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By Mark Henderson
You have opened the doors to your restaurant, your staff are prepared to welcome in your customers, and your chefs are hard at work in the kitchen on your menu. All is well until you realize you aren't getting as many people coming through your doors as you had hoped. This is unfortunate, but thankfully, other than literally pulling people in off the streets, there are ways to get more customers into your restaurant.
#1:Stand out from your competitors
If your restaurant is too similar to other food venues in your neighborhood, you might struggle to gain more customers. The same applies if those other foodie places are giving their customers a better experience. To get the attention of the outside world, you need to do something that will bring people in.
So, consider the foods you serve. You might gain more customers if you can create your own specialty dishes. If your community is multicultural, you might want to serve those foods that remind people of their home countries. Survey them and ask them for the foods they would want to eat. And think about religious dietary requirements too. If you could offer dishes that were certified by the American Halal Foundation, for example, you would do much to win over local Islamic communities. Consider similar for other cultural groups.
Then think about the overall experience your restaurant can offer. This extends to the decor you place, the music you play in the background, and the entertainment you offer. If you can offer a different experience to your competitors, you might gain more customers. Be as creative as you can, and perhaps take note of these weird dining experiences if you really want to stand out in your neighborhood.
#2: Be creative with your marketing
Oh sure, you can market your business with flyers and other promotional materials, and you can hire somebody to stand outside to pass these out. You can list your restaurant online too on sites such as Yelp and Google My Business. These marketing methods can work, but to really gain attention, be creative in your marketing.
So, you might want to market your business on YouTube, with a behind-the-scenes look at the foods you will be preparing. You could hire a professional photographer to take pictures of your foods and then post them on your website and on Instagram. And you could promote your restaurant with the user-generated content created by your customers. These are just a few ideas, but for more inspiration, take a look at these creative marketing ideas, and implement as many as you can for the sake of your business.
#3: Celebrate special events
Consider those event days where people might want to party, and do something special. We are thinking of Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, and the Super Bowl weekend, as examples. If you can embrace these events within your restaurant, you are going to get more customers than those restaurants that aren't bothering to celebrate them.
Be sure to promote what you are doing across all of your social media channels, and showcase the special menus and entertainment acts you will be offering as part of the celebration.
These are just some of the ways to attract more customers to your restaurant, so do what you can. By making the effort, you should have little trouble getting people inside your venue.
