How to Improve Restaurant Business: Tips for Restaurant Owners

At this point, you already run a pretty successful restaurant where you get a constant stream of new and loyal clients who appreciate your food. But there is always room for more. Why not sell more? Why not enjoy bigger profit margins?

We know you want to grow your business, as many of you search the internet for an answer to “How to improve restaurant business?”.

We want to help. That's why we created this guide full of tips for restaurant owners that answer the most pressing questions you have (according to your Google searches). Let’s dive in:

1. How to make your restaurant unique?

If you take a stroll around your business's location, you will notice there are many other restaurants that potential clients could choose from. To persuade people to choose your place, you need to make your restaurant stand out from your competitors.

Here are a few tips for restaurant owners who want to make their business unique:

• Brand your restaurant: create a unitary image for your business that will turn it into a recognizable brand. You get bonus points if you have a unique concept stemming from the reason you opened your restaurant, such as Nona Gina’s traditional grandma recipes from Italy;
• Use special ingredients: if you use different ingredients from other restaurants, people will be tempted to give your place a try. For example, you can use only locally sourced ingredients, imported from a certain country, or only from ecological sources;
• Create a menu that stands out: every person will browse your online menu before settling on their choice to visit you. Merchandise your menu to ensure you give people a one-of-a-kind food experience.

Read more: How to make your restaurant stand out: 5 creative ideas you must try

2. How to increase customers in a restaurant?

Because your success is directly proportional to your number of new clients, we've seen many of you searching for "How to attract customers to my restaurant?”. Don’t worry, we have the perfect cheat sheet to make your restaurant noticed:

• Get a sales-optimized restaurant website: the first step is to make your presence known online. If you generate an SEO and sales-optimized website, you will rank on the first page of Google, where many potential customers will find you. After they click on your website, the design will guide people to the menu button, so they can place an order in no time;
• Install an online ordering system to your website: increase the number of customers in your restaurant by selling online. You just need 10 free minutes to install an efficient online ordering system that will make the online ordering process a breeze for your clients. And the best part? It’s free.
• Use email marketing: repeat customers are the best kind of customers. They order often from your place and recommend your business to others. Email marketing will help you gain more loyal clients by coaxing them back with hard to say no to promotions.

3. How to manage a restaurant business successfully?

Managing a restaurant is no easy feat, you have a lot of moving parts you are responsible for, from employees and inventory to budgeting. Check out these tips for restaurant owners who want to be successful managers:

• Keep your staff happy and productive: start with an efficient hiring process to ensure you choose employees that are fit for your business. Afterward, maintain an open line of communication and leverage technology so your employees will be satisfied with their work;
• Become a master of efficient budgeting: you must have a plan for every part of your business, from prime materials and maintenance to the marketing budget. Afterward, you must track every penny to ensure you stay within the budget;
• Have clear restaurant standard operating procedures: restaurant SOPs are a set of detailed rules that teach employees how to do every task in the business. This will lead to more efficient staff and restaurant processes and more satisfied customers.

4. How to improve a restaurant business?

The food industry is often unpredictable, so you should always strive to grow your business to ensure you will overcome any challenges thrown your way. Go over these tips on how to improve a restaurant business:

• Start upselling: getting more new clients is great but convincing them to order even more is better. You can implement promotions that can be redeemed only with a minimum order value, such as Free delivery for orders over $60. Furthermore, you can add sizes and toppings to your menu items, so clients can create the perfect dish for them while you increase your profit margins.
• Optimize your menu: First, keep it short, people don't like to spend their whole day reading your menu. Afterward, adorn your menu items with mouth-watering pictures and enticing menu descriptions. If you want to appeal to a broader audience, you must also add allergen and nutritional information.
• Delve into local SEO: if you want to rank high in Google searches in your area, you must start doing local marketing. Having an SEO-optimized website is a great first step, but you must follow it by getting listed in local directories, doing link building, and networking with local businesses.

Read more:Local Restaurant Marketing: How to Ace Restaurant SEO and Local Promotion

5. How to improve a restaurant's service?

The food is the main part clients appreciate at a restaurant, but if it is not paired with excellent customer service, they may not return. Here are some tips for restaurant owners who want to increase the number of loyal clients:

• Ask and listen to feedback: if you want to improve your restaurant service, you must know what your clients want. Add a story on your socials and ask your followers for tips on how to better your business. You may find valuable advice that you should implement;
• Use a table reservation system with the order-ahead feature: huge waiting times can be a deterrent for many clients. Get rid of them by using the table reservation system from GloriaFood that allows clients to order and pay when they book a table. This way, customers can be served as soon as they are seated;
• Schedule employees efficiently: many customer complaints stem from a bad interaction with a server. This can happen when there aren't enough employees working on a certain day. It is impossible to give a great experience when they serve 20 tables at the same time. Look over your stats and schedule workers according to the grade of occupancy.

6. How to increase restaurant sales through social media?

As most of your potential clients are on social media, it is a must to advertise your restaurant there. Here are a few tips for restaurant owners who want to use social media to increase their sales:

• Allow clients to order directly from social media: if you use our online ordering system, we provide you with a link you can add to the “Start order” button on Facebook and your Instagram bio. When clients click on it, they will immediately access your menu and be able to place an order;
  Allow clients to order directly from social media Use this online ordering system to increase your sales Start Now
• Use conversion-centric posts: share all your promotions on social media and let people know they are time-sensitive so they should hurry to take advantage of them. Also, add a link to your menu often and encourage people to look over it. They won’t be able to resist your delicious dishes;
• Harness the power of mouth-watering images: people follow you on social media to see food photos. Say goodbye to low-quality food photos and learn more about restaurant food photography so you can impress your clients. A hungry client will be very tempted to order if they see a professionally taken photo of your food.

Read more:How to increase restaurant sales through social media

7. How to increase lunch sales in a restaurant?

The middle of the day is usually a slow period for most restaurants. When you are sitting in a mostly empty restaurant at lunch, you will be surely thinking "How to improve the restaurant business?". Here are a few tips to get more sales during lunch:

• Implement lunch promotions: everybody has to eat at lunch, but not everyone wants to spend a lot of money. Tempt people to order from your restaurant by sweetening the deal with irresistible promotions such as free delivery, free dessert, or a 2+1 deal;
• Offer lunch specials: create a special menu for lunch that will satisfy both hunger and sweet cravings at a fixed price. This way, people don’t have to struggle to settle on a menu item in their small amount of free time, as they have a lunch special waiting for them;
• Collaborate with local businesses: get more customers during lunch by persuading local businesses to send their employees to eat at your place. You can leave some flyers with a 5% off the first online order to tempt them.

Read more: How to increase lunch sales in a restaurant: 6 easy tips

8. How to increase bar sales in a restaurant?

The menu items with the biggest profit margins are usually toppings and drinks because you pay way less for the prime materials. Therefore, it makes sense to look for answers on how to increase beverage sales in restaurant to increase your revenue.

Including these strategies in your bar business plan can significantly boost your profits.

• Have a food + drinks pairing category in your menu: a lot of people are interested in food pairing, but they might not know which menu item goes with what drink. Make it easy for them by creating a special category in your menu so clients can order both at the same time;
• Train your employees to make recommendations: your employees are the best weapon for upselling. Train them on pairing so they can make great recommendations for interested clients;
• Add a promotion for the drink category: 2+1 deal on bear? A free drink for orders over $60? Any of these promotions will encourage people to spend more at your restaurant.

9. How to increase restaurant sales without advertising?

Running a restaurant is expensive, from the cost of ingredients and salaries to rent, utilities, and maintenance. To ensure you make a profit, you must find ways to cut costs in all areas.

Check out these tips for restaurant owners who want to increase revenue without spending a lot of money on advertising:

• Optimize your Google Business Profile: if you claim your business, when people search for restaurants in your area, they will be able to see your Google Business Profile, complete with relevant information. Add your working hours, photos of your food, and a link to your menu;
• Encourage online reviews: people check restaurant reviews before choosing a place to eat. The more positive reviews you have, the bigger the chance potential customers will choose your place. Have a complete account on all review sites in your area and reply to every comment, be it good or bad;
• Host events: nowadays, people expect a complete experience from your restaurant, not just good food. You can convince people to pay more if you open your restaurant to events such as live music, stand-up shows, wine tastings, etc.

10. How to improve quality of food in restaurant?

Have you often read reviews about your restaurant that described your food as ok, acceptable, or even bad? Then it is time to make some changes. You have the good bones of a functioning restaurant; you just have to up your game in the food department. Follow these tips:

• Put an efficient storage system in place: your restaurant works with a lot of ingredients and many of them can be forgotten and only get used when they almost go bad. Clients can taste that the ingredients are not fresh. Therefore, only buy as much as you sell in a week, or else you will have a lot of waste. Furthermore, store ingredients in closed containers that are labeled with the open date and expiry date. The materials that expire first should be stored at the front, so you can use them in due time;
• Train your kitchen staff: cleanliness and cross-contamination are two big themes that should be the star of your training. If you don't stick to health and sanitary measures, you risk getting your clients sick and having your restaurant closed. Also, look into having your chefs take a cooking course if you are not satisfied with their work;
• Prioritize ingredient quality: local, seasonal ingredients or high-quality imported ones are a great selling point for clients. If they know where you source your materials and that they are fresh, they will start to trust your business again.

Final Words

We hope we gave you helpful answers to all questions related to “How to improve restaurant business?”. If you want more detailed tips, check out the linked articles that will help you achieve your goals.

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