Tag: business tips

DOES YOUR RESTAURANT HAVE A USP?

Thursday, December 6th, 2018

A USP is a Unique Selling Point and I believe all restaurants need one.

You see, just saying your food is great, or your prices are fair, is not enough. You must be unique and you must be able to communicate that uniqueness to others, quickly and simply.

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How is your restaurant different from every other restaurant?

How is it unique?

In what way are you the only restaurant to offer a particular dining experience?

I recommend looking at your competition, businesses that are similar to yours, and ask yourself how are we different, how are we unique and how could we make ourselves unique?

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By doing this, your restaurant can be more easily differentiated by customers and stand out in an often saturated market.

If you are not unique,  if you are not different, you may find it hard to succeed.

What are your thoughts on the points above? Let me know in the comments!

HAS YOUR MENU BECOME TOO LARGE

Thursday, November 22nd, 2018

You need to have a large enough menu to entice and excite customers, but not so many items that you merely confuse them.

 

I think an overly large menu can hurt a restaurant in several ways:

  • It forces you to order too much inventory, some of which will spoil;
  • It puts too many demands on the kitchen.
  • It can confuse the customer. People don´t know what to choose. Also, they will think (accurately) that you can’t do that many things well.

 

 

 

So what’s the right number of menu items? It depends on what your selling …

A good burger place might get away with just 10. A Chinese restaurant is going to need a few more.

In general, 25 items should be more than enough: for example, 7 starters / entrée, 12 main courses and 6 desserts. Over 30 menu items, and you should really be thinking about cutting back.

 

 

 

What are your thoughts on the points above? Let me know in the comments!

MY RESTAURANT IS IN A BAD LOCATION

Thursday, October 11th, 2018

This is the one mistake that is almost impossible to fix.

You can fix terrible food, a badly thought out menu, awful decor, surly staff, incompetent chefs, missing signage or snail-like service. But after you sign the lease, you can’t do much about the location.

So this is one problem you have to prevent in advance.

  • Don’t believe what any landlord or real estate agent tells you. Verify everything yourself.
  • Check traffic patterns, both pedestrian and auto.
  • Check the noise levels of your neighbours.
  • Go by the venue at all times, mornings, afternoons evenings and late nights.
  • Some locations always see restaurant failures and for no logical reason. If more than one restaurant has failed in a location you’re considering, you might want to pass.
  • Consider neighborhood lighting and safety. Would you feel safe walking there at night by yourself?

 

Remember, this will be one mistake that may be impossible to fix so check, check and check!!

Let me know your thoughts on this blog post in the comments below! 

NO PRICING STRATEGY

Tuesday, September 25th, 2018

It´s important to think clearly about how you want to price your menu.

You have a choice …. Do you want to be seen as high end? Do you want to price yourself equal to your main competitors, or do you want to have low prices in the hopes of driving traffic?

 

There are three basic pricing strategies you can use depending upon your market.

1. UNDER MARKET — This is the low price strategy. I think the key to success with this strategy is to offer high value at a low cost.

2.  AT MARKET — In this strategy, you are competing at the same level as your peers so you have to offer a compelling USP, high food quality and above average service to attract customers.

3. ABOVE MARKET — In some ways this is similar to the Under Market strategy. You are using price to distinguish yourself. I think in this case, you have to deliver exceptional quality and service to reinforce the value implied by your higher price.

 

How would your business fair in The Price is Right? 

Let me know in the comments below which pricing strategy you prefer. 

 

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