As the restaurant trade heads towards one of its busiest times, let’s take a look at how you can get your slice of the Christmas revenue cake.
Back in 2015 Real Business estimated that over one billion pounds would be spent by UK businesses on their Christmas Party. But it’s not just work functions that bring in bumper revenues: all kinds of groups arrange seasonal get-togethers in restaurants, and more and more UK households shun stuffing their own turkey in favour of having a restaurant doing it for them. So how can you perfect your restaurant marketing?
Listen and Learn
The food and drink trade is constantly changing. New fads come and go, and listening to what customers and the trade are saying is important to keep ahead of the game. To maximise sales from these trends as they come along, you need to have your ear to the ground and react quickly.
Prepare a Cohesive Seasonal Calendar of Activity
But your marketing plan shouldn’t just be based on reacting to trends. It should be well thought out ahead of time and have a cohesive theme to it.
Of course, if you’re planning marketing activities that you hope will increase footfall and covers, you must also make sure that your restaurant is ready to cope with that growth, whether that be in terms of staff planning, stock or equipment.
Customers won’t want to wait hours for their meal just because you haven’t got enough oven space to cope with demand, for example. If you’re looking for new ovens, a Lincat combi oven like those supplied by 247cateringsupplies.co.uk/lincat-ocmpc101g-gas-opus-combi-oven can be a flexible option.
Short-Term Plans Should Contribute to Long-Term Goals
When you’re planning for the seasonal quarter, don’t forget your long-term goals – the two should go hand in hand.
Take Time to Test
Testing campaigns before they launch and reviewing results will provide you with invaluable insight to feed future campaigns.
Keep Up to Date with Customer Habits
Technology is a big part of our lives, and how customers interact with businesses has changed. Keep up to date with your audience and offer the communication channels they demand.
Out with the Old
Just because it worked before, it doesn’t mean it will again, and the same old message gets very boring
