5 Tips to Take Your Restaurant to the Next Level

You’re a busy restaurant owner or manager, and while your business is growing, you’d like to really up the ante. Perhaps you’re looking for some suggestions on how to do that.

The good news is that we have compiled five tips to take your restaurant to the next level. Once you put these into practice, you just may notice an upward swing in diners, customer satisfaction, and revenue.

Tip #1: Treat Your Employees Well

While this may not be the first thing that pops into your mind, it is one of the most important things you can do to level up your restaurant. Why?

According to the Harvard Business Review (and many others), engaged, happy employees are the secret to your success. Happy, satisfied customers are in direct relation to how happy your employees are.

It seems that employee well-being and customer satisfaction are tightly linked. Your first step to creating and maintaining a positive, successful customer-first strategy is to boost your employee morale. Without it, you will find it difficult to improve and maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. (tweet this)

So, how can you build employee morale? Here are a few suggestions:

• Hire the best team you can.
• Provide ongoing training, especially in customer service.
• Be quick with praise.
• Recognize employee achievements with rewards. For example, your employee of the week may get the first pick of shifts for the next month. Or you might provide monetary incentives like gas or food cards.
• Have employee events. Take your staff to the movie, the spa, or to the lake. Feed them and provide them with a bonding experience.
• Provide ways for your staff to excel and move up.

­­Tip #2: Uphold Consistent Quality

The best restaurants have consistent quality every time a diner walks in the door.

You want to make this one of your top goals. Each time someone dines with you, their food should taste just as good as it did the time before.

The key here is to build a reputation of consistency. All it takes is one bad meal to lose a customer. The last thing you want is for inconsistency to lead to a bad review that lives on the internet.

In addition to the consistency of your food, you want to make sure your staff provides the same high level of customer service with every diner, every day. This is where your customer service training really shines.

It’s important to monitor the consistency of your food and your customer service. You don’t want either of these to slip during busy times or busy seasons. By thoroughly training your staff and keeping that high morale we mentioned, your restaurant is sure to receive high marks for consistency.

Tip #3: Showcase Sustainability

Research shows customers are more environmentally conscious than ever. So, another way to take your restaurant to the next level is to showcase your commitment to sustainability.

There are several ways you can achieve this:

• Recycle plastic, glass, cardboard, etc. Make sure your customers know this by posting it on your menu or even signs around the restaurant. If you are a fast casual restaurant, provide recycling bins.
• Look into composting as well. Many cities have companies that offer you compost bins for food scraps that they pick up each week.
• Consider shopping locally for produce, dairy, and meat.
• Make your dishes smaller, so there is less food waste.
• Have your own kitchen garden.

You can pick one of these ideas or several to see how it works for your restaurant. The biggest key here is to let your customers know if you are using locally sourced food, if you’re recycling, and/or composting. You want to make sure they know you are making strides toward being environmentally conscious.

Many people will be more likely to frequent your restaurant if it aligns with things they care about.

Tip #4: Unleash Your Website

Your website is your most powerful marketing feature. You can unleash its potential by harnessing its speed, refreshing it if needed, and making sure your online ordering system is up to par. (tweet this)

It’s vital that you have a modern, thorough website that renders well on mobile devices, is optimized for SEO (search engine optimization), and provides an excellent user experience.

You also want to ensure that your menu is up to date on your website with fresh photos, great content, and current pricing.

Make sure your customers can easily navigate your site and find your hours, phone, and location easily.

Tip #5: Work on Customer Retention

While it is important to find new customers to come into your restaurant, you don’t want to neglect your current customers. Why? They are the lifeblood of your restaurant, returning again and again to dine with you.

Your current customers are also your brand ambassadors. Those who love your restaurant will tell everyone they know, and this is free, invaluable marketing. Here are some tips to take your restaurant to the next level:

• Incorporate a loyalty reward program.
• Send texts and email messages to your regulars on a consistent basis.
• Offer special events or tastings.
• Send your customers special deals on occasion.

On Your Way to the Next Level

Now that you have our five tips to take your restaurant to the next level, it’s time to incorporate some of these strategies into your overall marketing plan.

Take them one at a time and perfect one and then another.

Keep evolving as time moves on, pivot when you need to, test your strategies, and fine-tune them. Finally, keep re-evaluating your processes to make sure they are working for both your employees and your customers.

Overall customer satisfaction is the goal, and everything you do to take your restaurant to the next level should have your customer in mind.

At Restaurant Engine, we can create a website for you that takes your restaurant to the next level. Your website is a pivotal piece of your success, and all your marketing leads to and from your website. You can count on us to create a website that converts. Let us help you make the perfect site that draws customers in, improves customer engagement and your conversion rate, and enables you to grow your business!

Are you ready to take your restaurant to the next level with a new website? 

Get your free website consultation today!  

Images: Hayffield L and Veli Iliev on Unsplash