Restaurant Marketing Starts With Exceeding the Guest’s Expectations
Restaurant marketing is an eternal project than begins before your doors open and continues 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The art of combining communication, selling and delivery of your product will directly impact the level of success you achieve in any business. In the typical restaurant enterprise, you can only survive with repeat business. Return customers are the eventual culmination and reward of the marketing process.
The whole complicated marketing strategy can be summed up in four words – meeting the guest’s expectations. This is where the chains shine. You really don’t go into a Taco Bell expecting a life changing experience or an Olive Garden for the most romantic experience of your life. Both of these restaurants, at two ends of the price scale, offer customers only decent food for the price, in a reasonable atmosphere, with acceptable service and convenience. That is it! No more, no less, and that is what they deliver consistently.
As an independent restaurant you have to learn from the chains. It’s not enough to be as good as they are, but you have to figure out what they don’t do. Essentially, you must exceed the guest’s expectations. I know of one restaurant owner who spent very tiny money on the exterior of the building. However, the minute you walked in the door your first impressions were dashed by the gorgeous surroundings you found yourself in. The owner’s philosophy was to immediately impress the guest. Your food can't be the same as other restaurants in your class – it must excel. Service must have a surprise; friendlier, more personable or more extravagant.
If a prospective customer has never tasted your food, seen your restaurant or experienced your service, what would they anticipate the experience on their first visit to be? Good food? Good service? Good experience? That is mediocre enough! That applies to most of your competition and certainly the vast majority of the chains. How low on the scale of mediocrity can you go before you change due to being like everyone else?
One of the most difficult learning experiences I have had in the restaurant business is figuring out the subjective views of diners. Views vary on what is good food or at least acceptable food. Even more diversity is assured when assessing service. My expectations, when dining out might be much lower than someone else. What motivates me to revisit or advocate a restaurant might be miles apart from the next guest.
While we offer 50 different ways to market your restaurant in The Restaurant Ebook, here are some things over the years that have put one restaurant or another firmly in my mind.
A restaurant once served our group a sample of their Sangria of the evening as we were seated. It was not only unexpected, but refreshing while inactivity on our server. Great way to minimize wait, sell a product and create an unexpected service.
My celebration once enjoyed the welcoming sounds of a Mexican roaming band as we were seated and a bow with a welcome in Spanish that the server subsequently explained as tradition in Hidalgo to treat guests as special family.
While making a reservation for a special occasion, the mortal on the phone asked if I would like a rose at the lady’s plate for a charge, which I swiftly accepted.
Another run down shack of a place in the Florida keys, served the freshest seafood possible, since behind the shack were fishermen bringing their catch in, cleaning them and straight to the plateau after choosing your cooking method. From the front, the restaurant was not looking like the fresh food venue it turned out to be. Awesome fish, crabs and spiny lobster. They vastly exceeded my expectations.
Fast food (as well as chains) is a rare choice for me, but I do try new restaurants of all types. Recently a new chain of hamburger QSR’s expanded into my area. I kept hearing about their great hamburger. There were several media articles about the chain, but that wasn’t what motivated me. The first time I heard about the chain was a customer at one of my restaurants who told me about a grand opening of one of the locations. He told me how good the hamburger was and that it was free. The chain offered free food on opening day. A subsequent guest mentioned the chain and the calibre of the burger. Two referrals were enough to motivate me! Their product was very good, but they were masters of marketing.
Here are some lessons learned;
The free food on opening day made a lot of sense. It cost no more than an advertising blitz would have cost and got people talking!
The first thing on their short menu board (about eight items) was their “famous” burger supposedly voted No. 1 at various venues around the country. It also happened to be the most costly thing on the board, a double burger at .89 with your choice of additions free.
French fries were “hand-cut”, but the real kicker was after filling the Styrofoam cup they served them in and placing it in the bag with the burger, they threw in another handful of fries on top of the contents. This last detail made it seem you were getting more for your money and there are few people who haven’t reached in the bag to snag a French fry or two before un-wrapping the burger or while driving home. By the way, the fries were .69, no bargain, but the delivery of the product made you forget the price.
Finally, their product, the burger. There was nothing to dislike! They did it right. The cooks put the burgers on the griddle, without smashing the juices out of it on the turn. After the first turn the bun went on top for steaming. The two slices of cheese were put on the sandwich and wrapped in plain foil which produced a perfectly melted cheese and moist, juicy burger. It was superior than most QSR’s, as well it should when you achievement out with a .13 bill including tax and drink from a fast food joint.
These and many other memories make the exceptional restaurant stand way out in front of the mediocre and poor experiences I have encountered. When someone is in the area of one of the operations above, I can advocate these breathtaking experiences to them. That is great marketing when it brings new guests and cements a relationship with an old customer.
What makes your restaurant stand out in the guest’s mind? For more ideas see what other restaurants are doing at Restaurant in the Weeds. Creating an unforgettable memory will bring more guests than a month’s worth of newspaper advertising.
Restaurant Marketing Starts With Exceeding the Guest’s Expectations
Multi-concept restaurant owner, author and marketing consultant. Built several restaurants into successful ventures that continue to grow and prosper today. Author of the ideal selling ebook titled The Restaurant Ebook – A Guide to Keeping Your Dreams Off the Chopping Block. Written many articles and other mini restaurant ebooks on various subjects. For more restaurant help visit On a Wait, a restaurant blog.
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Can You Guess Which Food Item On The Restaurant Menu Has The Most Calories?
The other night I was out for dinner at Olive Garden in NYC, and saw on the menu, Fettuccine Alfredo. I love Fettuccine Alfredo, but, I thought superior not, too many calories. Maybe I will get grilled shrimp caprese instead, a superior choice. Then I noticed a set of numbers underneath the item, the calorie count. And the dish I wanted, Fettuccine Alfredo, was 460 calories less than what I thought the superior choice would be, Grilled Shrimp Caprese, OMG, 460 calories less.
This was my first time at a restaurant that listed calories, and I started thinking of all those times I have made the wrong choices, weight and health wise, at restaurants that don’t list out their calories.
When they first came out with this intent of listing calories on menus, I thought, “this is a stupid idea, another Government intrusion on our lives”. Now I know it’s about choice for us. So, how is not knowing what you are intake a superior intent then knowing?
Here are some other extraordinary restaurant meal offenders to watch out for:
The Sonic Supersonic Cheese burger has 898 calories and 52.6 grams of fat.
The Burger King Quad Stacker has 1010 calories and 70 grams of fat speak about a heart-attack inactivity to happen!
The Wendy’s Baconator triple with 830 calories and 35 grams of fat
So the question is, do you really want to know many calories you are consuming?
I would think so, because it is about making a knowledgeable choice, and right now most people have no intent how many calories are in the meals they are eating. Consumer suggests state it could be a powerful weapon against obesity, by simply allowing consumers to see how many calories they’re intake when they take out.
Right now, when hamburgers can range from 250 to over 1800 calories and even coffee drinks can range from 20 calories to 800 calories, it is time to post calories.
What do you think, should the calories be posted on all restaurant menus, not just the chain restaurants?
Find out your Daily Calorie Intake Now @ shrinktheplanet-weightloss.com
Can You Guess Which Food Item On The Restaurant Menu Has The Most Calories?
would you ask me out?
Question by katie baby: would you ask me out?
i have straight (sort of wavy) brownish/blondish just past my shoulder length hair. i love italian food. PASTA ROCKS!!!! so do the bread sticks and salads. olive garden rocks. i play soccer and volleyball. i like to watch basketball, soccer, baseball. i have crisp blue eyes. my friends love my smile/teeth. i have never had to have braces or anything so they all get jealous. i dont know why. i love going to movies (not so much a chick flick person. depends). i love to cuddle up in a blanket by the fireplace watching a motion picture at night when it is cold outside. i play guitar and piano. more guitar. i like animals. i love green but any color works. they all rock. i an nice, outgoing, and an icebreaker. usually. i like guys who are nice, cute, flirty, shares some interests, and CAN MAKE ME LAUGH. love that in a guy.
awwww. you guy are soo cute.
Best answer:
Answer by savage_sam
wanna go out with me?
Add your own answer in the comments!
Secret Restaurant Recipes Inside Your Kitchen
Do people like your cooking? Does your Famous Recipe make the guests state “Oh how lovely!” or “You ought to be a chef or something”. Then don’t take it just as a compliment, make the ideal of your culinary skills, learn further, try and experiment and you never know where you could land up.
A mortal with a desire to learn and experiment should never go only by a Recipe Book. Just like a hanger dress, which might not look as captivating when tried on, the same thing goes for a written recipe or famous restaurant recipes. They might not work out or taste the same as you think they will from reading the book. This doesn’t mean stop seeking new knowledge, do search it out, but from a superior source.
We have designed a novel way to present our recipes through short video clips rather than boring and lengthy texts. These Recipes Videos are sheer fun and assist to follow for viewers. If you love to experiment watch hundreds of delectable Recipes Videos at our website, and set about experimenting yourself.
Our Recipes Videos cover Cooking Videos, Recipe Book, Outback Steakhouse Recipes, Secret Restaurant Recipe, Olive Garden Recipe, Famous Recipes, Famous Restaurant Recipes, Top Secret Recipes and recipes from the favourite Copycat Restaurant Recipes.
Watch videos of famous cook Celebrities like Chef Phil Vickery or Lorna Sass. Lorna Sass (known dear as the Queen of Pressure Cooking) shows an hot audience how to make risotto in the pressure cooker in a matter of minutes, with tiny of that tiresome stirring and lots of flavor. The recipe is adapted from her famous book, PRESSURE PERFECT. And Phil is here to impart some pudding wisdom and help make a easy and delicious trifle! Everyone has their favorite pudding but not everyone knows how to make them!
Apart from video clips in the recipe category we have Funny Online Videos to tingle your funny bone; we have Education, Entertainment, and Technology videos. Pets and animal videos like Labrador Retrievers Videos, Golden Labrador Retriever, Boxer Videos, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier Videos as well.
Good cooking works wonders, that’s an open secret. Impress your family or friends at the next dinner celebration or special gathering, with a delicious and mouth watering dish, and hear them speaking about it for ages afterwards.
Secret Restaurant Recipes Inside Your Kitchen
Donna Rye is a writer on home cooking, restaurant food and creative cookery. She comes from a family of professional cooks who love to travel and recreate Famous Recipes and recipes from famous restaurants in their own homes and professional kitchens.
