Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Restaurant Tactics Set you Apart from Your Competition

By Jose L Riesco

Innovation is a very important part of a business owners portfolio and those who are able to think as they go and are flexible normally do very well. Try and come up with an edge of some kind to establish an advantage over your business competitors and employ some specific restaurant tactics to help you.

Customized restaurant tactics are necessary because traditional promotions and advertising have limitations. Use these tactics if you are trying to get into a specific market. You might find that a nearby mall attracts a high proportion of school age visitors and in this case you could aim a promotion at the nearby high school specifically tailored to link the school with the mall.

You need to set your restaurant apart from every other. Always ensure that you use a variety of restaurant tactics to broadcast why your place is different and not run-of-the-mill. Use direct marketing to supplement any regular marketing operations that you might have in place.

Direct marketing is very important and one of the key restaurant tactics for your portfolio. Think about strategic groups and then put together personalized letters. If you go to your local post office and ask them for a list of recent arrivals to your area, you can send them a mailing with a welcome letter which will entice them to come in for a free appetizer.

If you want to make sure that you keep an edge on the competition, be careful when you are preparing to put in place specially designed restaurant tactics. Keep all the details close to your chest and do not broadcast any details until you are ready and then only tell those who need to know.

There are any number of creative ideas that you can implement to give the restaurant a boost if sales are flagging or if you are approaching a traditionally quiet time. For example, you can send an invitation to prospective visitors including the key to a treasure trove located within your restaurant. Try introducing an element of excitement and curiosity - this type of promotion is known to be successful.

It is no good beginning a program of restaurant tactics unless you are sure that all of your staff are ready. Are all your front-of-house, waiter, and supervisor staff highly trained in people skills? The standards do need to be very high or direct marketing will not produce the results you need if you are driving traffic through an inefficient operation.

Research is very important and you should not be afraid to contact online resources and ask questions if you have marketing issues specific to your restaurant. Help is readily available.

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