How to Grow your Restaurant’s Profits & Popularity in the 21st Century

One of the hardest things that local restaurants have to do is compete with the well-known, heavily marketed major chains in their area. The big boys seem to have all the advantages and many local restaurateurs struggle to compete.

However, your local eatery does have a few advantages over the big guys too.  First of all, most big chains don’t deliver.  They offer take out service, but won’t bring it to the hungry customer’s door.  The second advantage is your uniqueness.  You probably offer something different than the main staples of the big chains and this is one of the reasons locals like you.

So, how can you capitalize on your advantages and overcome your disadvantages?  By offering integrated web-based and mobile ordering for your local restaurant.

3 Types of Customers

Every customer is a hungry customer.  Beyond that, there are three main categories of customer that you should be serving in order to keep your local restaurant thriving and growing.  These customers are dine-in, take-out and delivery.  Each one has their own unique desires and comes to you to meet them.

Dine-in:

These people want an experience or a memory, so they take the time to come in and sample your food, your service and your atmosphere.  These are the easiest to please because you’ve got their attention for an hour or two.  One of the great ways you can serve these folks with online ordering is to allow them to check you out before hand, tap into discounts they can take advantage of right in the dining room and give them an easy method for sharing the great experience you provide.

Take-out:

You know how it can be.  Sometimes after a long and busy day, you just want to go home and relax.  But relaxing doesn’t involve cooking.  This is where you really want to get their attention.  People love local restaurants for their quality, convenience and uniqueness.  Provide these people with internet and mobile options for ordering their food ahead of time.  They just order online, you prep their meals and they come in and pick them up.  These busy folks love the idea of bringing home a good meal and not having to cook it themselves.

Delivery:

This is often a difficult area for local restaurants.  You have to do some work up front to build a customer base.  However, as time goes on, people who want a real meal brought right to them will appreciate the convenience of being able to order from you and enjoying your fair without having to even put on their pants.

The long and short of it is, the more customers you serve and serve the way they want, the happier they will be. Happy customers are hungry customers.  What’s even better than that, happy customers are talkative. So wouldn’t it be great if you could not only let them connect with you and order online, but give them tools to share their experiences with others too?