the details of the service, because they are what bring profit. How the waiter greets the guest, what the menu consists of and how it is designed, what is offered in addition to the dishes. Don't copy other establishments, but consider their practices.

Think about increasing sales in your restaurant when preparing for the opening. If you decide to buy a restaurant, conduct a detailed analysis of the work of the previous owner. In order not to lose regular visitors to the establishment, introduce innovations gradually.

You opened your restaurant or cafe, people found out about it, started coming to you, the first profit appeared, now you have justified all the invested costs. It would seem that everything is fine, if not for a small but.

You noticed that the income, and therefore the profit from your business, stopped at some point and stopped growing. If this does not suit you and you, as the owner of a restaurant business, want to develop, improve the status of your cafe or restaurant, increase income, increase profits, then this article is for you.
Let's look at several key indicators of any business today, the increase of which will help increase profits with minimal investment of time and money.
As you know, increasing profits directly depends on the margin, the number of clients, the average check that a client leaves for you, and the number of returning visitors.
Usually, when sales stop, many try to resume them by increasing traffic (the number of new customers). But attracting new customers is the most expensive way. Statistics say (and you probably see this in your business): attracting a new client costs seven times more than working with existing ones. Therefore, we will talk about attracting traffic in one of the following articles, and today we will pay attention to margin, average check and increasing the loyalty of your visitors, that is, repeat sales.

Margin

Margin is the percentage of your profit from the cost of the product. As for the advantages, this is the least expensive method, so it’s worth starting with. The downside is that the margin cannot be increased indefinitely.
1. The easiest way to increase this figure is to raise the price. If you increase menu prices by 2-5%, then most likely your visitors will not even notice it. For example, in your menu the salad cost 320 rubles. You raised the price by 3% (which was about 10 rubles, and for the client this is not significant). With a margin of 30%, your profit will increase by 10%.
2. Another method (good for cafes and restaurants) is to reduce the portions of served dishes. As a rule, customers don’t notice this either, but you will thereby reduce the cost of producing a particular dish, and the margin will accordingly increase, and your profit will increase.

Increase in average check

The average check, roughly speaking, is how much your client leaves in your cash register, that is, the total sales volume divided by the number of visitors. The work of the staff, the location of dishes on the menu, promotions and bonuses play a big role in increasing the average bill.
3. What does it mean to correctly arrange dishes on the menu? First, divide them into categories so that it is clear where there are salads and where the hot dishes are, where the dishes are meat, and where are fish or vegetarian. Secondly, design it visually. Visual design increases appetite, and your customer will want to order more. Third, focus on high-margin items.
Be sure to focus on new items in the menu. People love to try new things. It will be great if you regularly have new dishes. This will stimulate the interest of your customers, which will make them come to you more often.
4. Upselling. You can upsell directly on the menu, recommending adding a particular dish or snack to the one already chosen.
5. Teach your waiters to upsell. If your client has not ordered dessert, then the waiter should definitely emphasize this. If you chose rolls or sushi, then recommend trying your signature sauce instead of the classic one that is on every table.
6. You can increase the average bill by offering more expensive dishes or drinks. For example, a client ordered the classic “Chicken Caesar” - invite him to try “Shrimp Caesar”, which has a more delicate, refined taste.
7. Another way to increase the average bill is to offer some kind of snack while the client is waiting for his dishes to be served. For example, you can offer a live oyster with a glass of dry wine. This will whet the client's appetite and push him to new orders.
8. If we talk about how to increase the check with the help of promotions, then you can offer the client a gift when purchasing a certain amount. The gift does not have to be expensive; the main thing is that it has high value in the eyes of the client. For example, in a beer bar, when ordering over 5,000 rubles, you get a beer mug as a gift. If you order a batch of these mugs in China, they will cost you mere pennies, and for visitors this is a good motivation to buy something up to the required amount and receive a gift.
9. If your establishment (it doesn’t matter whether it’s a bar or a restaurant) has its own concept, its own brand (and for development they must have), then you can upsell your branded items: if it’s a beer bar, then you can offer mugs or T-shirts with your logo; if you have a fish restaurant, you may have oyster knives or branded plates on sale.

Repeat sales

Another way is to have customers come back to you again and again over a certain period of time. Of course, this indicator is primarily influenced by service, maintenance, cleanliness, and how the dishes are prepared. There are a few more tricks that will bring people back to you.
10. Promotions that make customers return to you, for example: “Buy 9 cups of coffee and get the tenth as a gift” or “Order 9 set meals and get 1 as a gift.” This promotion will work even better if you limit it in time - a week, a month, two.
Well, I just can’t fit into the format of our “Top 10” article and not give you a couple more tips.
11. Attract visitors through children. The more interesting a child is in your establishment, the more relaxed their parents can relax, which means they will bring you more profit. This could include small gifts for children at the entrance, the presence of a nanny, various drawing competitions, and interestingly designed dishes from the children's menu.
When we were on vacation in Thailand with our daughter, we had breakfast not in the cafe of our hotel, but in the cafe that our daughter chose. She literally dragged us there every morning, because every day she was given gifts in the form of several small toys, of which she made up a whole collection during her vacation.
12. You can also increase customer loyalty through compliments from the establishment. While your client is reading the menu, bring him a cup of green tea.
When you bring a gift to a person, then, firstly, it will be inconvenient for him to get up and leave, and secondly, he is more likely to leave you more money. Besides, the next time he plans where to go, he will remember you first.
Your signature jam, which you serve with tea, or freshly baked bread, or your signature seafood sauce can also serve as a complement.
Here are just a few simple ways that can help develop your restaurant business, although the list can go on for a long time.
Of course, each establishment has its own concept, its own status, its own pricing policy, and its own clients. What may work well in a grill bar will not work in a seafood restaurant, and vice versa.
You need to understand your client, his desires, his needs, his financial capabilities, then it will be much easier for you to come up with features for your establishment that will attract the target audience, bring clients to you, and increase their loyalty.
Think about how you differ from your competitors, what unique feature you have, how you can stand out from the crowd of similar cafes, restaurants and bars... After answering these questions, write down a few things that you can implement today. But do not immediately implement all the ways to increase profitability that you consider suitable for yourself. Change everything gradually, so you will see what worked well for you and what didn’t.
Delight your regular customers with small but tasty treats, and they will definitely tell more than a dozen people about your establishment. And you will get new clients completely free of charge.

Vasily Bogdanov, Yana Yakupova,
business consultants

19.07.2009 23:54

I worked for a long time as a pastry chef and pastry chef, and then as a manager in a nationwide chain of coffee shops. Today I own a coffee shop located in a small (25 thousand sq. m) shopping center. When the establishment first opened, it was not yet operating at full capacity (about 15% of the area was occupied), so there were few visitors. In addition, there is a strong competitor next door - a huge operating shopping and entertainment complex.

At first, no more than ten people a day came to our cafe, monthly revenue was about 150 thousand rubles. We puzzled over how to attract clients, tried a variety of methods, many of which did not produce any results. The departments in the shopping center that were created at the same time as ours began to close after some time. In the end, we managed to increase attendance to 50-60 people per day, and monthly turnover to 500 thousand rubles.

I'll tell you which marketing measures turned out to be a waste of money, and which made sense (see also: What factors influence the attendance of an establishment).

Ineffective measures

Advertising on city radio. We paid for the rotation of an advertising video on the Hit FM radio station, broadcasting to Nizhny Novgorod. Moreover, we sponsored various games on the radio, giving out a certificate (1,500 rubles) for visiting a cafe as a prize. About 40 thousand rubles were spent on the campaign, but the effect was zero.

Advertising in magazines. To begin with, we placed an advertisement on a whole page in the magazine “You and Your Child.” They also published my article about what desserts can be given to small children and how store-bought cakes can harm a child. Although the magazine is actively distributed to antenatal clinics, kindergartens and children's goods stores, these publications did not affect the attendance, and 20 thousand rubles. were wasted. Then I wrote two articles for the Nizhny Novgorod magazine “Love, Family, Home”. The first is about what a wedding cake should be like (not just what it looks like, but how to cut it beautifully, etc.), the second is about what desserts are appropriate at a wedding. The impact was very weak: the magazine contains a lot of advertising for similar services, and it is very difficult to stand out even with expert material.

Use of internal broadcasting of a shopping complex. Placing an advertisement did not cost us anything; it took about 3 thousand rubles to create the videos. I explain the absolute ineffectiveness of this measure by the fact that the shopping center is very noisy and visitors do not listen to advertising.

Advertising on rent receipts. Not far from our shopping center there is a new microdistrict “Bear Valley”; there are many young families with children there. It seemed to me that a coffee shop with desserts, where there is no smoking or selling alcohol, should have no end to such customers. I made an agreement with the local HOA to print advertisements on the back of rent receipts. The costs amounted to about 10 thousand rubles. (The HOA accounts for them as advertising revenue). However, I did not take into account that apartments in the microdistrict were mainly given to employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB and Ministry of Emergency Situations. When a local visitor with a child approached the window and saw the price tag “150 rubles”, one could often hear something like “What are you talking about! This is a bottle of vodka!”

Effective measures

Luckily, most of the methods we tried worked. Moreover, many of them turned out to be even less expensive than those that did not meet our expectations. Here are the steps that helped attract customers and increase revenue.

Business lunches. At first glance, it is not profitable for a coffee shop to feed guests lunch for 180 rubles. - at best, we just compensated for the costs. Therefore, we tried to sell the client something other than a business lunch. Unfortunately, only one or two people out of ten made an additional order. When the establishment was fully occupied per month, the margin from this service was about 50 thousand rubles. However, despite the economic ineffectiveness of the idea, we were able to attract the target audience. Daytime visitors, accustomed to the establishment, began to come in in the evening to drink coffee and eat dessert. After some time, we abandoned the business lunch, but left inexpensive hot dishes on the menu. There was no outflow of visitors.

Breakfasts. We offered three breakfast options - from light to very hearty - costing from 99 to 399 rubles. Typically, a guest has more time for breakfast than for lunch, and almost always he takes additional tea or coffee, not limiting himself to the drink that is included in the price. Breakfasts attracted new customers and taught the staff to be on their toes in the morning.

Tastings in a shopping center. This method only works if you can buy what you are trying to try somewhere nearby. We set a table in the shopping center and treated everyone to cake and a drink, inviting them to come into the coffee shop. On average, five out of 50 people came in - some just looked, others ordered something. The cost of one tasting is about 3 thousand rubles. Later, we began to present flyers with special offers and short-term discounts on certain products. In this case, the result was better: about half of those who received a coupon came to the cafe.

Inexpensive branded product. We are the only ones in Nizhny Novgorod who make handmade sweets. Although the labor costs are high (I make the caramel myself), they are worth it. We place a display case with candies in the shape of a cockerel, a pistol or a heart at the entrance to the cafe, and it works like a magnet for customers. When the cost of candy is about 2 rubles. we sell them for 50 rubles. And we give candy to regular guest card holders, regardless of the amount of the order. By the way, visitors who have collected checks from our establishment in the amount of 5,000 rubles receive a regular guest card; this card entitles them to a 10% discount.

Permission to bring your own alcohol. We do not sell alcohol, but we allow visitors to bring their own, paying 200 rubles for each bottle. “for the cork” (in other establishments this service is called renting glasses). This is beneficial for customers: for example, a bottle of popular rum in a store costs 900 rubles, but in another establishment they will ask for at least 3 thousand rubles.

Serving guests of a nearby hotel. The hotel does not have its own dining room, so we agreed to place our advertising there in the lobby with a menu and discount flyers. Hotel guests actually began to come to us.

Cooperation with neighboring cafes and restaurants. We have established a free cooperation with a restaurant, which is located in the same shopping complex and sends its clients planning a banquet to us for custom-made cakes (their chef does not prepare desserts). We offered our partner establishment 10% of the amount of each such order, but they refused: it is enough for them that their clients can receive from us a service that the restaurant does not provide. In this way, we receive up to ten orders for making a cake per month.

Free advertising on Channel One. There are regional advertising inserts on air on federal channels. Our shopping center bought time for a commercial and gave us the opportunity to talk about ourselves completely free of charge. Especially for this occasion, we began to prepare a megalatte and a megadessert weighing about 1 kg - a treat for the whole company. Guests who saw our advertisement immediately began asking about these special offers.

Banner on the fence. We printed a colorful banner with the appeal “Try it!” and a bright photograph of a dessert (the cost of the banner is about 500 rubles per 1 sq. m) and hung it on the fence next to the shopping center. And although it did not last long, the flow of customers in those days increased noticeably.

Summer terrace. I calculated that placing a sign on the facade of the shopping center would cost us almost the same as building a summer veranda, on which we could also hang our sign for free. That's what we did. Moreover, we only had to pay for the veranda itself (180 thousand rubles, plus the cost of equipment and a banner - only 300 thousand rubles), and the administration of the shopping center did not take money from us for permission to install it. The veranda with a beautiful sign attracted many new visitors to us.

A practitioner tells

Anastasia Gutkevich Marketing director for a coffee chain

Reference

Travelers Coffee LLC (Traveler’s Coffee)
Field of activity: restaurant business, coffee production
Territory: management company - in Novosibirsk, office - in Moscow, representative offices - in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg, dealers - in the Volga region, Siberia, Central Russia, Kazakhstan; coffee shops - in 37 cities of Russia, as well as in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine
Number of staff: 70 (in coffee shops - 400)
Number of coffee shops in the network: 70

If the coffee shop is in a good location, it will be visited by 200 people a day without much promotional effort. For establishments in sparsely populated areas, additional measures are needed to attract guests. I'll tell you what we practice.

1. Map of the trading area. We are compiling a list of organizations (business centers, banks, beauty salons) that are located within a ten-minute walk from the coffee shop, that is, places from where clients can come to us. Coffee shop managers visit all these organizations, communicate with managers and employees, hand out bonus cards and sometimes coupons with a deposit. This attracts not only individual clients, but also entire companies.

2. Flyers. Experience has shown that the most effective coupons are for the second product for free (no matter what exactly is offered - a cup of coffee or dessert). The costs of these promotions (printing flyers, the work of promoters and sometimes a trainer) do not exceed 0.1% of the coffee shop’s revenue. The response when using such coupons is 2-7% (and in small cities, where such offers are still new, it reaches 70% - word of mouth works).

3. Announcements on social networks. The offer must be exclusive - this acts like a magnet on our page subscribers. For example: “We brought a rare type of coffee” or “Our Michelin-starred chef created a new dessert.”

4. Tastings in shopping and business centers. We arrange samples of our soft drinks or coffee and distribute discount coupons or bonus cards. Due to this, there is an influx of new customers. You can arrange a free tasting. The maximum payment to the center's management is a package of coffee as a gift or a bonus card with a small deposit for one or two cups of coffee. The cost of tasting is less than 2 thousand rubles. If coffee or syrups are sold at the same time, then the event is fully paid for.

5. Master classes. Employees of our coffee shops conduct master classes on latte art, alternative methods of brewing coffee, and making desserts or sandwiches. We post the schedule of master classes on social networks, and send invitation cards to companies located nearby. The response to such invitations is up to 15%. In small towns that are not spoiled by such attention, managers hold such events every weekend.

6. Cross-promotion. In some cities (for example, Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk) we agree on a partnership program with a local cinema: a guest can receive a 5-10% discount on a cinema ticket, and a discount on a cinema ticket using our bonus card.

7. Flash mob “Take it with you.” We are just planning this event, but we are counting on a good effect. We will involve 30-50 students in the event. They will walk through the city, get on the subway, ride the tram, holding glasses, sandwich bags, cake boxes in their hands - everything with our logo.

General Director speaks

Alexey Chukhlantsev Executive Director of the management company

Reference

LLC "Management Company "RestProfi"
Field of activity: confectionery production, restaurant business (chain of coffee shops “PitKofe”, signature establishments - cafe “Rafinad”, confectionery house “Bushe H.O.”, chain of Italian cafes “Mama Pizza”)
Number of staff: 700

In 2000-2003 I worked in a European-level restaurant, Fashioncafe. It was located in a sparsely populated area, and the main goal was not just to increase the flow of visitors, but to attract those who were ready to order a full dinner or business lunch, not limiting themselves to a cup of coffee on the go.

One of the methods of attracting such clients was events: tastings, fashion shows, presentations. For example, we agreed with an expensive lingerie store to hold a show in a restaurant, and the restaurant notified its regular guests about the upcoming event (as a rule, they were invited by telephone). Another example is tasting cognac from a famous cognac house. On the one hand, such events helped promote the relevant products, on the other hand, they gave the restaurant an additional reason to remind guests about itself, invite them to try cognac or watch a show. On the days when the events were held, the establishment was 100% full, and the number of regular customers grew due to those who were invited to the events by our visitors.

The material was prepared by the editors of Chelrestoran.ru - people who understand the restaurant business. Without understanding the laws of this business, you will not be able to attract regular customers.

3. Find your character

There are hundreds of restaurants, cafes, brasserie, taverns, gastropubs, grill bars and so on around the client. To be successful, yours must be different.

Find your highlight: interior details, emphasis on individual products, tasting sets from the chef, or especially good combo lunches if this is a student cafe.

Maybe in your restaurant the chef comes out to the customers and personally asks how they liked the dish? Once upon a time, at the Il Grappolo restaurant, the well-known Aram Mnatsakanov often took away cell phones from guests, because these were the rules of the game. And guests of any status put up with this. This was the character of the place, and it is most evident in the communication of the staff with the guests.

The character must be bright - this is the only way to count on the fact that the client will be so pleased with the restaurant that he will tell friends and colleagues about it, post a photo on Instagram with your hashtag and invite visiting business partners here. Strive to create your own character and don't be afraid to be different - that is the ultimate goal.

4. Create a system of genuine hospitality

No methods will help if the work of waiters and other personnel is not adjusted. A dissatisfied cloakroom attendant or a grumpy security guard will ruin all your efforts to create a cozy atmosphere and quality cuisine. Moreover, the emotional component affects guests more than the functional one: they can forgive some hiccups in preparation, but will not forgive a waiter who is listless, indifferent, or with a stone face.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to simply make employees smile and be joyfully upbeat: sincere emotions are only possible in a generally comfortable atmosphere in the team.

The staff, of course, should know the standards of service: how to approach, take the order, set the table, serve the main courses, take out the bill, clear the table, and so on, but they should not look like a well-trained and soulless cog in the restaurant machine.

Try to hire waiters who love people and are ready to take care of them, without quickly throwing out “Did you like everything?”, but are really interested in the guest’s impressions. Perhaps it is not as important from which side the waiter serves the plate as how he smiles at the guest and communicates with him.

5. Work on the atmosphere

A person can live without food for a week, but without air - only 5 minutes. Therefore, even in a restaurant, air, or rather the atmosphere, is vital.

What attracts a guest to a good establishment? It’s definitely not the kitchen; they cook well everywhere today. Service standards are also almost perfect. What remains is the atmosphere - a subtle matter that makes you return to this place again and again. It consists of details: interior, music, lighting, ventilation, parking spaces and much more. Moreover, the higher the level of the establishment, the greater the role played by intangible factors; cuisine and service fade into the background.

It all depends on the positioning: the atmosphere can be romantic, like in a French restaurant, or brutal, like in an American pub. Support it with interior details and themed events. Maybe you can host a cooking class for clients. Or an evening of national cuisine with performances by artists. Or maybe in your restaurant the waiters sing in the evenings, and guests love to sing along with them, like at the St. Petersburg Ribeye?

The Ultimate Guide to Restaurant Marketing

6. Delight your guests with WOW effects

The WOW effect is when guests receive more than they expect. Think about what you can offer them without spending a lot of money:

• greet the guest by name if he came for the second, third time, etc.;
• put note paper and branded pens if the guest has booked a table for a business meeting;
• Treat your winter guests to a warming drink while they choose what to order;
• give the client’s children a branded chocolate bar that is not listed in the menu or promotional materials;
• Set a special table for those who are celebrating an event with you.

Such little things cost nothing to you, but they will tell friends and colleagues about them, triggering the “word of mouth” mechanism.

7. Consider a discount system

Most restaurant business experts agree on one thing: there must be a map of the establishment. And it is not at all necessary to provide a discount: clients of high social status may not understand if they are offered a 10% discount on all other visits. “Thank you, there are no problems with money,” is what they can answer. Therefore, for this category it is possible to issue certain “club cards” that give access to special events - wine tastings, dinners, master classes. For the audience of family restaurants, it is beneficial when part of the amount spent in the restaurant is returned to the card. This keeps them coming back.

Banquet bonuses work well: for example, a gift in the form of a certificate for a certain amount when celebrating a banquet. The guest can give the certificate to another person, thereby expanding the audience. As they say, if you got married yourself, “help” someone else.

A guest card does not always have to give a discount - it is also a way to feel certain privileges and join the club of the elite. As you already understand, when developing a discount system, it is extremely important to take into account the target audience. Indeed, in student cafes and bars, on the contrary, a card with a 5% discount will already be more effective than all other options.

8. Get people to take pictures with you.

The reality is that today a restaurant must first and foremost be photogenic. People take pictures of food, take selfies and immediately post. Amateur photos of food become recommendations from visitors and a powerful advertising tool that can encourage others to come and try. We all trust reviews with real photos more than just text. So, the chefs and the entire team must work to ensure that the dishes are photogenic. But this is only the first step.

Many establishments go further and create special photo zones (not only for banquets, but permanent ones). Thus, in the Volgograd cafe Marusya there are tantamares in the form of nesting dolls, decorated with a corporate ornament and the hashtag of the establishment. Not only children, but also adults take pictures here, and immediately post their nesting dolls online, using a hashtag. Cafe marketers say that such photos attract 100–200 subscribers to the cafe’s pages per week, and the establishment does not spend a penny on these.

Repost photos of satisfied guests to your official page and you will create lasting positive associations. Encourage people to take photos with you - come up with a funny tag or a separate character that will reflect the character and specifics of your establishment.

9. Don’t neglect master classes

Who among us doesn’t want to touch the secrets of haute cuisine? A master class from a chef in your favorite restaurant is an excellent opportunity that will certainly be in demand by customers. Let’s immediately make a reservation that this is relevant for high-class establishments, where the average check is quite high. Here they will teach you how to cook “like Jamie Oliver,” and this will once again emphasize the status of the establishment and justify the rather high prices.

In establishments aimed at the middle class, children's master classes on making pizza, pastries, desserts and other simple things are going well, which they immediately eat. There are a lot of establishments in Moscow where entire “Cook Schools” operate on weekends, and, as practice shows, there is no shortage of people interested.

The Ginza Project network has gone even further and offers young visitors not only culinary master classes, but also educational, creative, and theatrical events. Animators, actors, bartenders, chefs and other specialists work with them. Of course, for the target audience of “families with children,” such a policy will produce results.

10. Be flexible

What will happen in your restaurant if a guest asks for an extra spoon of sour cream in borscht? What if the kitchen closes at 11:00 pm and the guest decides he still wants dessert at 11:01 pm? Or: a guest orders a business lunch and wants to receive a bread basket. But it only comes with main menu dishes. How will your staff handle this situation?

Ask yourself how much you are willing to deviate from rules and standards for the sake of a guest. For whom do your rules work: for the convenience of business or the comfort of the guest? I would like to remind you that refusing a guest is extremely unprofitable, especially if the situation itself is trivial.

New restaurants usually try to satisfy all guest needs. Unfortunately, the longer a restaurant operates, the more streamlined its business processes become, the more complex the rules become, and the less they think about who these rules are for. Don't make this mistake.

Undoubtedly, rules and clear accounting policies are necessary, but if possible, meet wishes halfway, do not rush to say “no, this is impossible.” This way you will acquire the most loyal customers and achieve the ultimate goal - prosperity.

Restaurant and bar owners often look for ways to increase sales by increasing the number of people entering the establishment. Below are some simple ideas on how to attract people to you in creative, unique and attractive ways.

Organize an event:

Hosting an event, whether it's a business function or a celebration, in partnership with local partners is a wonderful way to gain positive recognition and attract more customers to your establishment.

Theme evenings- Theme evenings are a good way to gather loyal customers. Consider hosting a quiz or karaoke night. If your audience is more family-oriented, design the evening to encourage families to bring their children to dinner. There is now an increase in the number of theme nights in high-end restaurants.

Social event- The best way to get noticed and increase traffic to a place is to host a public or charity event. If you have a long-standing relationship with a media expert, take the opportunity to publicize the event. In addition, it is strategically correct to plan the event, connecting it with topics worthy of media attention.

Culinary Art Demonstration- Allowing guests to try food is a good way to encourage them to order new dishes. Instead of giving out free food samples, hosting a cooking demonstration night will improve the relationship between chefs and clients. Make sure you communicate the event properly in the restaurant itself, in public areas, on your website and on social media. On the day of the event, set up a portable hob with chairs around it for guests to watch the “magic unmasked.”

Signs are one of the important and effective ways of communication with current and potential clients. Outdoor billboards are a fairly inexpensive way to increase the number of people entering a restaurant. In addition, they have many advantages:

Portability- In inclement weather or if you just want to bring the shield indoors after finishing the work day, the shield can be moved without effort.

Visibility- What is the best way to tell potential clients where you are located or what specialties you serve today? Use a creative, unusual approach to attract clients. Place 12 fun billboards outside your restaurant to get people in the mood on Monday!

Many faces of design- You can change shields hourly (if you have time), daily or weekly. You could highlight the daily special in the morning and advertise the special at 4 in the afternoon.

Hook the client:

Thanks to digital modes of communication, today it has become easier than ever to engage with existing, loyal, and also potential customers.

stay in touch- Send emails, develop a customer loyalty program, or come up with a monthly email digest to inform customers about new menu items, events, promotions and good news. Customers appreciate a restaurant when it has its own identity and name.

Work on social networks- When it comes to social networks, it may seem useless to many. However, the reach and effectiveness of social media channels, especially when considering the cost-benefit ratio, are such that they should not be ignored. Look for any way to attract an audience to your restaurant. For example, the first 20 people to like your status on social media will receive a 50% discount on snacks.

Birthday Club- A person likes to feel special on his birthday. Offer a free lunch or dessert to get people to come see you on their own birthday. Not only the birthday person himself, but also his family or friends will come to you for lunch. When customers agree to join the Club, ask for their email address so you can send them a coupon for a free lunch or dessert. If you have access to their email, you can also send them promotional information or a digest.

Customer service- Although sometimes overlooked, quality service is the key to customer retention. Sometimes a simple smile and a phrase like “Come back to us again” can be what is so necessary for customers to visit your establishment more often.

What tactics have you already used to increase the number of visitors to your bar or restaurant?