Written on October 10, 2016
by Joe Welsh
Football season is in full swing with High School, College and NFL Football every weekend. Does this help or hurt your restaurant? Yesterday, I went to a college football game that had over 100,000 people at the game. The tailgate lot was full, the concession stands were busy, and people were having fun. It was […]
Written on June 25, 2016
by Joe Welsh
With many of our clients, we utilize a Restaurant Reputation Management tool to monitor what is being said by their customers on the review sites. We see the good bad and the ugly side of consumer comments about many restaurants across the country. It truly becomes obvious as to why some restaurants are very successful […]
Written on June 7, 2016
by Joe Welsh
No, this is not a blog about the Dr. Seuss book, but it is a story about places you might wind up at. Learn about how digital maps can impact your restaurant’s reputation. As a Restaurant Coach, I often use Google Maps when I travel. In many areas, I am not familiar with the towns and […]
Written on January 20, 2016
by Joe Welsh
The year has come to a close and the industry sources show that the final quarter of 2015 had the worst traffic growth since the first quarter of 2014. Where have the my restaurant customers gone? Some specific markets are doing well such as California but others have experienced significant declines. Industry sources site such […]
Written on February 9, 2015
by Joe Welsh
Over the past few years, many restaurant owners I have met with have been very skeptical of review sites such as Yelp or TripAdvisor. They contended that the reviews are false, misleading or competitors just writing bad reviews about them. In some cases they claim that Yelp was misleading in its representation of reviews. Recently […]
Written on January 26, 2015
by Joe Welsh
Restaurant Margins are tight, we all know that. Rising food cost, minimum wage increases, and competitive pressures make a day to day impact. It’s a tough business, every penny counts, but are you getting every penny your restaurant is earning? I’m sure your distributor is passing along all of the allowances that they get from […]
Written on January 3, 2015
by Joe Welsh
As we start a new year it is important to take a step back and look at how you did last year. Was it a good year filled with great things that will lead you into 2015? Was your restaurant marketing plan effective? Many restaurants owners I meet with are just too busy to take […]
Written on November 5, 2014
by Joe Welsh
November is upon us and the holiday planning is set in place for most restaurants. Gift card promotions in place and holiday parties are booked. Fortunately gasoline prices are dropping which will free up discretionary spending. The challenge is to drive traffic into your restaurant and away from the big box stores. Promotions on social […]
Written on October 14, 2014
by Joe Welsh
Over the past few weeks I have visited with many restaurant owners to discuss what their restaurant marketing programs are and the results they are getting. Some are doing great while others need help in building the business with effective marketing programs. Throughout my conversations, it became apparent that many restaurants are overspending on programs. […]
Written on August 25, 2014
by Joe Welsh
When was the last time your restaurant’s website made you money? The majority of restaurant websites that I take a look at are not really helping restaurant owners increase revenue. Yes, a website is designed to create awareness and promote a professional image, but it can also drive new traffic and create new revenue streams for […]
Written on June 4, 2014
by Joe Welsh
Where has the customer traffic gone? In recent meetings with clients, the focus has really shifted on how do we build customer traffic counts. The NRA data confirms that customer traffic counts have been declining steadily for several years. Restaurant sales have shown minor increases largely due to price increases. The question still remains the […]
Written on May 26, 2014
by Joe Welsh
Restaurant’s Changing Lives! That’s a powerful statement. Recently I was in Philadelphia and had lunch at a Maggiano’s Restaurant. When the waiter put down the menu, there was an additional menu in which a percentage of the proceeds were donated to the Make a Wish Foundation. A great program to help those in need. Taking […]
Written on May 12, 2014
by Joe Welsh
Every week I speak with restaurant owners in many parts of the country. In each conversation, they tell me of their concerns in running their restaurant business. In each of these conversations they all expressed many of the same concerns and they revolve around these five issues: Growing sales and reducing cost. Rising food cost […]
Written on May 3, 2014
by Joe Welsh
With food costs rising every week are your restaurants profits taking a hit? Almost every day there is something in the news about the price of something going up. Beef, pork, dairy, and coffee are all going up. As a restaurant owner, what is your strategy to handling these increases? Some chains will be raising […]
Written on April 22, 2014
by Joe Welsh
Recently I came across a study that was done by Deloitte consulting on loyalty within the restaurant industry. It is a very good analysis of loyalty in the industry, but another fact caught my attention. The study looked at driving factors of why consumers go to restaurants. There are many factors that drive our decisions […]