We have curated a list of brilliant strategies to help you grow or turn your hotel restaurant business into a world-class outfit by attracting and keying down your target audience. These restaurant marketing ideas will give you much to consider when it comes to organizing your next campaign, whether it’s for a big opening, a long-awaited re-opening, or you’re just wanting to get the creative juices flowing.
Interior Design & Hardware
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The quality of your customer service will largely determine how successful your business is. However, it’s not just the food that will draw guests to your restaurant—your restaurant’s interior design will also play a role in keeping them there. The goal is to create a relaxed atmosphere so guests can enjoy the best dining experience possible.
Unique and eye-catching restaurant interiors and ambiance are essential for drawing customers in light of the industry’s strong competition.
As a hotel restaurant owner looking to scale up and enjoy an increase in client patronage, you should be looking to invest in restaurant wholesale dishes made by seasoned designers that match the demands of the global market.
Keeping in line with current industry trends and frequently modifying your restaurant’s locale will help make your place more attractive and marketable to your customers of both local and foreign descent.
You can go way further by purchasing porcelain dinnerware and other high-quality, aesthetically pleasing hotel restaurant dinnerware.
If you run a busy wine and coffee bar, wooden chairs and stools with high windows might enhance the experience for your customers as they sip on some wonderful coffee or wine. Seats made of wood must be coated or polished smoothly if you’re employing them.
This will pay off in the long term because happy clients may refer your establishment to their friends and relatives, boosting your brand’s sales and income.
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Furthermore, try working on the presentation of your dishes so they are Instagrammable and picture-worthy. The presentation of your dishes should encourage people to take photos and share them online – especially on Instagram, where hashtags like #foodphotography, #foodie and more are extremely popular.
You can use color-glazed porcelain dinnerware with an inscription of your brand’s design, get up close with your top dishes, show off your storefront, and use this social media main stage (Instagram) as a place to promote your brand identity.
Events Planning
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Whether you’re hosting the event to promote your business and draw in hungry customers, or whether you want to make your restaurant the newest hotspot for guests to book their wild birthday bashes or elegant bridal showers, to plan the ideal private event, you’ll need to do more than just create the ideal food and drink menu.
The best way for your concept to stand out and be remembered is if your visitors have no memory of the event’s planning at all. Your goal is for everything to go as smoothly and stress-freely as possible so that all they will remember is being present and enjoying themselves to the fullest at your venue with their loved ones.
There are a few approaches you can take. Nowadays, a lot of restaurants provide services for events, including birthday parties and business gatherings. For a more intimate dining experience for your guests, the restaurant may, if available, provide customized dinnerware or ceramic mugs in bulk or some form of event area that is separate from the usual tables just to tailor the overall experience to your customer’s tastes. If this isn’t an option for your restaurant, a decent substitute is to expand the dining area to accommodate additional diners. You can do this by reserving an entire portion of your restaurant or by grouping many tables together.
Do some research and contact any nearby clubs or networking organizations. Ask questions like: Do they need a location for their meetings? Someone to provide a lunch venue once a month, for example.
Finding a dependable location to frequently meet is one of the main challenges networking groups or other corporate activities confront.
A networking group will probably patronize your restaurant repeatedly if you can secure a small portion of tables for them based on the schedule they arrange with you.
You might also wish to adjust your menu to fit these occasions. Some parties might want a sort of tasting menu where they can try each type of dish, but others would prefer enormous party quantities of your most popular sides. These alternatives will largely depend on the cuisine you provide, therefore it’s critical to cater to the wants and preferences of your clientele.
Many event organizers base their accommodation selections on surrounding attractions like restaurants and other entertainment options. Restaurants that offer discounts for large groups or reserved seating can considerably lessen the anxiety that goes along with group travel, which will attract planners to your institution. Ensure that your restaurant is listed in renowned restaurant directories if you want decision-makers to notice it.
Discount and Special Offers
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A solid strategy to get customers into your business is to provide coupons and discounts. Give new social media followers, email newsletter subscribers, and private connections a free or discounted meal.
A great method to get things started is to advertise discounts on coupon websites. In some circumstances, it could even be worthwhile to lose a little money or not make profits in order to increase your customer base in the initial weeks or months after your restaurant’s launch.
“I’ll do anything for free stuff”, in the words of Sandra Bullock.
Alt text: Man asking for free stuff
You don’t want to find yourself in a scenario where people only come to your restaurant when there are massive discounts, so scheduling your coupons strategically is key.
You can run timed promotions by giving discounts on your most well-liked dishes and distributing coupons to other websites. The coupon codes will be developed by you and sent to coupon websites; the coupons themselves will need to be made by your own point-of-sale or restaurant management system. This is the most common technique, but there are other choices if you’re prepared to do some research and work with coupon and discount websites that have their own system.
Holiday Promotions
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Holiday restaurant promos are a simple way to draw in new clients for your establishment.
People frequently gather to eat, drink, and rejoice during the holidays. For instance, companies regularly throw year-end celebrations, and families get together for reunions.
The concept motivates potential customers to try your business, and your current customers will value your efforts to reward their loyalty.
Research and offer deals during the most popular holidays, such as Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Black Friday, Valentine’s Day, and many more widely celebrated holidays in your locality.
You can offer 10% off during select holidays, free meals, or the best restaurant deal of all: a buy one, get one free deal.
Most importantly, let your clients know about any unique holiday deals and activities you’re planning by posting about them on your social media sites and other obvious places your customers and potential clients can find them so they’re well aware of the deals before hand. You’ll be surprised to find out that some will go as far as informing their friends and relatives to come patronize your brand during that specific time, and if you offer them mouthwatering meals and service in general, lots of them will make your place the first choice on their go-to list of restaurants.
Online Advertising
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Your reach is greatly increased by using online advertising. You can possibly reach everyone in your area rather than being constrained by how many flyers you print or how many people hear your radio ad.
If your company isn’t geographically constrained, you can also expand your market beyond local customers by advertising in far-off places.
You can advertise online to a particular demographic of people using platforms like Facebook.
The best use of your money is to target particular customers. This is unquestionably one of the most valuable advantages of online advertising, as you can filter customers based on their interests and hobbies, in addition to choosing their age, region, gender, and other factors.
By doing this, you can avoid spending time and money on ineffective advertising.
Furthermore, social media marketing gives you the chance to communicate with potential clients and build rapport with them. For instance, give anyone who likes and follows your Instagram page a 30% first-time customer discount.
Moreover, you can encourage people to join your email list by using social media.
If your restaurant doesn’t have a website in 2022, you should give it some serious thought. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or sophisticated; it just needs to give you an online presence that will broaden your digital footprint and make you more visible in search engine results.
Additionally, you have complete control over the appearance of your website. You have the chance to express your restaurant’s atmosphere and brand identity in a special way, unlike social networking platforms that display every business with an identical layout.
You should have “About Us,” “Menu,” and “Contact Us” pages. A review page, photo gallery, blog, and even a FAQ page are also things you should have on your website.
Tips to Stand Out
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If you have read up to this point, then you genuinely want your brand to stand out and thrive amidst the fierce competition restaurant businesses face on a daily basis. If you are a restaurant owner looking to scale up and attract more customers, read on as the following bulleted tips will spark your creative juices and provide you with ideas to help you attract and keep customers coming back.
- Include a blog in the design of your restaurant website
- Take part in food delivery initiatives
- Create a regular email newsletter
- Email birthday reminders to subscribers
- Publicize client-generated content relating to your business
- Employ influencers
Final Notes
Although it’s not simple, we hope that these suggestions have given you a solid idea of where to begin when creating interesting marketing campaigns for your restaurant.
Keep in mind that online advertising will always be a foundation for successful marketing. In order for your business to continue to expand and thrive in 2022, as a hotel restaurant owner, you should aim to utilize the advantages that online advertising offers.