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 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 […]
Written on March 4, 2014
by Joe Welsh
How do restaurant operators look at the cost of marketing? The NRA’s guidelines for restaurant marketing says that restaurants should allocate anywhere between two and four percent on restaurant marketing. Do restaurant owners follow this model when budgeting for their business? Like many families, the budget sometimes goes out the window when juggling expenses. The […]
Written on February 22, 2014
by Joe Welsh
Understanding the lifetime value of your customer is important part of restaurant marketing. What is a customer worth to you? 2014 is off to a crazy start. A recent article on Fox Business News cited that the winter weather has impacted small business by as much as 13% in the first two months of the […]
Written on January 8, 2014
by Joe Welsh
As we go into a new year, restaurant owners should be developing their restaurant business plan for operational efficiency and marketing strategies to increase sales. A recent study of restaurant owners in Columbus Ohio cited the top five concerns to be dealt with in 2014. Outlined below are their thoughts. How will I increase sales and […]
Written on December 30, 2013
by Joe Welsh
2013 is done! 2014 is here…. Now what will you do? At the beginning of every year it’s always good to take a step back and see what worked and what did not work over the past year in your restaurant. Here are four quick easy categories to help you figure out your restaurant business […]