You need not cut down on your profits to increase your customer walk-ins at your restaurants. Discounts are good, but they tend to be expensive as well. Here are a few hacks that will not only increase your sales but also increase customer referrals and profits.
Combo Meals:
We are at a time where the rise of meal combos are ruling the sales charts, be it a KFC or any Pizza joint. 35% of the customers who came in to fast food joints bought these meal combo deals says an NPD statistics 2016-17. It was also noticed that initially when the concept of combos was introduced, restaurants saw a sales increase of up to 42%.
In a place like India where Biriyani being the most ordered food online, you can bundle a lemon drink (since I do not prefer/recommend aerated drinks) so that there are chances that this is being preferred by the customer. Even though it is not that prevalent in fine-dine restaurants, we still have a good chunk of customers who prefer ordering a combo meal. Well, at least I do! 😉
Online Presence:
89% of the people heading out to dine do a quick search about the restaurants online. People across the globe can today zero-in on a restaurant online and get a clear picture of the available menu, prices, services and ambience. So it is indeed important for a Restaurants to focus more on having a 5-star Social Media presence. It also enables them to get Online orders from various portals like Zomato & Swiggy.
Having a bad rating Online would lead to loss of sales. The worst part here is that we do not even know the number of Sales lost due to these. Simplest thing here is to optimize your Restaurant’s profile on Google Places so that your restaurant starts getting listed on Google which is the first step of all. Provide the best experience for your customers and the sales will automatically follow.
Happy Hours:
A Dinner and Late Night Consumer Trend Report by Technomic asked customers on what attracted them to bars, restaurants, and other food joints during these happy hours. 61% of them said it was the type of food available that dictated where they went, and 55 percent also said that they considered food specials very important at happy hours.
32% of Customers also admitted having broadened their choices, ordering new items on the menu due to the slashed prices. Offering discounted food and drinks brought 77% of the adults to the restaurants during off-peak hours.
With the popularity of discounts and grabs during off-peak hours and non-traditional eating hours getting prevalent, this is indeed a great way to have customers at your restaurant all the time.
Go Digital:
Handwritten bills, clunky cash registers and computers with minimal features are one of the ways to lose out on revenues. Being unorganized leads to confusions, misunderstandings and miscommunications from your kitchen.
Dated technology results in a frustrating experience for both your staff and your customers. A reliable POS that manages orders, KOTs, Happy Hour pricing, Online orders etc., will be secret sauce if you are looking to sustain your restaurant business for a long time. Make sure your software can streamline your operations and access all the data you need to know how to increase your restaurant’s sales.
Imagine a waiter noting down an order in a notebook and walking over to the kitchen to stick it on the order board. This can be easily tracked with a mobile order taking application that saves time and also the accuracy of the order is maintained. These are the investments that you got to make to provide your customer with the best experience, increase customer turn around.
Host events/parties:
Here’s another way to make your customers come back to your restaurants. One of the famous restaurants offers an exclusive buffet menu. Guess what’s more in store! When you inform the waiter that one of your friends in the table is having their birthday on that day, he brings a cake sing you a birthday song along with the rest.
Offering your restaurant space for community events (Office parties, birthday events, casual conferences) does wonder in building a relationship with the community. When you offer the best service during these events, customers don’t fail to come back to your restaurant. It also increases the customer referrals within their circles. Organizing some live music by independent artists and talents within your community will be a great idea to boost your sales over the weekend.
With limited resources, it is hard for restaurants to dedicate the right resource in the right areas of service. While we look at the most successful restaurants, it is pretty simple – they don’t have free seats on the big days yet customers come back to them.
If you are really looking forward to acing the Restaurant game to stay ahead of the competitors, adopt these 5 steps to increase sales.