Answers to Everyday Questions : How can I attract new & repeat customers to my restaurant ?

One of the riskiest businesses is maintaining a restaurant because the failure rate of new restaurants ranges between 50 to 65 percent. However, this doesn’t mean you’re bound to fail if you choose to set up a new restaurant. With a large client base, your restaurant would be a hit. The problem lies with attracting new clients and making them repeat customers. Here’s how you can do this:

Choose at least three companies or offices located near your restaurant. Make sure you have good food before you market your restaurant. Before visiting the offices, have your kitchen crew cook up samples of your most mouth-watering dishes in the menu. Make sure to create teasers, instead of full meals. In addition, make sure to create beautiful packages for your samplers. If you’re targeting office employees, you can create to-go containers that would attract them to have food delivered to them. Avoid plain packaging and sloppy food. Your goal is not only to provide good food, but also to ensure the presentation is as appealing you can.

To ensure your samplers would be eaten, visit the offices before lunch, when the employees are getting hungry. Introduce yourself as the owner of the new restaurant nearby and tell them you just wanted to offer them a “getting-to-know-you” favor as a neighbor. If your employees wear a uniform, make sure to wear one before sending out samples, so the potential clients can see the logo.

To attract more clients, you can offer coupons and discounts for repeat clients. To make these techniques work, make sure to place an expiration date on all the coupons you sent out. When you do this, you are convincing the customers to hurry up before the coupons expire. Coupons work because they enable you to track which businesses are bringing in new customers to your restaurants. By adding a simple code or numbers, you can send a Thank You card to the company where your food is a hit. Whenever you deliver food for new people, make sure to include a menu and coupons inside the to-go bag.

As long as you create good food, develop a marketing plan and introduce your products to companies near your restaurant, you can attract new clients and have them go back for more.