Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

If the restaurant wasn't doing well, then rebranding it makes sense. Don't put "under new management" signs up - people don't care. If the food is good, the word spreads. If it doesn't, it spreads faster. New management is a plea for trying it again, because there was a problem.

If the restaurant is doing well, then increasing # of customers (or average expenditure/customer) is your goal. Don't rebrand - do improve the menu, adding some high-priced items (not necessarily to sell these, but it will psychologically cause an increase in the the avg. expenditure/customer). Build a loyalty program to increase the pull to come to your restaurant.

Unless your problem is that your prices are too high for the quality, location and ambiance, I would NOT promote with price incentives (like buy-one-get-one, etc.). That just cheapens the image and suggests that maybe you've been overcharging before. Or that the portions are smaller, etc.

You need to figure out how you want the restaurant to be perceived and exactly who you're targeting as your prime customers. Once you've done that you can see whether the current image (and name) are best or not. If you want to change the image (and/or the target audience), then a name change is probably a good idea.

If, on the other hand, the restaurant is doing well, targeted at the right audience, etc., then keep on doing what they did to get it to this point.

You didn't mention what kind of restaurant??

This is very important because there are so many categories and price points.

The approach can be different depending upon your categroy and style.

budget restaurant (diner or fast food)
Family mid price (a la marie calendar etc. )
Business mid price (business mans lunches etc. )
Speciality restaurant (gimmick or niche market menus etc. )
High end - fine dining mid to high price
Super high end - fine dining top rpice top clientelle.

In addition, you have all the various ethnic menus that can still fit into each of these categories.

ie: Italian food, Korean food, Greek food, Japanese food etc. etc.

You get my point by now.

On top of these parameters, we need to know the size / volume turn over.

is it 50 seats, 100, seats, 1,000 seats ???

All of these different elements are going to guide the type of marketing approach and sales/price promotions that you might offer.

Some one mentioned buy one take one which is clearly inappropriate if you are the four seasons but might be right for Macdonalds.

Please add a little more detail based on these parameters and I am sure that the community will be forthcoming with some excellent and more focused suggestions.

Good luck,

Matthew Edmunds

I think High involment of the customers is very important. For this > i personally Beleive that Folowing tips help u out to leverage more busnessfrom existing setup.

1. eye chatching layout of the restau.

2. Uniqueness in respect of greeting to the customes , having catching punch line or special stuff like music or food.

3. run small referals or satisfaction survey from existing customers which will definately help u to understand the real cause. if ur not satisfied with the above tips.

Take care always.

Jatin

You need to offer quality food for a good value in a pleasant atmosphere. It is hard to know what you offer now.

I sometimes get free meals for the month of my birthday. It is a great way to introduce people to your restraunt without just giving food away to everyone. Most people will dine with someone else so it is a classier way to do 2 for 1.

Mike