Welcome 2020! It is time to think about those New Year resolutions, not just for yourself, but for your foodservice business! Whether you have one restaurant or a couple, a food truck, or a catering business there are doable resolutions to help your bottom line as we enter into a new decade. Here are a few as “food for thought.”
Increase and Improve Upon Your Online Persona
Freshen-up your website and your Facebook page for the New Year. While good reviews are always key to increasing your business, enticing potential customers with mouthwatering photos and videos can help, too.
Choose some of your specialties. Take a video of your chef preparing one. Have a food photographer come in and take photos of some of your decadent desserts, or entrees steaming when straight out of the oven. Share a variety of photos which may appeal to a variety of patrons on each of your website and through social media.
Improve Upon and Increase Your E-mail Marketing
Start an email newsletter and subscribe to an email service such as Constant Contact, where you can send email blasts to all of your customers. And/or chose to subscribe to an individual email service like Mailchimp that will keep track of your customer’s birthdays and anniversaries sending an email coupon out for those special occasions. Watch this turn some occasional returning customers into steady ones.
Other Marketing Ideas
The onset of a new year is a good time to spend time thinking of increased marketing methods. Don’t forget some of the more traditional methods of marketing which include print. Create new take-out menus and include in all takeout orders. If the local chamber of commerce has a digital business sign for its members, consider contacting it to promote your restaurant or catering service in strategic, upcoming times of the year. Oh, and if you are not a member of the chamber, definitely consider joining.
Use Your Customers’ Resolutions to the Restaurant’s Benefit
Some of the most common resolutions alongside quitting smoking is to get fit, lose weight, and/or eat healthy. Your restaurant can aid in those resolutions. Add some health-conscious menu items and calorie-counter options. Your customers will welcome them.
These are just a few resolution suggestions, but if you really want to help your food-related business in the New Year, contact Gilkey Restaurant Consulting. Over the years, we have helped all types of foodservice businesses across the country. Contact our staff today and see how we can help you make 2020 a great year for your business.