Quick Win 1: Bring 'Em Back Restaurant Coupons

Give all first-time restaurant customers a coupon with a straightforward offer redeemable on the next visit (perhaps a free aperitif, dessert or after dinner drink). The offer must have no conditions and really should be redeemable within the next 6 months. Tell the customer to create in the restaurant coupon and be sure to ask for information that one could increase your database. Measure the results, modify the offer if needed, and when it brings you more business, get this to part of your marketing system.

Quick Win 2: Cut Restaurant Costs

Even though you are busy, it literally pays to take the time to review your restaurant costs every 6 months. An easy way to increase your bottom line is to spend less. When did you last renegotiate your credit card charges? Are you obtaining the best deal from your wine merchant? Review your menu and check your profit margins - which will be the dishes that provide you the best margins? Create a special menu with one of these dishes to market more. Eliminate your 3 worst-selling dishes and the ones with the worst margins. You can be surprised at how this regular housekeeping can affect your bottom line.

Quick Win 3: Increasing Restaurant Prices


"If your prices are 10% too low you need to do 3x the work to help make the same profit. If your prices are 10% too high you can lose 43% of your business and still maintain the same profit." - Larry Steinmatz

One of the fastest ways to increase your restaurant profits is to raise prices. Just a couple of dollars on several well-selling items will provide you with exponential growth immediately. That could sound like a frightening idea, but take a closer look at the psychology of pricing and purchasing behavior and you will understand why 80% of restaurant businesses undercharge for his or her services and products.

Except in a few particular cases, most people do not make purchasing decisions on price alone. Don't think me? Just take a look around at the sunglasses folks have on around you. I bet you see a lot of Ray Bans and Dolce Gabbana sunglasses. This just implies that you can find other criteria for purchasing behavior than price.

So whatever you do, don't ever reduce prices, and certainly don't start a price war. You do not want that to be your competitive advantage because anyone and everyone can undercut you. On the contrary, you should think about raising your prices. Don't let concern with competition or insufficient confidence stop you. Assuming you have true differentiation, you have targeted your audience correctly and they visit a perceived value in your product that they are willing to pay for, then you can certainly charge premium prices. Actually, they'll expect reduced service and will feel privileged, and you may find yourself selling even more.

In most cases you will discover that dropping prices to sell more actually loses you money, while raising prices, even though you sell less, raises your margin.

Even if it looks like a difficult thing to do, test different higher price points for various offerings. Tomorrow raise your prices by 10%. You can observe not only the way the price rise affects your business (you will either lose business, gain business or stay exactly the same), but you can then look at your profit margins and adjust accordingly.

Lots of the restaurant owners that people work with have observed the next pleasing phenomena: they raised prices and discovered that not only did they will have more customers (the restaurant is perceived as higher quality), but they had a more reliable and less complicated clientele that also spent more income and had higher overall tickets.

Quick Win 4: Celebrate Birthdays at your Restaurant

Birthdays, by their very personal nature, are an ideal time to distribute a very personalized offer. Of all occasions, this is actually the most effective so far as restaurant marketing campaigns go. Ensure that you gather birthday and contact information in your exit surveys and start a birthday campaign. Send a contact or snail mail with a restaurant coupon for a free of charge dessert, drink or meal by the end of the month preceding the individual's birthday month. Allow them to utilize the restaurant coupon for the entire month of their birthday.

You can even propose additional birthday services. Think about ways that would make your visitors life easier - supplying the cake at a special price, giving a special group rate, or including party favors.

Best fast food restaurants Alhambra like a complimentary easy with a candle and the customer's name and birthday wishes written onto it is sure to appeal to the child within any customer. You'd be amazed at the invaluable positive word of mouth a simple gesture like this can create.

You can even use a birthday campaign in an effort to recruit clients by buying lists with birthdays and postal codes and sending out your personal birthday offer in an effort to introduce your restaurant.

Birthdays have become personal, and as we will learn, business is personal. Don't pass up this fantastic possibility to reach out to your visitors and make them happy.

Quick Win 5: Referral Restaurant Gift Certificates

Try out this activity now for an instantaneous increase in your restaurant customer numbers. By the end of meals, give happy customers 3 different gift certificates with a quantity off for his or her next meal at the restaurant (or any other offer that you are feeling is compelling). Then provide them with 2 more of the dining certificates and ask them to share the certificates making use of their friends. The offer ought to be compelling and also have no conditions other than a time limit. Supply the recipient enough time to redeem the certificate. Perhaps make the certificate good for six months, or for specific down times you are trying to fill.