Being in a position where you open a new restaurant is an exciting one! You are standing up and putting yourself into one of the most competitive markets in the world, and hoping to make a difference!
To be successful with your new eatery, you need to be smart. You have to get involved in a lot of planning and you need to cover your bases with your restaurant insurance and suppliers. You can’t just open the doors and hope customers walk in, you have to make that happen yourself with your marketing strategy and your advertising campaigns. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at five things that you should get right when you open your restaurant.
- Remember Your Target Market. You need to make sure that you get the right people through the door, which means aiming for your target market and knowing exactly where to find them. Consider the age and lifestyle of the customers to whom you want to cater, and figure out the best way to advertise directly to them.
- Your USP. Every restaurant has to have something that makes them stand out. You can ensure that yours has something that differentiates you from every other restaurant of the same type in the same area. Think about what you want reviewers to say about you, and make it happen!
- Choose The Right Location. Sometimes, it’s not about what you sell but about where you sell it. There’s no use making the best lasagne in town if no one lives close enough to actually try it! You need to think about being somewhere that customers are going to notice you. Location matters; if you’re trying to sell sushi, you want to be in the affluent part of town, not on the outskirts. Most restaurants fail based on poor location choices, and you shouldn’t be one of those restaurants if you don’t have to be.
- Paying The Bill. Making life easier for customers is so important and a part of that is ensuring that you help them when it comes to paying their bill. The world is slowly becoming cashless, so installing a good POS system is a smart idea. The more you make life easy for your customers, the more interested they will be in coming to your restaurant.
- Tight Policies, Please. Every great restaurant out there has the tightest policies and procedures, from cleaning, handling complaints to cleaning. You should make sure that you have every single system covered with a policy in place for everything. When you do this, you can ensure that you have everything in writing and people know their place in your business. It’s how you can impress the masses and keep looking after your staff.
Opening a restaurant is not an easy thing to do, so you need to make sure that you do every piece of research possible before you flip that sign and open your doors. The customers will come if you put the right wheels into motion!
- DISCLOSURE – Please note that this post has been written by an outside source.