Despitebeing a high-risk business proposition, the influx of restaurants and eateries of all sizes the launch of more and more restaurants in the last decade aloneis proof of how lofty the level of competition has grown to be. However, the mostcommon dilemma to have boggled most owners has remained more or less the same: hHow do you ensure thatyour customers’ growing needs are met? And most importantly, how do you stayrelevant in the highly complex consumer landscape of today?
Accordingto a study, 59% of consumers will sooner or laterfeel neglected if businesses don’t readily adapt to their changingexpectations. Hence, it brings us to a striking realization:
Restaurantsmay have different cuisines, serving styles, ambiance, and whatnotwhat not, but some of the biggestdilemmas they face are, in fact, quite common. Here are the four five most common problemsalmost all restaurants face at some point or the other.
Customer Retention
Areyou wondering why you haven’t seen familiar faces in a while?
Customerretention is probably one of the biggest challenges most restaurants face intheir early as well as later stages. However, in most cases, a customer notreturning could be a huge sign that your service wasn’t up to par with theirexpectations.
Again,the idea isn’t to directrly confront practice direct confrontations with everyone who steps foot into your restaurant. but to It’s more about adopting a modern feedbackplatform that provides you with a holistic view of your customer servicewithout having to face the customers.
Whethervia a mobile device or an in-restaurant kiosk, steering customers away fromventing their concerns online is the best way to retain your brand image aswell as people. After all, fixing issues in real-time while maintainingcustomer anonymity is the key to resolving bigger issues at hand.
Unclear Menu
Thisone has to be the elephant in the room. How many times have you been told that your menu was hard tounderstand? While you intended to go the extra mile by adopting a differentstyle, you may have gone way too far in terms of size, font usagecoherence, and theme, etc.
Yourmenu is usually the first-ever item that sets an impression on anyone who walksinto your restaurant. Keeping it preciseand straightforward is sometimes the best way to ensure that your customerisn’t having a hard time making sense of it. A good menu is simple and easy toread. Hence, here are some tips to help you turn it around:
● Don’t add too many or too few items
● Price the dishes appropriately
● Keep the theme coherent
● Make sure the font size is appropriate
● Make your staff memorize the menu (this further entails why it’s not a good idea to have a long list of items in the menu)
● Consider incorporating photos next to the name of the food item (Only if your menu is short)
● Update it along with the prices at least once a year
● Last but not least, make sure to put it up on your website, so it's accessible to locals as well as travelers.
Demotivated Staff
We often talk about below-par customer service and deem it as a key issue, but what about the demotivation of staff members that may somehow be contributing to it? Remember, motivation plays a significant role in retaining your staff., and i If the same people that run your restaurant start dreading coming to work, you're in for a rougher ride.
Hence, it’s important to ensure that there’s some form of reward and praise strategy in place. For example, positive guest feedback or an “employee of the month” initiative can do wonders in keepin stimulating your staff ’s enthusiasmenthusiastic and uplifting them to perform better.
Again, the incorporation of a feedback platform may seem like a guest-centric approach, but at the same time, it can also build your internal team's morale. It's almost like targeting two birds with a single stone.
In many ways, a restaurant is a lot like a typical company. Your staff members are essentially your team members who need some form of scoring or evaluation of their performance. As much as dealing with customers is the motive of every business’s motive, ensuring employee motivation is also a key determinant of running operations smoothly.
So how do you evaluate your staff's performance? The answer is, nonetheless, customer feedback.
When you look into parameters such as:
● Who’s providing the best service?
● Who’s getting the most positive or the most negative feedback?
● Who’s delivering food slower?
You’re able to monitor their performance effectively and also reward the ones who deserve to be rewarded.
Zero to No Marketing
Sure, most owners hesitate to do much about their restaurant’s marketing since it’s fully capable of digging a hole in their pockets. However, there’s a world outside of billboards and other traditional tactics. Most contemporary strategies do not even require much of a budget, and whatever little they do demand can be put to good use by spending your bucks right.
● Hire a professional to make your website
● Create your logo, mission statement, etc. or hire someone to do it
● Create a page/profile on different social media platforms and remain proactive on them
● Start an email database
● Focus on creating a customer loyalty program
In the end, no matter what your budget is, there are always enough inexpensive ways to market your restaurant.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to describing the most common pitfalls experienced by restaurant owners, there’s possibly a huge list that can very well extend beyond this article. However, it all eventually comes down to the same question: hHow does one deal with the challenge of evolving consumer as well as market demands?
The earlier you realize what’s holding you back, the quicker you’ll reactyour reaction to it will be. Is it hygiene, marketing, customer service, employee demotivation, pricey items, or ambiance? Only by adapting to modern solutions for diner customer feedback, employee evaluation, and a striking digital presence can you strive to stay relevant in the restaurant industry.
