10 Tips for improving restaurant revenue
Any restaurant wants to make more money…Better yet without investing too much money.
It doesn’t matter if you are a big chain or a small mom & pop place, there are certain things you can implement today and improve your restaurant revenue.
“Do you want fries with that?” This is just a simple example of what can be done.
Fast food world embraced this simple question a while ago and the answer to this seemingly innocuous question boosted their sales and revenue.
Below are a few suggestions of how you can increase your customer spend.
1. Highlight special dishes
Did you know that dishes advertised on blackboards hung on the wall of restaurants are twice as likely to be ordered than dishes that appear only on the menu- even when they are more highly priced?
Hang those blackboards or a tablet on a wall in the sitting booth, or even place a tablet on the table.
When you provide your customers with digital ordering systems such as secured tablets, you can supplement these tantalizing hints with visual and audial displays which may very well lead them to forget about the price until they are committed to a particular dish or combo!
Here are some solutions to securely mount a tablet on a wall or on the table.
2. Bundle your service/product
If you are a beautician you might bundle a perm with a pedicure, if a computer service company you might bundle up service hours into 5 or 10 hour chunks instead of charging by the hour, but the principle is the same.
Encourage your customers to buy more by offering them attractive packages.
Soup and sandwich…yes that simple but it works.
3. Add-On sales are great for improving restaurant revenue
Customers can be exclusively fixated on a particular meal or product when they enter your establishment. They may have a general idea of what they want, but you can increase your customer spend simply by asking him the right question.
Nor do you need to have human service to prompt customers into buying more.
Table side order system can make those sales for you.
Here is a great guide to restaurant Point of sale solutions which can fulfill this purpose.
4.Analyze the purchase patterns
Knowledge is power.
Restaurants as any business must own their own data and make smart data driven decisions.
- What your customers are buying and how their order patterns are interconnected and change over time
- Are they ordering more coffees in the mornings or in the evenings?
- Are deserts usually served after a particular main dish?
- What is the worth of your average sale and how does it change over the day, week, month and year?
- How did your marketing campaign impact sales and how long did it take it to make the impact?
- Which waiters bring in the big orders and which fail to get the customers to order more than a coffee while they pound away on their laptops?
Those questions are just an example, and you can analyze all your sales, campaigns and staff performance in depths.
The insights will help you drive more sales, cut loses and poor performance = more restaurant revenue.
There are plenty of automated applications and programs which can carry out these calculations for you, and that there is no shortage of companies prepared to offer guidance in their proper operation.
Most of POS (Point of sale) software can provide you with the answers you need.
POS are vital to restaurants, choose a good software and we here at Compulocks can help you with the secure hardware.
Learn more about our POS solutions here.
5.Ensure a good product/pricing mix
Some stores and restaurants play on the theme of uniform and low prices for all of their products.
That’s a viable sales strategy, but it is one that targets a very narrow and very specific market section, and that is probably not what you are after.
Make sure you have a broad selection of higher priced, attractively presented dishes on your menu. That alone can jump up your average customer spend.
Sometimes it also pays to eliminate lower priced products. If you offer a selection of sweet confections, you might just want to drop the lowest priced one. After all, if your customers have a sweet tooth they will likely still spend their money on the pricier option.
The same effect can sometimes be achieved by dumping lower-priced products. If you sell three different toasters, drop the $35 model and the customer will spend $45 or $55 instead.
6.Train your staff to make the higher dollar sale
You will be surprised at how many waiters and hosts are shy about pitching the expensive dishes, or untrained in how to persuade or guide your customers into ordering the drinks and side dishes that really pad the customer friend.
Sometimes just talking to your staff about the issue and strategies will help them self-train. Again, you will be surprised at how many think their job is simply to deliver what the customer asks for rather than delivering the customer to your sales targets.
Your stuff can be the key to boosting your restaurant revenue.
7. Don’t be afraid of the 21st century
Sure, when people wine and dine outside they want to feel the service experience. However, “teching up” your customer’s service experience won’t detract from this experience- on the contrary!
If your customers know they can order their meal with a press of the button but have the option to summon a waitress instantly with another button they will feel more pampered, and more in control, not less.
Moreover, a tableside ordering can engage the interest of your customers and prompt and guide them into making the orders most beneficial to you just as effectively, and sometimes more effectively, than a flesh and blood waiter.
8. Table side entartainment
A family which is having a good time will order leisurely, enjoy its food, and be in the mood for exploring unknown dishes and ordering side dishes and drinks.
Parents whose kids are quarreling and who need to play mediators and enforces rather than enjoy their meal will order “the usual” (usually low priced) dishes and rush out as soon as they have gulped them down.
By providing activities, whether in the form of outdoor playgrounds, self-assembly toys accompanying the kids dishes, or an opportunity for electronic engagement around the table can improve the experience of the family (and their neighbors…) as well as your customer spend.
As an added bonus, by providing them with deep background information about your restaurant and specific dishes you can create a greater customer commitment to your establishment, or to a given dish than would otherwise be the case.
Here are some solutions for placing a tablet on the table.
9. Create periodic sales challenges for your staff
This is a great way to focus the attention and energy of your staff – and to improve their pitch and sales skills.
Make sure to vary your challenges and view them as training and variation rather than revenue generating opportunities. “Best coffee seller” excites employee engagement much better than “best revenue generator”.
Give your staff a leg up by challenging your chefs to create special themed dishes for the challenges. This will also ratchet up your customers’ experience and enjoyment.
10. Raise your prices
Analyze your sales, identify the biggest sellers and raise your price. Slightly…
Keep close track on sales and customers’ feedback. If all goes smoothly, great…if you get complaints, you can always revise.
This a very easy and practical way to improve your restaurant revenue.
Conclusion
There are so many options for improving restaurant revenue and we provide here 10 tips you can certainly use today.
Train your staff, tap into your analytics, offer bundles and sell add-ons.
Place securely mounted tablets for entertainment, dishes showcasing and table side ordering.
Compulocks Brands is a premium provider of secured tablet display solutions which can help you boost your sales and customer satisfaction.
Visit our website and learn more about how our solutions can help you improve your restaurant revenue.