Promotion Video

Combining traditional and “E” marketing strategy to maintain success for restaurant business

These days, restaurant managers are pay too much attention on the day-to-day management that they almost forgot how to implement or run a simple marketing strategy which is an essential element in making a particular restaurant to achieve its goals. In fact, make use of digital technology to go e-marketing has become the trend for cuisine industry and should not be overlooked.

In order to maintain success for your restaurant business, while you are establishing and running a restaurant you have to implement a specific marketing strategy both online and offline. Try to learning and gradually become to know how to deal with your customer base in a digital way, it is necessary for managers to realize the importance of digital technology of modern business and build up perfect marketing plan which suits the theme of your restaurant.

Strategy positioning and audience target:

First and formast, operators have to raise awareness of restaurant brand in the first 6 months of the business, find the correct positioning and major audience of your restaurant, high or general grade. Then providing customer support and service through both online and offline, and eventually to make sure there will be a amount of customers to come back and generate long term sales is two mainly marketing strategies in the modern business.

Tactics for offline promotion---- traditional marketing:
The traditional advertisement should be considered for advertising your restaurant in local newspapers and magazines. Manager can also place menus and informational brochures in different places such as hotels, schools. It is a better way to hold on a sporting activity or a charity sponsoring events to make the brand of your restaurant being circulated in the huge community, and eventually enhancing the influence.

Tactics of online promotion----“E-marketing”:

Managers have to realize the super power of the internet and related technology to help your business to promotion. So that set up an official website and using different digital skills has become necessary.

Ming Dynasty was pointed out

·Google maps

For a restaurant, operators could make use of different marketing tools for online promotion by Google to attract local customers and clients to the area where the restaurant is located. A free marketing tool that Google provides is Google Maps, which allows manager to point out their restaurant name, phone number, address and website by free. As an added bonus, the Google local listings also show up at the top of a Google search and receive a pinpoint on the Google Map. People could directly add Google map onto their restaurant website or any social networking channel. This is really convenient for them to catch audience and express awareness of popularity.

·Email and newsletter marketing

Keeping communicating with your patrons is an effective way to stay front-of-mind with your audience. Collect email addresses on your restaurant website from either comment cards that customers complete at their table or from a drawing giveaway that requires them to register their email. Such as provide their email address by offering to send coupons and specials as a member of your mailing list, this tactics could incentivize customers to come back to your restaurant. Then, using auto-responder series automatically sends emails to your customer list which subscribe or register on your website.



© The co-operative



In a short, having an email marketing strategy in place keeps your restaurant in the minds of your audience. If you communicate with patrons on a regular basis and provide them with an incentive to come into your restaurant, you will maintain to catch the audience.

·Social media marketing
The emergence of social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, has already completely changed the way of traditional business. Establish social media page for your restaurant and then utilize these to share hare notes, photos, videos, newsletters and links, all about your restaurant information with potential customers and patrons. This would be a highly effective way to push new visitors to your restaurant and enhance your business. Moreover, you can also use your existing friends and followers as your own restaurant cheer, and then leading to publicize your page to attract more fans onto your social media channels.

Image by Intersection Consulting via Flickr


·Online discount promotion and e-coupon

As well, make sure you promote your daily specials and any other discount special on the website. An E-coupon or gift certificate should be uploaded on your digital platforms. Ensure your customers could directly go to website to download the E-coupons and spend it in your restaurant.



© YUBZ via Facebook

In summary, there are a lot of tasks involved with properly managing a restaurant. Having a good management plan or strategy and realize the super power of digital way, and then following them to help with keeping your restaurant a thriving business.

Reference:

Ehow.com (Kristie Lorette, 2011) "Restaurant Marketing Strategies"

http://www.ehow.com/list_6163603_restaurant-marketing-strategies.html

Myrestaurantmarketing.com (2010) "Online Restaurant Marketing"

http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com/restaurant_online_marketing.html

Managing Your Restaurant Inventory Wisely

In every business there is the need of listing and inventory to record all the supplies and merchandise which involved in the specific business. A clear inventory management strategy could help the manager of a restaurant business to maintain a store of material and foodstuff.

However, this works only if the manager can predict the needs of his customers, such as a manual estimation is possible but it's very difficult to get an accurate result.

A clear inventory plan providing great services to the customers of any potential business is become essential in modern cuisine business. So that, manager should adopt cost controlling practices, establish weekly costing list and use “two steps” to calculate your inventory level in a right place.

Record a weekly food costing list can lower your supply cost:

“Establish a weekly food costing list could lower your cost; you’d better do it once a week to plan your purchases.” Said by Huang who is head chef of Ming Dynasty----largest Chinese restaurant in Preston.

Huang, the boss and also the famous head chef of Ming Dynasty which is the largest Chinese restaurant in Preston

As a Chinese restaurant manger, Mr Hunag also thought that marketers should pay attention for deals when they deciding to purchase. Try to remember that don't order too much of a martial as it will either spoil or end up sitting on the shelf for months. As well, operators have to determine how much they will be using each day, and then to determine what they will need to order.

Determine your inventory level in two steps: 

Jim Laube who is a specialist of restaurant operator

“Regardless of the type of restaurant you operate, adopting the two steps calculating will in all likelihood result in lower food cost and a more profitable restaurant.” Said by Jim Laube. Read more…

According to theory of Jim Laube, an easy way to get an instant gauge on whether you're carrying an appropriate amount of inventory is to calculate your "number of days of inventory on hand." It tells you how many days your existing inventory will last based on how much food you're using in an average day, which translates to your average daily food cost.  Calculating your "number of days of inventory" on hand is a two-step process:

Assuming you're carrying the right mix of products:

Number of days in the period = 30

Food cost for the period (from the profit and loss statement) = P30,000
Ending food inventory (on the balance sheet) = P10,000

The example tells us that having 10 days' worth of inventory would probably indicate that there's too much food on the shelves. If operationally feasible, lowering inventory levels to 6 or 7 days of sales would cause food cost to drop immediately, everything else being equal.

Efficiently arrangement of working time for your staff:
As well, make use of staff wisely could also effectively help managers to adapt cost controlling, such as reducing staff during your slow times and bringing in extra workers during your busy times.

In summary, operators should adopt cost controlling practices, establish weekly costing list and use “two steps” to calculate your inventory level in a right place; finally efficiently arrange the staffs’ work time to maximum making profit and low the cost to operate your business.

Designing “Unique Feature” of the ambience for your restaurant

The success of any restaurant design will depend on theme, decoration, layout and background music. Pay attention for these elements could make a great reputation and a thriving long term business. Actually, set up a special theme and display unique decorations meet the theme of restaurant could catch people’s sight and give customer a good impression.

In fact, designing an ambience of restaurant to make your customers feel welcome would be first step of marketing. Producing a creative theme of restaurant, at the same time, make sure the decor and the consist of furnishings or design should matches the theme of your restaurant. In fact, marketers and operators should have features of their restaurant that are professional and appealing to your customers. It is essential to considering such features about the paint color, seats, carpet design, type of tables and music; such as pictures, lighting, view of the wall furnishings should also be not overlooked.

Unique decorations meet the theme of restaurant:

Sometimes a special theme and unique decoration could make your restaurant become more attractive to catch customers’ eye at the first time when they come. The Gourmet therefore show the most interesting and featured restaurants in the world, as be seen of the pictures below:



Chinese Kung Fu & Chinese Food

Chinese Kung Fu restaurant:

Kong Fu and food are the two key elements represented China in the world. Feng Bo Zhuang is the first restaurant to participate Chinese culture into Chinese food business, combing Kung Fu, martial art chivalry and Chinese food together to become one of the most popular chain restaurants in China!

Creative layout show the Chinese martial arts chivalry, waiters dress up as martial artist and every dish has their martial arts name. Read more...

“Taste food, feeling the Chinese martial arts chivalry, every customer is a Kung Fu master!”

Ithaa Undersea Restaurant:

As the pictures shown, it is the first underwater restaurant in the world. The Conrad Maldives Rangali Islands aquarium-style restaurant locates in 16 feet under the Indian Oceans surface between a lagoon and a coral reef.

Image by Suraark via Flickr

There are only about a few seats in the restaurants, and customer could have dinner with the fishes and blue full color sight. You can bask in all that blue as the tables are surrounded by an arched, clear, acrylic ceiling which can give you 180º view of the sea.

The food is definitely worth the visit as those live sea creatures envy everything that put on your plate. The Maldivian chili and banana mascarpone which is plated with cream and crushed basil is also worth trying. Read more…


Image by suraark via Flickr

In summary, pay attention for the decoration, layout, choosing the suitable background music, design your own style and ambience to a restaurant; as well, creative idea and concept of theme could make your business easier to become successful.

Opening Restaurant in Bad Economy

Opening your own restaurant in economy crisis may be the rewarding investment or the riskiest also. Make use different strategy to marketing your business and adapt to survive even in a bad economic environment is this article will present.

In fact, it is not just what it appears from the outside looking for beginning your work in cuisine industry, but ask for related business knowledge, effort, determination as well as experience in the particular industry since you have learned that 9/10 new restaurant were failed during their first year.

The Gourmet therefore collects information from the interviewer by our website, the top chefs and successful entrepreneurs as well. We will share their advice on how to help your newly-opened restaurant survive in food business world.

Louis, 39, the manager of Taiwu Cantonese manager and he also has already doing Chinese food business over ten years as a manager.

To be honest, we can’t stay here and does nothing change, try our best to provide the best service and make sure the customers are happy and they gonna coming back. We always following the new policy and waiting what happen for the new situation for the unknown future of UK economic. Try your experience at others' restaurants first, so when you open your own, you don't have to pay for those mistakes and will be better off. Be patient, work hard, creative and waiting for the right time to open yours.


Huang, 36, the boss and also the famous head chef of Ming Dynasty which is the largest Chinese restaurant in Preston.

A business can go well if only you raise enough money for the first three months without expectation of profitability, so a careful business plan with sound finance source is a must. Make sure you can control well the cost of rent, food and payroll. If you tend to open a restaurant, you should have something special to offer your customers - an image or restaurant reputation - to make them come back again and again.

Specifically, cut price, improve service, add Chinese Sichuan cuisine and providing variety choices of dishes and tasty to face the recession challenge.

Tracy, 29, the manager of Kwong Fatt oriental supermarket which is the largest Chinese supermarket in Preston.

Choosing an appropriate location is the key words for opening a supermarket, meeting customers’ need is also important. The most important thing is fitness so keep it small, value-driven, and in a beautiful setting so you can control it and create something of value. Success will come to those who know how to create extraordinary value, based on a pure formula, so never forget to do extra research, create new and fine service.

Annie Somerville, 56, the head chef of Greens restaurant in San Francisco. She has earned a national reputation for imaginative vegetarian cooking and is an author of several bestselling cookbook

Customers come to your restaurants for food, but besides being a fine cook, you have to have a great business sense, too. If you find that you don't know well how to control the money flows, find an experienced partner. Another advice is when you start go into an existing restaurant space - it helps you save huge of capital. Read more...



Chef Todd English, 45, run Olives restaurant and Todd English restaurant chain from NY to Las Vegas. He was named best chef in the Northeast by the James Beard Foundation in 1994 and restaurateur of the year by Bon Appetit magazine in 2001.

Make sure you have enough finance to cover your first several months, and your first year if possible. If you do not witness profitability in your first months is not a big problem, but if it lasts for 6 month, you are in big risk. Read more...

Mario Batali, 48, the chef-owner of a series of 14 restaurants in New York City, the former host of the Food Network's Molto Mario and Ciao America and the author of six cookbooks.

When the economic dives, the good and bad restaurant business will be divided clearly. So you have a chance to success if you can define your customer base, always remember to create food and service from the heart, not the textbook. Read more...

Video by quepasa100 via Youtube

Reference:

Bloomberg.com (2011) "Top Chefs on Opening Shop"

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/10/1024_chefs/5.htm

Photo credits:

http://www.blogger.com/goog_23732818

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/10/1024_chefs/7.htm

How to start a restaurant---- Keep an Eye on the Menu!

Image by Meef.com via Google

Most of business people are wondering that how to start a restaurant and at the same time, can make your business in no time to be rich. In fact, no matter for the restaurant owners are rich or not, however, one thing can be sure is that the key words of success for each restaurant are about its food and dish. So that it is obvious that there are plenty of options in this regard for you to choose from, but the bottom-line are that operator and marketer have to get your menu in the right order to display and attract the sight of your customers and clients.

Focus on design of menu itself:

There would be so many aspects of achieving a better menu for your customers, but two of the most essential problems are the design of the own menu itself and the prices of the dishes that you will serve to customers. Before setting the prices of your food, it is necessary for marketers that they have to move out of your living room and do some research about the food prices; focus on the other business price being charged by other local restaurants that can be categorized as your potential future competitors.

Set a suitable price for customers:

It is very important for a new restaurant not to set higher prices than what its competitors have to offer. Because no one is going to bother having a second look at what the new kid on the block has to offer if others are already offering it at lesser price!

A good way to go about setting your food prices is to carefully analyze the flow of the cost you will have to incur on the preparation of the items in your menu. All you have to do is to simply set a profit margin and once you know the cost and the percentage of profit you intend to earn, calculating the price of each food item is simple mathematics.

You also have to keep in mind that the prices you set stay the same way for quite a while or else your customers are going to get upset; therefore, price fluctuations have to be dealt with by laying out a well balanced menu. For this purpose you have to identify items with unstable market prices and otherwise.

Always keeping customers’ perspective in your mind:

It is an advice for people who are involving restaurant business that how to open a restaurant, actually they had better to start to keep the customers' perspective always in your mind! Most customers take the trouble of eating at a restaurant because they like the atmosphere and the presentation when they get into a restaurant. You can easily find out in the presentation of your menu as a factor, a beautiful menu actually will add to the overall impression of your eating place for customers. Therefore, you have to ensure that you get the right color combinations and that the printing is suitable.

Providing comprehensive description of dishes:

Lastly, the description for dishes on the menu is also very important. The secrete strategy is that when describing food items, marketer could make sure that you keep things a little inventive and creativity, try to produce difference in comparison with your competitors of the same or similar food and dish.

The Gourmet comment: 5 Tips on how to manage a restaurant business

The successes of any restaurant business are always depending on its well management. Good management strategies are necessary to obtain and maintain the numbers of customers. If one restaurant business were run and become efficient to make use of different marketing strategies, the return and reward will be a great reputation and a thriving long term sustainable future for their business.

The Gourmet giving the following tips on help you that how to manage a restaurant:

▇ 1. The ambience of a restaurant should be designed to make a customer feel welcome. When you have chosen the theme of the restaurant, the decor should consist of furnishings and design that matches the theme. When you decorate your restaurant, you have features that are professional and appealing to your customers. Consider such features as paint color, type of tables and seats, carpet design, wall furnishings such as pictures, lighting, view, and music. As well, your restaurant should be well maintained. Cleanliness is extremely important, even the washrooms. A dirty or poorly kept restaurant will only turn customers away and give the business a bad reputation. The first thing a customer will notice when they walk through the door is the appearance of the restaurant.

▇ 2. You should adopt cost controlling practices. Properly managing inventory and supplies is essential. Look for deals when making your purchases. Don't order too much of a product as it will either spoil or end up sitting on the shelf for months. You should determine what and how much you will be using each day to determine what you will need to order. You should also effectively manage your staff when it comes to costs. Use staff wisely such as bringing in extra workers during your busy times and reducing staff during your slow times.

▇ 3. Providing high quality customer service is necessary to operating a successful restaurant business. In fact, better manage your staff is very important for your business. In order to provide better service, the staff should be easy for training, respectful, experienced, courteous and friendly. Servers should make your customer feel that they pay for money is valuable. Make sure the uniforms of all the staffs are all always clean and attractive.

▇ 4. Always making difference on your dish and food to catch audience and incite customers return. Make sure the food service that you provide and the menu is attractive and will be well accepted by your major customers and clients. The material of food should be fresh and properly prepared at the time for customer to order. Restaurant chef should be experienced and cooking in the type of food that your restaurant serves. Most importantly, the dishes of restaurant serve should be consistent both in taste and appearance. What’s more, often providing specials and unique dishes is another way to attract people.

▇ 5. In order to make your restaurant a continuing success, you must implement a marketing strategy. You should be advertising your restaurant in local newspapers and magazines. You can also place menus and informational brochures in places such as hotels. Sponsoring events such as for a charity or a sporting activity is a good way to keep your restaurant name out in the community. As well, make sure you promote your daily specials and any other discount special. A coupon or gift certificate is a good advertising choice. There are a lot of tasks involved with properly managing a restaurant. Having a sound management plan and following through with the plan will help with keeping your restaurant a thriving business.

Put your restaurant on the digital way with the right marketing



Image by Intersection Consulting via Flickr

These days, owning and operating a restaurant business is not just about preparing better dish on a regular basis, despite providing high quality service and food has a lot relations with the success of your restaurant. In fact, the emergence of internet and related digital technology could become a useful tool to help you manage your business better and effectively.

Operators have to also consider how to properly market your restaurant and maintain the success of your business in the digital age. In consequence, how to make use of the internet and high digital technology to promote your business are becoming the key words in the sector.

Proper restaurant marketing should consider many factors and target the areas within the particular factors. Sometime use digital systems to record valuable data would be necessary. Such as tracking the frequency of guest, what is the average amount for patrons spend, increasing customer traffic and the size of the groups of visitors to your restaurant. As if you want to increase your sales, you need a viable marketing strategy and reliable implementation plan to bring forward a workable way, finding the reason for the choice that people come to time and again, even when it means going past your competition and spending more money for the highest quality. However, it is a trend and should not be overlooked of Chinese food business to building up online official website, using the related digital skills such as email, SMS, customer’s database analysis and social networking to increase the customers' value and reach the personalization service.

Build up customer email club, using SMS to communicate with customers and harness the power of social networking to promotion online:

Building an email club is actually an increasingly popular way to market your restaurant.

Email is such a cheap and reliable way to communicate with customers by business people. It makes a very useful sense between customers and marketer, because the tech of email is highly regarded by people from all walks of life as a communication medium tool. Nowadays, people are much more rely on the email to keep them informed by what has happened in the world which related to them. However, it is certain that include their favorite restaurant.

As the same time, so many people are starting to focus on the technology of mobile devices, the advance mobile internet technology make people could surf on the web for all kinds of information by their mobile phone.

So that mobile internet is another high tech way to send email, and most of customers could get your news information through their mobile phone immediately, if they want right now information just at their fingertips. Operators can set up social media channel on popular social media such as Twitter and Facebook, publishing to the minute daily menu blasts to your clients.

Instant publicity and staff training are never overlooked marketing strategy:

While for public relations, the role that your marketing plays in the restaurant is an undeniable one. Often times, instant publicity can make the difference between exceeding your sales quota and barely making ends meet for the quarter. The right marketing mix will allow you to host community events, extend invitations via the Internet to people from all walks of life and use many different advertising mediums for everything from grand openings to anniversary celebrations.

Another facet of marketing that is often overlooked is the complete and effective training of your staff. From bartenders to servers, cooks, cashiers, hostesses and wait staff, it is important to make sure that your staffs know how to market your restaurant in ways such as selling more drinks, appetizers, entrees and desserts. With the right marketing plan, you can increase the bottom line of how much each guest spends every time they visit.

Beyond question, restaurant marketing provides a means to research and analyze sales techniques, product sales, strengths and weaknesses, your menu and everything associated with how to take your restaurant to the top of game and put you on the map with people from everywhere by building powerful restaurant marketing techniques that work. Isn't it time your restaurant received the recognition it deserves?

A restaurant forced to close in Preston----marketers should be aware of the importance for fire safety

A Chinese restaurant was closed after public health and safety fears sparked an investigation by police, fire and council bosses, reported from LEP on 17 March.

Image by Mouque via Flickr

China House in Ashton, Preston –– was ordered to close the two floors above the restaurant when they were found to be in breach of fire safety rules. Actually, marketers should be aware of the importance for health and fire safety of their premises. The occupiers of the business premises are being required to bring it up to standard. Read more on LEP...

Report from NPD: restaurant business demand supermarket-style deals

Image by Gerald Davison via Flickr



Recently, a report from NPD analysts have pointed out that it is trend of consumers has becoming more like and demand for supermarket-style deals while dining out in the UK restaurant business and trade.

In spite of NPD group also show the data that there were some gains in recent months by pub chains and fast food outlets, but higher-end restaurants business are continuing to struggle. So that make innovation to face the sector trend is the Chinese restaurant business has to do.

Based on the figures from market researcher NPD Group, comparing to last 3 year, the numbers of diner at “traditional full service restaurants” were down by 3% year by year, while they fell by almost 5% in the past quarter.

An 8% surge of the numbers for visitors in fast food restaurants, at the same time, branded pub operators also showed some increasing of profit, although not independents.

However, the trend of restaurant business down while eating out stand for further challenges, "Traffic is still the key problem for the industry as consumers continue to trade down and out of the market.” said Guy Fielding, who is director of foodservice at NPD. “At the moment diners are seeking value. It is almost as if they expect the same deals in restaurants as they might get in supermarkets.

In summary, consumers are still cautious not willing to return to the top end of the commercial restaurant market in the future. Only when they become more confident about the economic recovery will traffic begins to return to the levels of three or four years ago. In consequence, try your best to make innovation to face the trend of fast moving change would be necessary in bad economic age for whole restaurant business sector.

Read more:

http://www.npd.com/corpServlet?nextpage=foodservice-crest_s.html