By Jessica K.
Your restaurant or catering event should leave an extensive online footprint, if you want to draw in more than just local or regular customers. Accepting online bookings through a message system can spare you from having to man the phone-line 24 hours a day. If you lack resources to establish your own website, start a WordPress blog.
Here you can upload mugshots of your staff, and blog posts about recent events such as birthday parties. You could do the same on your restaurant’s facebook page; to tag photos of themselves people have to visit and engage with you online. Start a dialogue by giving your restaurant a Twitter account, and dazzle followers with your witty bon mots about life, philosophy and food. Display links to any online restaurant reviews of your establishment.
Another way of gaining approbation is by sponsoring a local event – a street fair, charity fundraiser or amateur performance – and/or providing catering on-site. You don’t have to give something for nothing, so feel free to charge high prices to your captive customers. But if the occasion is for charity, a small donation would win you widespread approval and you could negotiate having your slogan prominently displayed on the event’s publicity material.
Alcohol is one of the most expensive items on your menu, once value-added tax (VAT, in British and French terminology, or the cost of service) is factored in. But if you are prepared to relinquish this profit for a couple of nights a month, you might draw in a whole new clientele with a ‘Bring Your Own Wine’ night.
To better understand your customer and how you can adapt to their needs, you could set them a questionnaire, asking:
- How often do you eat out?
- Infrequently
- Regularly
- Often
- Should service be
- Polite and efficient
- Warm and welcoming
- Elegant and practised
- Your ideal restaurant’s décor is
- Homely with vintage touches
- Spartan and minimalist
- Easy on the eye, but not attention-grabbing or distracting
- Themed
- Would you prefer to be served continuously by the same waiter?
- Yes, for continuity in service
- Yes, I like the personal touch
- Not really bothered, as long as they don’t drop any plates
- Would your desire to visit a restaurant increase if you saw them advertised at a local event and/or sampled their food?
- Yes
- Depends on the food
- Depends on the event
- If you saw the calorie count listed next to a meal, would you be more likely to choose it?
- Yes
- No
- Do you have any dietary requirements e.g. wheat or dairy intolerance or aversion? If we catered for this, would you like us to indicate with coloured symbols on the menu?
- Yes
- Not bothered
- Do you like your menu options to challenge your expectations or do you have more traditional tastes?
- I like to try exotic cuisine from foreign countries
- I like new and daring taste combinations
- I’m a traditionalist, and once I’ve found something I like I tend to stick to it
- What is your favourite type of foreign cuisine
- French
- Spanish
- Italian
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Asian fusion
- Polish
- Indian
