Customers tend to be more willing to support businesses that support other local and small businesses in their community. To keep your customers happy you should try to reach out and collaborate with local businesses in your area. You can boost customer loyalty by supporting and promoting local services and products in your restaurant whenever possible.Skip music on iTunes or Amazon and play music by a local musician. Or have a local musician play live while people eat in your restaurant.
Hang up art by local artists on the walls rather than stock art from a big box store. You can also include prices on the artwork so customers can buy the artwork directly from local artists.;
, You should also make an effort to have local food items on your menu whenever possible, as this is beneficial for the environment and for your business. Replace food from a national distributor with food from a local farmer or a local producer. Make sure you note that food items are local on your menu and promote foods popular in your area so your customers know you support local producers.You should also make an effort to participate in local festivals and events as a way to promote your restaurant. Partner with another restaurant and collaborate on a special dish for a local festival. Or, create an event where you allow customers to sample local foods in your restaurant or at a local venue.
 You can also keep your customers engaged and coming back by setting up a loyalty program. Most customers enjoy reaping the benefits of returning over and over to the same establishment. You should reward your customers so they have an incentive to return.You may set up a loyalty program using a rewards card program where customers earn points for returning to the restaurant or for spending a certain amount of money. This could be in the form of a low tech option like a paper punch card or a high tech option like a plastic rewards card that is swiped every time they come in.
You could also start an account for customers where they earn certain perks after collecting enough points, such as a free appetizer or money off their bill.
 You should always make an effort to make your customers feel like they are important to you by giving them personal attention. As the owner of the restaurant, you should try to spend time chatting briefly with regular customers who come in often and welcoming new customers who are dining for the first time. Stay in touch with your customers by dedicating at least one to two days a week giving personal attention to them.You may go around during dinner service and ask customers how they are enjoying their food or how they are finding their meal. You may also spend time chatting with long time customers about their personal lives, if you have established that kind of relationship with them.
You can also give customers personal attention by dropping off food to the table yourself. Making your presence known to customers will show you are a dedicated owner and that you care about the happiness of your customers.
 You should also keep your customers happy by handling customer complaints properly. Remember that the customer is always right, even if they seem wrong to you. You should take every customer complaint seriously and show appreciation for their feedback. This will keep your customers happy and feel as though their concern is being taken seriously.You should always listen to what the customer has to say and allow them to vent. You should acknowledge their complaint and then apologize. You may say, “I understand you are not happy and I apologize for the incident.”
You should then offer a viable solution to the complaint. You may off some sort of compensation for the customer’s issue, such as a free round of drinks or a complimentary dessert.
 You can draw new customers to your restaurant by upping your social media presence. Make sure you have an Instagram account for the restaurant as well as a blog. If your blog can be tied to your restaurant’s website, even better. Try to post images and text at least once a day to promote the restaurant and to attract new customers.You can also set up a Facebook page for the restaurant where you post day specials and promos. You may post things like "The first 20 customers get a free appetizer," that are specials on that day only, to draw customers in.
You may also create an email newsletter that you send out to customers on a subscription basis. You should include images of dishes at the restaurant and include any promotions or specials for the week. You may also include some of the restaurant’s history or background so customers feel they are getting an inside look at the restaurant.
 You can attract new patrons by embracing theme nights at your restaurant, with a theme or a special for each day of the week you are open. You may put a specific dish on special, such as Taco Tuesdays or Wing Night Wednesdays. You may also hold theme nights on certain days of the week, like Bring Your Own Wine Sundays or Half Off Mondays.You may want to start by having theme nights for the days of the week that tend to be slow or lacking in customers. This way, you can attract customers to the restaurant on the slower days and then gradually amp up the theme nights throughout the week.
 Happy hour is a popular way for restaurants to fill their space with customers during the slower hours of the day. This promotion usually takes place from Monday to Thursday between 4 pm and 8 pm. You can offer your customers happy hour prices on drinks and food to satisfy their cravings after a long work day.You should create a happy hour menu that has half-price drinks, cheaper cocktails, and small dishes or nibbles that are low in price. This will encourage your customers to eat and drink a fair amount during happy hour.
 If your restaurant has a great chef working in the kitchen, you may try creating “meet the chef” events. This will allow your customers to have a special night where they buy a ticket to spend time in the kitchen with your chef. You may offer a limited number of tickets to customers to make the event feel exclusive and special.You may feature a particular ingredient as part of the meet the chef event or have a theme for the event. You should create a custom menu for the event and invite customers to watch cooking demos done by your chef.
 You can also promote your restaurant to new customers by creating new food and drink pairings with your chef or cook. You should work with a sommelier, if possible, to put together wine and food pairings using your existing menu.You may also collaborate with your bartender to create cocktail and food pairings to offer to customers. You should then promote your new food and drink pairings on social media, posting a picture of the pairings on Instagram and putting a short write up of each pairing on your restaurant’s blog.
 You can actually boost customer loyalty and keep your restaurant running smoothly by retaining your employees. Having a revolving door of new employees will require you to spend time training and does not promote a community feel at your restaurant. One way you can retain your employees is to try to give them a competitive hourly wage, as many servers will earn extra money through tips. Paying your employees fairly will encourage them to stick around and work hard.The average pay in the U.S. for waitresses and waiters is $9.85.Factoring this hourly wage in with tips, your employees should be able to maintain a decent standard of living. You may decide to give your employees competitive pay and raise their pay on a sliding scale so they feel they are valued at your restaurant.
 If possible, you should consider offering your employees benefits. Though traditionally, many service jobs do not come with health care benefits, you may want to work out a way to do this to better support your employees. Your staff should feel you are able to offer them what they need as an employer and employee benefits could help to boost their morale.One way you can make enough money to provide healthcare for your employees is to add a surcharge to all bills. The money for this surcharge can then go to funding health benefits for your staff. Often, this surcharge does not have to be much, about 3% of the total bill., You can also help your employees feel valued and cared for by creating quarterly employee only events. This could be a team building event like playing a sport together or doing team building exercises as part of the event. Make the events fun and inclusive for all your employees so they feel they have time to bond and connect.You may ask certain employees to join a social committee and allow them to plan the events on their own. You may set a budget for the event and then have the social committee collaborate with other employees to create fun events.
 You can empower your employees by giving them the opportunity to grow within your business. One way to do this is to provide specialized training for them, where they can learn new skills or expand their existing skill set. You can do this training during off hours at the restaurant or send a group of employees to training sessions at another location.For example, you may set up a training session for employees who want to learn how to properly serve wine to customers. Or you may create training sessions for employees who want to learn how to properly recommend certain drinks to customers.
 The prime costs of your restaurant will help you determine how profitable the restaurant is and if you are turning enough of a profit on a consistent basis. Your prime costs can be determined by the following equation: food cost + beverage cost + salaries and wages + payroll taxes + employee benefits = prime costs.Your prime costs should run at no more than 65 percent of your total sales. This will ensure you are making a healthy profit and are still able to pay all the costs of running of the restaurant.
 To ensure you remain the owner of your restaurant for years to come, you should make sure you have a financial safety net in place. This will ensure that you have money to dip into if the restaurant experiences a sudden damaging event, such as a fire or structural damage to the building. You can also lean on this safety net if the restaurant starts to have lower profits, especially during times of the year that tend to be less busy., As the owner of the restaurant, you should also keep excellent and accurate financial records for the day to day operations of the business. You should have a clear record of costs and sales that cover the daily and monthly numbers of running the restaurant. You should keep all paper receipts on file and make sure you are recording all financial transactions so you have this information on hand.
 You may start to feel overwhelmed with finances if you are doing them yourself as the owner of the restaurant. If you do not already have an accountant, you should consider hiring one. An accountant can help you stay on top of the restaurant’s finances and let you know ahead of time if there are going to be any financial issues that need to be addressed.You may also try using accounting software on your own to keep your finances straight. You can buy accounting software online or in store.
Support local businesses whenever possible.
Promote local foods.
Start a loyalty program.
Give customers personal attention when they come in.
Handle customer complaints with grace and make amends.
Promote the restaurant on social media.
Create special theme nights at the restaurant.
Have a happy hour.
Do a meet the chef event.
Design new food and drink pairings.
Give them competitive pay.
Provide employee benefits.
Plan quarterly employee events.
Provide more specialized employee training.
Calculate your prime costs every week.
Make sure you have a financial safety net.
Keep good financial records.
Hire an accountant.
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