Top Tips for successful restaurant marketing & promotions

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Restaurant Marketing & Promotion

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Market research

A successful promotion depends on attracting enough customers, so ask your regulars what they think about your proposed idea beforehand. Do a survey in the street to gauge its likely popularity. Take the opportunity to find out what sort of events people really want. For example, the younger crowd might suggest a Tapas night with an open mike, whilst parents might prefer a ‘kids-eat-free-on-Sunday’ lunchtime promo. Decide who your target audience is and concentrate your efforts on things that suit them

Avoid clashes

Look ahead at least one month when you’re planning a promotion. Are any other major events, national or local, scheduled around that time? It might sound obvious, but making sure your event doesn’t clash with the FA cup final or the local carnival is essential if you want to attract plenty of customers

Keep it simple

It’s asking for trouble to base a promo on a six-course French dégustation menu with costly ingredients and complicated preparation. The kitchen will struggle to cope with a roomful of tables ordering at different times. Keep the menu simple, use a few premium ingredients and keep costs and tempers at bay

Enthusiasm

If you sound excited about what you’re offering then it will rub off on your staff and also your customers

Spread the word

Advertise your promotion in house - A-boards outside, table talkers, posters in the cloakrooms. Most importantly explain to your staff what's going on and get them to tell as many people as possible. Word of mouth carries more clout than any advert and enthusiasm is contagious

Ensure the sums work

Work out a budget and stick to it. As a very rough guide, multiply your food costs by your normal mark-up and add on any other extra costs for putting on the promo, for example extra staff hours or entertainment. The result is the amount you need to take on top of your regular take to make it worth the effort. Divide this by the price per head to find out the minimum number of customers, over and above normal, that you need to break even

Network with other organisations

Find out what’s going on in your area and plan around it. For example, if a French Farmers Market comes to town, try a French wines & cheeses week or, if there’s a sailing event nearby, put on a seafood night. You’ll be supporting local initiatives and will probably find half your publicity done for you

Say it with flyers

Ask staff to distribute flyers in quieter trading times. Target key places like hairdressers or tourist information offices. Get staff to initial the backs of their flyers and offer a small incentive based on how many customers they actually attract

Entertaining but relevant?

Make sure the promotion suits your venue. Example - why bother with a St. Patrick's Day promotion if you’re.an Italian restaurant? There are plenty key dates and events on the Italian calendar – a great opportunity to offer an alternative for those not wishing to be washed away in Guinness and green food dye

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Use one promo to advertise the next and make the most of your captive audience. Tell them what’s coming up soon. Give out flyers.
Offer bounce-backs to give people a reason to come back

Top Tips for a successful promotion

When you put them together they ‘make sense’ !