Cafes are establishments that most of us visit periodically. Indeed, opening your own cafe is quite a profitable business today. However, you need not only delicious food, a cozy atmosphere and quality service, but also an original concept. Entrepreneurs who have managed to bring an unusual cafe idea to life will certainly not be left without visitors to their establishment.

The establishments that will be discussed below are worth visiting at least once in your life. What emotions they will evoke - positive or negative - is a separate question, but you definitely will not remain indifferent to them. We have collected twelve cafes with original concepts for you.

Alkatraz (Japan)

This establishment is intended for lovers of “prison romance” and simply for seekers of new sensations. At the entrance, visitors are fingerprinted, rules of conduct are read out, and the same prison uniform is issued. The waiters will try to handcuff you and give you a “sedative” injection. The tables in the cafe are separated by bars, so customers really feel like they are in prison.

The names of the dishes are also amazing. Want to try the Brain Scorcher cocktail or the Dead Bird, Human Intestines and Penis Sausage dishes? Then go ahead and get your impressions at Tokyo's Alkatraz.

Dinner in the Sky (Belgium)

In the capital of Belgium there is a cafe where you can really tickle your nerves. Here you have the opportunity to have lunch literally floating above the ground. The establishment is a structure consisting of a crane, a large table and chairs with reliable seat belts. 22 visitors can be seated at the table at the same time, not counting the waiters. When customers sit down and fasten their seat belts, a crane lifts them, along with the table and waiters, to a height of 50 meters from the ground.

A certain combination of a cafe and an attraction has recently appeared in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv.

Metro St. James (Australia)

The owners of the Metro St. cafe James in Sydney have come up with an unusual way of paying for their services. To get a morning cup of aromatic coffee, a visitor must kiss anyone except the establishment’s staff. These could be lovers who came with their significant other, or random passers-by.

Initially, paying with kisses was intended as a promotion lasting one month, however, visitors liked coffee for kisses so much that the cafe owners had to extend the promotion for another period of time. If a cafe client wants to pay for his order with a kiss, he needs to select the appropriate menu item on the tablet with which each table was equipped. Next, the kissing process itself is recorded in the form of a photograph.

All photos of non-standard payment administration Metro St. James posts on the establishment's Facebook page. In two months, more than a thousand kisses were collected. “No falsehood, kisses must be sincere! We will carefully monitor you,” was the slogan of the action.

Matchmaker Café (New York)

The main idea of ​​this cafe is not to let anyone be lonely. The waiters actively communicate with each client who comes alone. And if during the conversation it turns out that the visitor does not have a life partner, he will be immediately offered to register on a dating site, will be helped to select people with similar interests and will immediately invite them for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.

The site offered is not random, but quite specific - in fact, the cafe was created with the aim of promoting an online dating resource. For Nancy Slotnick, who has been working in the field of “connecting lonely hearts” for many years, this is the second project that is aimed at promoting her website. And it should be noted that it is very successful: now more than 5 thousand profiles have already been registered on the site, and a significant part of them are visitors to the Matchmaker Café.

O'Noir (Canada)

Entering this cafe, you will immediately be plunged into complete darkness. The lights in the establishment are never turned on; Flashlights, lighters, etc. are also not used. It is suggested to place an order and dine in the dark. Most waiters are blind. The concept is intended to draw attention to the fact that blind people are in dire need of social adaptation in society.

In fact, dining in the dark will leave you impressed: after all, as you know, when one sense organ is “turned off,” others become sharply aggravated. Without seeing food, you will be able to experience completely new shades of taste of the usual fried meat or fresh vegetables.

Similar restaurants can be found in many capitals of the world, and despite the possible inconveniences associated with complete darkness inside the establishments, they are extremely successful.

Le Café Des Chats (France)

Having run into a cafe for a cup of coffee, how do you react to a cat found next to your table, which is there absolutely unhindered by the administration of the establishment? But the residents of Paris have already managed to appreciate this addition to spending time in a cafe. A new Parisian cafe has made “cat therapy” its main feature - while you are sitting and having breakfast, there are cats around you that you can pet and “communicate” with in every possible way.

Le Café Des Chats' resident cats were adopted from an animal shelter and veterinarian-checked. In the cafe, special houses were built for them, however, cats can freely roam around the establishment at any time. The owners of the “cat” cafe assure that all sanitary conditions are met, and visitors do not have to worry about their health. As conceived by the creators of the concept, cats perform a special task: with their purring they calm and normalize the nervous system of visitors, and also help improve blood circulation.

Apart from the presence of furry residents, the establishment is no different from other cafes - the interior and menu are quite standard. Although Le Café Des Chats has only been open for a short time, it is already extremely popular, with tables being booked months in advance. Establishments with a similar “cat” concept can also be found in London and St. Petersburg.

Bau House Dog Cafe (Korea)

But the cafe where man’s four-legged friends live is located in the capital of Korea – Seoul. The idea is similar to the concept of “cat therapy”, however, this cafe will appeal more to dog lovers. The Bau House Dog Cafe is home to twenty dogs (all different breeds) that visitors can play with during their stay.

Customers can feed the animals, but only with food that is prepared in the cafe itself. Some come to the “dog” cafe with their dog - this is not prohibited by the administration. A small shop has been created at the cafe, where dog lovers can purchase various accessories and toys for their four-legged pets.

The Mill (San Francisco)

How often do we see people in cafes buried in their mobile phones, tablets or laptops. Total “internetization” has captured almost all public institutions. The Mill is an ordinary-looking cafe; one of its peculiarities is that its creators have completely abandoned access to Wi-Fi on the territory of their establishment. The Mill is the second Wi-Fi-free café to be opened by entrepreneur Jody Jirin.

In 2010, he already opened a cafe called Four Barrel Coffee, where people are happy to come to chat with their companions, and not with mobile equipment. “Communicate with each other! Only live communication!” - this is exactly the idea that Jody is promoting to the masses, and I must say, he’s doing a good job of it. Despite the fact that its cafe has neither Internet access nor outlets to charge mobile devices, The Mill is very popular and has regular customers.

Barbie Café (Taiwan)

If you want to get into the real world of Barbie, you should definitely visit the Barbie Café in Taipei, Taiwan. Absolutely everything in this cafe - from the interior to the uniform of the waiters - is made in the style of the world-famous doll. Even the dishes (mostly desserts) are pink here. It must be said that some print and online publications have already expressed their negative opinions about Barbie Café; there were even such descriptions of this establishment as “sickening” and “disgusting.”

However, the creators of the concept have a radically different opinion. According to them, the Barbie doll is an example of a woman ideal in all respects, so she can only evoke admiration. Whether Barbie Café will achieve its goals in attracting fans of the popular doll remains to be seen. However, the cafe is already actively discussed and is gradually gaining popularity.

Velokafi (Switzerland)

There are quite a lot of cyclists among the residents of the capital of Switzerland, and cycling continues to be encouraged and developed in every possible way in this country. Cafe Velokafi is a real find for lovers of this type of transport. The peculiarity is that cafe visitors ride up to the table directly on their bicycles, and do not get off them even when drinking their cup of coffee or eating a sandwich. Each table has a special device built into it, with which cyclists can secure the front wheel of their vehicle and simply sit comfortably on a bicycle at a table in a cafe.

Bench Cafe (UK)

Have you ever had an unpleasant situation when the bill brought by the waiter somewhat “exceeded” your expectations and there was less money in your wallet than you needed to pay? In a cafe that recently opened in the British city of Grafsend, such a situation a priori cannot happen. There are no price tags here - visitors pay as much as they want and see fit.

Bench Cafe purchases ingredients for cooking from supermarkets, which sell them for pennies due to their lost presentation. For example, the packaging of a product has been damaged and it can no longer be sold in the store. The owners of Bench Cafe purchase such goods and prepare absolutely high-quality and fresh dishes from them. How long a cafe with such a concept will last remains a mystery.

Tea Cozy Rooms (England)

The idea of ​​this institution is the strict and unquestioning implementation of pre-established rules of behavior. Visitors have already dubbed the manager of the cafe a “fascist.” And there is a reason: if the owner of the establishment notices that one of the guests has violated strict rules, the client is immediately kicked out the door in shame.

The laws that everyone at the Tea Cozy Rooms must follow mainly relate to the rules of etiquette at the table: do not laugh too loudly, do not slurp, do not put your elbows on the table, etc. Strange as it may seem, such a “severe” establishment is in demand. Perhaps, at Tea Cozy Rooms, everything is compensated by incredibly delicious food, for which visitors are ready to endure even such acts of education from the owner of the cafe?

According to statistics, in Moscow alone, 10 catering establishments open and close per day.

Competition among restaurants is very strong, and restaurateurs have to bend over backwards to succeed.

In this article, we'll look at restaurant promotion ideas and marketing strategies that can help you improve your business and attract customers!

Photos of your dishes

Probably the best way to advertise your restaurant online is by posting high-quality, mouth-watering photos of your signature dishes online. Visual content is in high demand these days, and having amazing photos on your website and various social media platforms is essential. Using Instagram or Foursquare, you can help new potential guests find your great establishment by regularly posting new photos of your food.

Create a feature in your establishment

For example, the Goodman steakhouse restaurant chain has a chamber for dry and combined aging of marbled meat. This complex technology is unique to Russia and is presented only in the steakhouses of this chain.

Work on your local market, your product, your geographic history

Develop your own interesting and original cuisine. People love to consume food from the region they are in. All over the world, people eat their local cuisine. And only in Russia, we eat pizzas, rolls, burgers, pasta and everything that is not related to us. For example, on the shores of Lake Baikal it is much easier to find a sushi bar than a restaurant with fish from the largest natural fresh water reservoir on planet Earth. Now people are beginning to understand that they need to eat their own, regional food. Create dishes based on traditional recipes, modify them, for example, using modern technologies or additional ingredients.

Lunch specials

Steakhouse chain Goodman increased its revenue by introducing special offers for lunch during the day.

Combo sets

Offer your gourmets combination offers at a special price, for example: Steak + side dish + drink for 990 rubles.

Positive emotions

For restaurant guests, positive emotions that will remain after visiting the establishment are very important.

You can arrange the interior of the establishment in an unforgettable way, for example, invite guests to sculpt plasticine figures, and then display the best ones on the shelves of the establishment. You can create a photo gallery with photos of visitors.

Working with social networks

At first, try to work independently on social networks, adhering to certain standards and rules. By entrusting this work to an SMM agency, you risk spending your budget by attracting the wrong people. interested audience. The main advice is to dialogue with your audience as transparently and sincerely as possible. You can turn your restaurant, cafe, bar into a popular place if you approach the issue with your soul, and be sincere and open with the audience. If you can build your communication on social networks correctly, 2% of subscribers can become real visitors to your establishment.

Working with applications

Promoting your restaurant on online restaurant apps like Four Square and TripAdvisor should definitely be considered as part of your marketing plan. Partnering with online apps encourages diners to check your restaurant for promotions and special offers for the evening or holiday.

Upload good photos of your restaurant, which is sure to be full of happy guests. Include opening hours, location on the map, menu and dishes available to order, price range, Wi-Fi, outdoor seating, parking availability, etc.

If you receive negative feedback, always respond in a polite, professional manner. Handling negative feedback is very important.

If you publicly respond to a negative review, thank them for the feedback, apologize for the incident, and promise to improve in the future. You can also contact the individual for more information about any negative incidents. Some business owners suggest sending gift certificates and vouchers for a second chance. This works for the most part, and a customer who has had a negative experience at your establishment often remains flattered, replacing his anger with mercy, knowing that the restaurant owner values ​​his opinion and is making every effort to improve.

People come to people

Try to create a pleasant, friendly atmosphere in your establishment. Select positive and friendly staff and create a friendly internal work environment.

Gastronomic events

If the level of your establishment allows, feel free to organize fashionable gastronomic festivals and sessions. Invite famous show business personalities to the party,

Geo-targeted contextual advertising ads in Google AdWords

Help local users find out about your establishment, your “hot” offers, and promotions for Saturday evening. Google AdWords Targeted Content Advertising can help you get the most out of your online marketing efforts by investing primarily in geo-targeted advertising. Geo-targeted ads help you save money by ensuring that only your potential establishment audience in a certain city or radius sees your ads (eliminating unwanted clicks that can cost you a lot of your advertising budget).

Here are a couple more interesting ideas for attracting visitors to your restaurant, cafe, bar:

• Regular master classes in your own kitchen
• Live music on certain days, for example: Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 20.00.
• Children's animator on weekends

Printed Promotional Materials

Business cards, flyers, brochures, etc. should attract the attention of your potential client with a creative design. Choose the content and offers you print carefully, and don't try to pack the flyer with too much information. Write briefly and clearly: The meaning of the offer (promotion, bonus), name, logo, contacts. There is no need for meaningless slogans and chants and tedious texts in small print.

Do not forget that the size of the leaflet also matters - the client should easily put it in his wallet or pocket, so that he will then become interested and remember about it again, and not just throw it away.

Business Cards: It is important for a restaurant owner or manager to have business cards. They are used to provide basic information about you and your establishment. Business cards, as a rule, have one generally accepted format and include the name of the owner of the business card, contact information, for example, address, telephone, fax, email address, as well as a logo, which should be recognizable and bright.

The business card design should be individually designed, different from the rest and attract attention. “Attracting attention” does not mean pretentious and flashy, be stylish! Think about what your business card will look like - after all, if it is ordinary, few people will save it. A special font, an unusual shape, stylish colors - all these are important elements for a creative business card.

Leaflet contains information that should interest new customers: a new menu, a promotional offer, a discount on the dish of the day, etc. Usually, they are distributed on the street, offered to drivers, delivered along with the mail, etc.

Flyer design is of particular importance. It should highlight the advantages of your product or service over competitors, such as: cost, size, delivery speed and quality.

I can recommend how to quickly, efficiently and inexpensively produce printed products online. You can use the Internet service vizitka.com for this.

Restaurant menu and design

According to research, an updated menu can increase restaurant traffic by 20%. The menu should be very carefully thought out, and used not only to display dishes, but also as a marketing tool.

A good menu should take into account seasonality, have a pleasant and clear design, be focused on potential customers and inspire confidence.

The menu should have promotional offers for every day so that guests gradually get used to your restaurant. They need to know that if they come to your place on Wednesday, they will get their favorite pancakes.

Use your restaurant menu as free advertising. Indicate in it all the services that your establishment can offer. For example, if you have delivery or a loyalty program, be sure to indicate this on the menu. Make sure the menu is always clean and contains all pages. If customers get confused by missing pages or receive a menu with a greasy stain, they will be less likely to order anything.

Daily newspapers, magazines, TV commercials

If you have an interesting event, create a press release and send it out for broadcast on radio and television. Make sure your communication message contains the information the user needs. Believe me, the press sometimes looks for such information and will gladly publish it for free. In the city media there are special sections “Afisha”, especially for such cases

Another method of attracting customers is special days in your restaurant. For example, Children's Day, Free Desserts Day, etc. Such promotions will not only attract attention, but will also allow you to gain the trust of customers. It is these “Days” that the press most likes to write about. Invite journalists from these publications to the celebration and organize a free buffet. Remember, one successful article can bring dozens or even hundreds of new clients, so don’t offend journalists :)

We invite you to check out the Android app

Study the restaurant business market

Restaurant trends are very important for marketing. Restaurants that prepare dishes from environmentally friendly products are very popular. This becomes possible through partnerships with eco-stores or organic food producers. Healthy dishes will be an excellent novelty, and the eco-drinks offered to guests will win the sympathy of guests for a long time. “Home cooking” is becoming more and more popular in the world and has already overtaken Italian cuisine. Use this when creating your menu and you will get your regular customers.

Original ideas for restaurant promotion

Try to stand out from your competitors with creativity. Go beyond your usual boundaries. Use the holidays to create a special atmosphere in the restaurant. This will encourage people to come back to you. Use your imagination to the fullest and you will see that your customers are happy.

As you may have noticed, there are a lot of ideas for promoting a restaurant, right? If you have any suggestions or ideas, be sure to share with us by leaving a comment.

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All establishments, be it a restaurant, a hotel or a simple tire shop, want to be remembered by customers. To do this, it is not at all necessary to spend a lot of effort on implementing the original concept, as was done, for example, in this restaurant, where a table with visitors hangs in the air at a height of 50 meters. It is enough to please guests with some pleasant little thing so that they come back again and again and bring friends.

Editorial website noted that such creative solutions really make establishments very attractive. I wonder why not all owners are implementing something like this yet?

Mugs that won't keep your beer warm

Restaurant without staff

Just what you need if you are an introvert. In Nuremberg, Germany, there is a restaurant "s Baggers, which has no waiters (unfortunately, the restaurant is now closed, we hope this is temporary). Customers use tablets to form an order, and it comes to them in saucepans directly from the kitchen on special rails The only representatives of the staff you can meet here are the girls helping those who cannot handle the tablet to place an order.

A pub that loves live communication

In the UK, there is a pub called The Fat Boar Wrecsam, where you will be asked to hide your phones in a container, lock them with a key and give them to the staff, while you enjoy conversations with your friends. If you agree to do this, you will be rewarded with a discount.

Pillow menu

At the Levant Hotel in Crimea, you will be offered a whole range of sleeping pillows, each of which will help solve a specific problem: make it easier to fall asleep, get rid of snoring or relieve neck pain. This is achieved using a different set of herbs with which the pillows are stuffed, various fabrics and shapes of the pillows.

Discount that depends on the weather

The Canadian clothing store Mark's offers a discount, which increases the greater the colder it is outside. Well, perhaps, somewhere like that a store would quickly go bankrupt.

Bar exchange

There are several restaurants and bars in the world that operate on the principle of an exchange: prices for orders here are constantly changing depending on how popular a particular dish is at the moment with other visitors. Surely, going here is very exciting: as soon as guests see that the price of the drink they ordered has dropped, they run to pay for their order.

Some of the most famous restaurants of this type are New York's Exchange Bar and Grill and Kalamazoo Beer Exchange, also in the USA.

So that pens don't get stolen anymore

"This pen was stolen from... When returned, get a $5 discount on oil changes."

Unusual cafe in Helsinki

Cafe Regatta in the capital of Finland is simply a storehouse of highlights: firstly, it looks like a cozy house filled with all sorts of things, on the very shore of the bay.

Secondly, here you can light a fire outside in a specially designated place and fry, for example, sausages you brought with you.

Thirdly, here you don’t pay for the refill of coffee, but you get paid, although quite a bit - 5 cents.

A toilet where you won't miss the fun

This is familiar to every hockey or football fan - according to the law of meanness, as soon as you move away from the screen to do your business, the team scores a goal. In the Kharkov bar "Stargorod" they decided to minimize this likelihood and placed televisions in the most visible place in the toilet.

Two soaps in a restaurant

In the restaurant, whose name remains unknown to us, there are two types of liquid soap: unscented, for washing your hands with before eating, and with a scent, for washing after. On the one hand, it’s a trifle, but on the other hand, there is something in it.

Hotels that provide guests with a telephone

The Handy company came up with this trick: giving hotel guests a mobile phone, which they are supposed to take with them on walks around the city. With it, guests can call the hotel and even their home country and access the Internet. The phone is loaded with maps, applications with ratings of attractions and restaurants, which is incredibly convenient. This pleasure is completely free, but the hotels that cooperate with Handy are quite expensive.

Pizza magnet

Red Tomato Pizza (Dubai) came up with the idea of ​​giving regular customers special Bluetooth magnets for their refrigerator. There is a button inside the magnet that you can press to order a pizza. After the button is triggered, an operator contacts you. Simple and nice.

A restaurant where there is a new chef every day

In Paris there is a restaurant with the telling name Un Jour Un Chef (“One day, one chef”), where anyone can be a chef for a day. At the same time, professional training is not at all important, you simply submit an application and discuss in advance with the staff what you want to prepare, all products are at the expense of the restaurant. A real chef will control the entire process, and you will have many assistants, so you won’t be able to spoil the food even if you try.

Any good restaurant is, first of all, a show... There are a lot of abnormal establishments in the world and a lot of talented restaurateurs whose imagination is worth envying. However, it is hardly possible to list all the unusual restaurants in the world - such a study would require writing a multi-volume manuscript. But it’s hard to resist the temptation to talk about the most original restaurant concepts.

— the most unusual restaurant in Amsterdam. Instead of adult waiters in this truly children's establishment, young Dutchmen not only serve visitors and bring bills, but also cook under the supervision of an adult chef. The food is delicious, especially the desserts. And with what pleasure visitors leave tips - you won’t see this in any other restaurant...

The first restaurant (in the full sense of the word) without waiters opened in Nuremberg, Germany. Waiters in a restaurant Baggers were replaced by a fully automated system for ordering and delivering food. To do this, there is a touch screen on each table, which provides the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the menu and place an order. Ready meals are delivered along rails leading to each table.

O'Noir Montreal- “dark” restaurant. The restaurant's interiors are made in dark colors, and waiters wearing night vision devices greet and escort guests to their tables. Lighters, mobile phones and other illumination are prohibited on the restaurant premises. The first such establishment opened in 1999 in France, since then the idea has become so popular that today you can dine after dark in almost any country in the world - Germany, England, USA, Russia, Australia, China, and in Canada even with blind waiters .

The goal is the social rehabilitation of blind people who cannot regain their sight. The sensory experience of eating in the dark is different from normal perception. For example, the taste of vegetables becomes sharper, and white fish becomes tasteless. The cooks and other restaurant staff are ordinary people. The restaurant not only serves food, but also hosts musical evenings and wine tastings. The impressions from visiting “In the Dark” remain for a long time.

Restaurant De Kas in Amsterdam. Here vegetables are grown and harvested for the table right next to the restaurant. What could be better to demonstrate the naturalness of the ingredients of the dishes served.

In Taiwan, toilet-themed restaurants are extremely popular. IN Modern Toilet Taipei— the dishes and chairs in the restaurant are made in the form of toilets... “We sell not only food, but also a good mood. The menu is no different from other restaurants, but we have fun,” says restaurant owner Eric Wang.

At the restaurant Observatory Restaurant Johannesburg In South Africa, gastronomy goes hand in hand with astronomy. In between dishes, you can look at the stars.

In the establishment Big Texan Steak Ranch Amarillo in the USA they regularly hold a promotion for visitors - you don’t have to pay for a two-kilogram steak with a side dish if you can eat it in an hour. Few visitors have succeeded in this... The restaurant management knows this physiological feature of the human body, which is why they organize this action. Thus attracting both visitors and observers.

In a Tokyo (Japan) restaurant, the rooms are decorated like prison cells. Not for the faint of heart... Grates, bars, bars. And in the restaurant Bollesje, located in a former prison in the German city of Rüdesheim, guests are fingerprinted before entering and read the rules of conduct. Then visitors are invited to try a “thieves’ cocktail” and put on a prison uniform, in which they are immersed in the atmosphere of prison life for a while.

Chacaltaya ski resort Cordillera in Bolivia - one of the highest restaurants in the world - 5340 m above sea level. Getting into such a restaurant is already an achievement!

Kuappi Iisalmi in Finland - the smallest restaurant in the world - one table, two chairs. You can't walk around with a big group unless you take turns.

In the middle of Broadway in New York you can be transported back to the 50s. Restaurant interior and menu Ellen's Stardust correspond to a typical "diner" (roadside restaurant) of those times. All the service staff are professional singers who entertain visitors with pop performances.

Ghetto Gourmet- this is not even a restaurant, but a gastronomic social mini-network, a club where there is an excellent opportunity to eat in a pleasant and sometimes unexpected environment. The restaurant's owners, brothers Joe and Jeremy, host regular food gatherings for club members in a variety of locations, from a parking lot to an art gallery to a community member's home.

Regular clients of the club themselves vote for the place where the next dinner will be held. During the meal, those gathered chat casually, since mostly everyone already knows each other, and watch entertainment and cultural programs organized by the owners of Ghetto Gourmet.