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How To Fill Your Establishment with People
Who Have Money To Spend
by Gerry Robert
This Report will deal with marketing and sales
issues not customer service issues. Although we
are directing this article primarily towards restaurants
any of these ideas could be modified to work in
establishments with a liquor license as well.
Most people who market restaurants think that
a tasty meal and a polite server are all that
is needed to succeed. Ha! So many people simply
take the passive approach to marketing a restaurant.
They take out a yellow page ad, get a nice sign,
maybe take out some ads in the newspaper and hope
for the best.
Here are some of the most powerful strategies
to get your restaurant/establishment on the road
to success.
Go to the nearest mosque, non-profit organization
or huge employer. Ask them to distribute a Free
Dessert coupon to all their people. Whoever brings
in the coupon and buys something will receive
a discount and a portion of the sale will go to
the charity. Take out a big sign or billboard
and write, "Kids Eat FREE!" "Get your birthday
meal for FREE." This will help traffic significantly.
Build a database and start sending special offers
to the list. Everyone in your restaurant should
be captured on a list. This list is gold. One
way to do that is to offer everyone a guest book.
Get their names and addresses. Give them a FREE
Dessert card for their next visit. This will do
two things. It will get your their name and address
plus the FREE Dessert will probably get them back
in the restaurant.
Run a monthly draw for free meals. People fill
out the draw cards and put their address and telephone
number on it. This builds your mailing list. Then
mail to that list, I guarantee traffic will increase.
When you mail, offer some incentive to come to
your place before next Friday and receive a discount.
Start a Birthday or Anniversary Club. Everyone
who comes in, should be invited to sign a register
for birthday and anniversaries. Once or two weeks
before their anniversary or birthday, send them
a nice card and a FREE something coupon.
One restaurant borrowed 25 crabs from a local
pet store and publicized a crab race. Crabs raced
on a table in the pub. Nearly 400 people came
to the wacky event. It was also good for publicity.
Sponsor a theme night. Several restaurants
advertise
a special theme. They hold a contest for the wildest
dressed couple. Have an "Elvis" night or "Cowboy"
night.
One restaurant contacted all of their suppliers
to contribute to a special direct mail and advertising
campaign. The big promotion advertised a rollback
of prices to 1968. The month long event offered
daily prizes and a grand prize which was a Free
Trip. All the prizes were donated by the merchants.
This is a really good and inexpensive way to get
free promotion.
Find out when hotels are hosting big conventions
and offer discounts or coupons to attendees.
Close the establishment and host private, special
interest group evenings. Keith Taylor of Zenith
American Grill in Denver, Colorado, closes his
restaurant to the public and holds a "Cigar Smokers"
evening. This can be adapted for many groups.
Have a BEST meal contest at the big mall. Get
celebrity judges and have them judge the best
dishes from 2 or 3 competing restaurants. The
media love this kind of thing. Capture everyone's
fax numbers. Every Wednesday, fax out the next
day's Lunch Special along with a coupon. With
today's software programs this is a breeze to
do, not to mention, very inexpensive.
One restaurant I know of printed envelopes to
give to guests. On the outside, it said, "Do not
open until your next visit and you will receive
10%, 15%, 20% or 100% off your entire meal." Inside
the envelope there was the discount. The waiter
will give the customer the envelope by the end
of his meal for his next visit. One restaurant
gave away 600 envelopes and got 300 back.
Feature a loss-leader. Take a loss on some item
to create traffic. You could offer a .10 cent
meal when you buy one at regular price. Do this
on not-so busy times to increase traffic. Do a
balloon popping discount. This works very well
if your restaurant caters to children. Put discounts
in balloons and have the kids pop the balloon
to see how much they save. If you do catering,
offer to do a lunch for free for a company close
by. This will be good advertising and will almost
surely guarantee you future business. Send thank
you notes for everything.
Provide a valuable free service no one else offers
to get people in. Offer to wash their cars while
they eat. Offer a free shoe shine. Find something
that no one else does and entice people with it.
Give the MD's of big companies a FREE meal certificate
to get them in. The idea is that once they come
in, they will return and maybe bring their entire
staff with them. Several restaurants are catching
the Loyalty Program bandwagon. It's a good idea.
Chez Melange in Los Angeles offers a frequent
diners club. People pay $25 which gets them a
membership card and 150 points. They then receive
one point for every dollar they spend. For 300
points, guests get a $25 gift certificate. Other
prizes include a catered dinner party at home
for 12,000 points. At the end of the year the
owners throw a big bash for the top 100 frequent
diners.
One restaurant in Texas, sold dinner cards for
$20. They sold this through door-to-door selling.
The cards offered a 2 for 1 deal for up to 30
meals. They sold over 1000 cards. People feel
compelled to go back because the cards have an
expiry date.
Hold a Company Appreciation Week. Offer certain
companies a discount at lunch or a FREE something
for the entire week. Rename dishes to suit the
company. Give special invitations to the company
brass. Take lots of photographs of the employees
and send them to the company. It might just make
their corporate newsletter. One restaurant in
Toledo, Ohio gives guests who pre-purchase 3 meals
a Free subscription to either Fortune Magazine
or Time.
Get your customers to become your sales force.
Print cards and give them to your regular customers.
The card, which they give to their friends, says,
"I'm here today because (name of customer) sent
me. I understand that I get a 10% discount." For
every three of these from one client, call that
client up and put him in your Hall of Fame. Take
his/her picture and give them recognition.
Get the convention business. Mike Anderson's
Seafood Restaurant in New Orleans finds that working
with cab drivers is a great way to attract business
during conventions. Find people who are connected
to conventions such as the information clerks,
badge makers, meeting planners etc. and be sure
they know who you are and what you have to offer.
If you give them some incentive, they will surely
refer you.
You get the point by now. You must do something
differently. You must stand out from the crowd.
Similarity in restaurants is the reason so many
fail. Venture out into the unknown. Think about
creating excitement. Stay in touch with your people.
Give them what they want. Be creative.
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