How to Attract Customers to Restaurants
Is your restaurant a little slow lately? Do you need to increase revenue to improve your finances?
These are very common challenges in running a food service business. After all, competition is fierce, consumers are demanding, and traffic tends to swing with the time of year, influenced by seasonality and economic factors.
To keep the house always full, you need to build customer loyalty – by delivering an amazing experience – and know how to attract customers to restaurants. In this article, we've gathered 13 foolproof tips for you to try in your business. Check them out!
How to attract customers to restaurants: 13 tips
Before we get to the tips, it's worth highlighting: if you want to attract more customers, knowing your audience profile is essential. That includes everything from demographics (gender, age, income bracket, etc.) to consumption habits and preferences.
So, run a target audience study, register your customers in your system, and analyze your sales to identify patterns.
With this information in hand, you'll be able to aim your strategies at the right people and maximize your results. That said, let's get to the tips! Below, learn how to attract customers to restaurants.
1 – Offer a tasting menu
O tasting menu is a very interesting strategy for attracting new customers, since it lets them try several of the restaurant's dishes in a single meal.
If you can't offer it every day, pick a slow day or create a special event. It's also worth running promotions for couples or adding wine pairings to increase the average ticket.
2 – Create an Instagrammable space
rely on an Instagrammable space, with special décor and lighting, is a way to encourage your customers to take photos and share them on Instagram.
This way, your restaurant gains visibility and more people may get interested in checking out the place.
3 – Partner with influencers
Another way to expand your business's reach and get to a bigger audience is by partnering with local influencers.
They visit your restaurant to create content showing what the experience is like and post it on their TikTok and Instagram profiles. That encourages their followers to visit your place.
4 – Keep your social media profiles updated
Besides influencer partnerships, it's also essential to keep active profiles on social media, such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
Create posts showcasing your menu, your atmosphere, and the experience. Interact with your followers and run special promotions. This is key to building a strong digital presence and attracting more customers.
5 – Invest in paid ads
To reach beyond your social media followers, invest in paid ads. They're the best way to increase your reach and attract new customers to your business.
Here, it's important to target by location and audience profile to get better results.
6 – Create a Google Business Profile
O Google Business Profile is a great tool for attracting customers to restaurants. With it, you can list your business so it can be found in Google Search and on Google Maps. That way, people looking for a nearby restaurant will find yours.
Keep your profile always up to date with as much information as possible – such as address, reservation contact, menu, services, and photos of the venue.
Also ask your customers to leave positive reviews on your Google profile. After all, a well-recommended restaurant has a better chance of being chosen by new customers.
7 – Offer delivery and takeaway
Diversifying your services and meeting different needs is also a way to attract more customers. Delivery and Take away estão em alta e podem ajudar a impulsionar suas vendas.
On top of that, platforms such as iFood work like a storefront, helping more people discover your restaurant.
8 – Create a kids' menu and set up a kids' area
Prepare seu restaurante para receber bem as crianças. Ofereça um cardápio infantil, tenha uma área kids e banheiros com fraldários. Esse pode ser um grande diferencial para atrair mais famílias e fidelizar sua clientela.
9 – Host happy hours
These Happy Hours are a classic – and effective – strategy for driving traffic on slower days.
Run special promotions, like two-for-one drafts or cocktails, add live music, and invest in promoting it on social media so more people hear about it.
10 – Seek partnerships with companies
Partner with companies by offering standing discounts for their employees and special rates for corporate lunches and dinners, for example. This tip is great for restaurants located in business districts, with plenty of companies nearby.
11 – Celebrate special dates
Put together a calendar of holidays – such as Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and Christmas – and prepare special promotions for those days.
Themed décor and live music are also great ways to stand out and grab your audience's attention.
Take advantage and download for free: Calendar of holidayas 2024
12 – Bet on the unexpected
Uma estratégia que pode funcionar muito bem para atrair clientes para restaurantes é criar pratos ou experiências inusitadas, que geram muito marketing boca a boca e podem viralizar nas redes sociais.
Porções enormes, pratos flambados direto na mesa e drinks extravagantes, por exemplo, podem surpreender e divertir os clientes. Even a change in your dish names can boost sales.
13 – Offer options for different diets
A varied menu with options that meet different dietary needs and preferences can also be a differentiator for attracting customers to restaurants.
Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free, low carb – think about different diets and add menu items that cover all of them. If that's not possible, think about substitutions and ways to customize the order for these guests.
More than attracting customers, you need to build loyalty
Attracting customers is only the first step to good traffic and stronger sales. The second step is winning their loyalty, getting them to come back more often and recommend your place to friends and family.
This way, you build a solid customer base without having to invest as many resources, cutting costs and increasing your business's profitability.
For more restaurant management tips, keep following the EPOC blog and check out our free tools!
