Bizorca Bites #1: Restaurants
Tasty nibbles of business development wisdom for the restaurant industry.
The restaurant industry is as diverse as life in the sea, from neighborhood burger shacks to swanky sushi bars. But with the shifting tides of consumer preferences, the rise of food delivery apps, and increasing food and labor costs, restaurants are seeking the North Star to guide them to success in the current economic climate.
Below are some quick biz dev nibbles, including three quick ideas for restaurant owners, two suggestions for those that serve restaurants, and a short sales tip. If you like the format of this newsletter and would like to see more, please leave a comment!
3 Business Development Suggestions for Restaurants
🎟️Loyalty Programs: Encourage repeat business by offering loyalty cards. These can be as simple as punch cards that you print on card stock in-house, all the way up to digital-only programs already built into your POS system. Every 6th visit gets a free appetizer? That sounds like a recipe for return customers.
📱Interactive Menus: Consider adding interactive digital menus, accessible via a QR code or link from your website. While these spiked in popularity during the pandemic for germ reasons, they’re also good marketing. Too many local restaurants use crappy photos of their menus on review sites and Google Maps that just aren’t readable, so it’s basically anti-marketing. It will also save you reprinting costs since your menu prices are likely in flux right now.
🎉Themed Nights: Make your establishment a destination. From 'Sushi Sundays' to 'Margarita Mondays', themed nights can bring in crowds and create buzz. It gives people something to talk about, look forward to, plan for, and come back to.
2 Suggestions for Marketing to Restaurant Owners
🍽️ Local Foodie Pop-Up Event: Humans love noms, and “Taste of [CityName]” type events pull crowds. But there’s no need to go big with such a thing. Organize and host a small, local culinary event or pop-up showcasing the cuisine of several local restaurants - meaning, restaurants that you want as customers! Intermingle short experiential sessions, such as demonstrations, of your product or service to showcase how your company supports restaurateurs.
🍔 Tailored Content Marketing: Create a content series specifically geared towards common challenges faced by restaurants. This could be blog posts, videos, infographics that tackle common restaurant issues like inventory management, customer loyalty, or menu optimization. Add a sprinkle of success stories showing how your service solved a particular challenge for a restaurant. Don’t forget your call to action!
1 Sales Tip
👂Listen Actively: Effective selling has far more to do with listening than talking. Selling is never about pushing your product, unless you’re selling doorbells or lawnmowers. By listening to your prospects, you uncover their needs, concerns, and goals. This allows you to tailor a solution, rather than pitching a product.
🐬Did You Know?
The orca, or killer whale, isn't actually a whale. Rather, it's the largest member of the dolphin family. Ee-ee-ee! Just goes to show that things aren't always as they seem — much like that secret ingredient in grandma's soup.
Bon appétit and smooth selling!