Tag: restaurant

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!

DOES YOUR RESTAURANT OFFER PARKING?

Thursday, September 13th, 2018

 

This is not always the case … but more often than not, if customers cannot find a place to park, they may not come to your restaurant or at the very least; you are limiting your customer base.

 

So I think that parking needs be taken into account before the lease is signed.

  •  Are spaces included in the lease?
  • Are they adequate to what you will need?

If there is no dedicated parking, count the spaces immediately surrounding your location.

  • Are there enough?
  • How much competition is there for those parking spaces?

 

Is there a public car park that’s close enough to become part of your parking?

Is the public transport good enough to make parking less of a concern?

If ‘none of the above’ apply to you … consider if you will you have enough pedestrian traffic to offset any lack of parking?

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

NOT ON TREND

Thursday, September 6th, 2018

Restaurants, like people, have lifespans. They have beginnings and ends. Most restaurants die out before they are 10 or 20 years old.

One reason that a restaurant fails is when the owner has the unreasonable and incorrect belief that they never need to change.

 

 

Just as a restaurant needs a physical update every few years, so does the overall concept as foods fall out of favor, tastes change and what people find fashionable or interesting years ago is now old and stale.

Sometimes an update can be simple such as printing a new menu with a handful of new items. Or adding a new mixed drink program. Or offering live music on the weekend.

Other times, a more extensive revamp is required to keep the brand relevant. This may include a new logo, new interior decoration, a new menu and more.

I guess the moral of the story here is to not take what you have for granted and always keep looking at ways to improve.

 

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