Have you ever been driving home from a weekend away and looking for a place to eat by searching the internet for a restaurant menu? This past weekend, my wife and I were away and looking for a place to eat while driving home. I had heard of a new restaurant that I had wanted […]
Restaurant leadership is like being the head coach of a professional football team. Depending on your business, you team may be large or it could be a small handful of players. Either way, it takes a leader to get all the parts functioning independently and producing a product as a team. Think of the football team. You have the […]
Most restaurant owners are faced with problems every week. There are a lot of balls juggling in the air every day. Some are handled flawlessly; some balls are dropped. The question remains how can you become a better juggler. The best jugglers practice a lot and have coaches to help them perfect their act. If […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Is reputation management part of your restaurant marketing strategy? Recently, I was on an extensive road trip for the better part of the past month. Many nights in hotels and most of my meals in restaurants. Ah the glamour of business travel! One thing I have seen in most markets that I visit is that […]
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 […]
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 […]
