Restaurant Marketing

It’s a dim and distant memory now, but in a previous career incarnation I spent twenty years working in professional kitchens all over the UK. During that time I became good at my job and would no doubt still be doing it – but for family commitments. It never ceased to amaze me how little anyone actually knew about their customers in those days – OK you might recognise a few regulars and occasionally you would miss someone if they didn’t show for a while – but in the main they were all just customers, and you were either busy or quiet, depending on how many of them showed up!

Getting to know your clients and building a long term relationship with them was only for the big boys, companies like Trust House Forte who had their own marketing departments and computer division. Of course that was in the bad old days before cheap computers, databases and easy to use Windows software – Things are different these days, surely?
Regrettably, it seems little appears to have changed – from personal experience I have to say that almost every restaurant I visit these days still appears to see me as a one time diner.

I arrive – I eat – I pay – I leave.

I suppose this means that a large number of restaurant businesses continue to hope that the food and service will be enough to encourage me into becoming a regular, returning patron.

Well here’s a thought! If the food and the service on their own really were were enough to achieve the lion’s share of the marketing – how is it that so many restaurants have empty seats on Tuesdays? or Wednesdays?

Indeed why are there any empty seats at all? If a large percentage of one time diners became regulars then most places should be awash with customers, shouldn’t they?

Let’s face the facts here, we need to realise that almost everyone else in the restaurant trade is relying on their own product and goodwill to maintain their business too, and guess what? That includes the competition!
It’s a modern day fact of life that customer loyalty is a much shorter lived commodity than it used to be!
I believe, that in today’s highly competitive market place customer loyalty has to be worked for – relying on that single dining experience to ‘lock your customer in’, is simple not enough any more – you need to work harder than that – you need to communicate and build a mutually beneficial relationship with the people who matter to your business – The Customers.

You may be in love with your business, the food, the ambience and the idea of being a restauranteur – but that has very little to do with being profitable.

What you need to be in love with are your customers. You also need to be obsessive about maintaining an up-to-date list with all their contact information as well as birthdays and other important dates in their lives.

This is a new era in running a restaurant business – the era of relationship marketing – It is here right now – If you have been slow in getting on the bandwagon, you need to do it now.

I’m sure that my unique restaurant and kitchen background, combined with an excellent knowledge of the latest software and marketing techniques could bring profitable solutions to your restaurant business.

Call me for a no obligation chat

Steve Elliott

07950 232926