Attracting more customers into your café or restaurant can be achieved in many ways. The key to finding the customers you want is to focus on the word ‘attract’.
The customer journey – Would that be you…
Sit down in your café or restaurant and take a good look around you – put yourself in the customer’s shoes and see what they see. Imagine you are meeting a few friends and want to sit somewhere relaxing that serves great coffee and a mouth watering selection of cakes just baked that day served with a smile by friendly happy staff – would that be you?
What about if you wanted to take your Mother out for lunch as a birthday treat, somewhere that served great food in pleasant surroundings with staff that you know would make your mother feel special. Would that be you? Imagine a host of business people from the major office block across the road wanting to get together on a Friday lunchtime as a way of starting the weekend with the chefs special of the day and a bottle or 2 of wine recommended by the waiter as he knows the budget and the taste of his guests – would that be you?
The thing is, the hospitality industry provide a place of sanctuary for a host of different people at many different times of the day. These people will vary depending on where you are situated but the thought process is the same and most important, so is the emotion. It is by using our emotional intelligence and tapping into how we use all of the senses not just the sense of taste to please our customers that will attract more customers to us.
Attracting new business | Questions to think about…
Is my restaurant or café inviting?
- Is it clean and tidy? Are windows and outside areas cleaned regularly that shows you care? Door frames and hard to reach areas – have they been seen to lately? Planted tubs, sun shades, interesting features that attract the eye -?
- Tables and Chairs – dusted, washed down or in need of a lick of paint? Are your table accessories needing refreshed?
- Menu holders, table takers and wall signs – do they suit your establishment and are they attractive and easy to read?
- Menus – is your fair inviting – have you too much on offer that weakens your unique proposition or do you need to think about simplifying working from fresh local ingredients?
- Menu displays – are your menu items attractive but your menu’s grubby, dog eared and tired looking? Check out www.tastemodern.co.uk for some great display item ideas.
- Staff – are you all looking as fresh as your food? Is it easy for people to spot your team in a crowd?
- Greetings – what is the first impression and the last impression customers have of visiting your café/restaurant? Do you surprise at every opportunity and leave a lasting impression?
- Do you train your team / employees to deliver exceptional customer care making customers feel special. Training is an investment not only in your staff but also in your business.
Important point to remember | if you want to attract more customers then put the romance back into your business and start courting them now!
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