Innovative Ideas to Increase Restaurant Sales

The restaurant industry is highly competitive. Brick and mortar businesses such as fast-food chains, cafeterias, and restaurants have been struggling to retain existing customers and acquire new ones.

With digital technology, the marketing trends are dynamically changing. The customers no longer need to drive through the city to find the best restaurants to dine in. Instead, they can discover new restaurants and browse menus with the power of their PCs and mobile phones.

If you are a restaurant business owner, you want your brand to consistently be in front of your customers. Adapting to new tools and data and using digital marketing can leverage your restaurant sales. Ignoring to invest time and money in modern ways to attract customers can significantly affect business performance.

Below is a list of effective ways to boost your restaurant sales:

Analyse your past and current business performance 

By looking at your past and current sales and marketing promotions, you are obtaining important data and insights needed to improve your business. Identify the challenges you are currently facing and certain key performance indicators such as the number of orders, sales, profit margin, expenses, marketing, staff, and overall business operation.

Optimise your Menu

A good menu can entice customers to your food offerings. Look at your best-selling and least-selling menu items. From there, you can analyse the factors why customers love or hate a certain meal. Is it because of your pricing? Is it because of the presentation and description?

If you have been handing out the same menu for years, you might consider changing and updating the menu. Use high-quality photos of your dishes and create a good menu layout. Discontinue the dish that no one seems to be ordering and offer creative promotions and combo meals to provide customers with more options.

Use a Loyalty Program

Customers come and go, and you don't want them to be just first-time customers. To keep your customers coming back, give them incentives and loyalty rewards. You can offer a discount, a free dessert, or a free meal. Doing this keeps customers more engaged with your brand and increases loyalty, leading to more repeat business.

Social Media Promotions

Nowadays, almost all people have access to social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, etc. It is beneficial for restaurants to have their presence felt on social media. It is also a great way for your target audience to connect with your brand.

By creating social media pages, listing your business information, and sharing relevant content about your food business, you can expand your customer base and boost restaurant sales. In addition, social media is a good channel to answer customers’ inquiries, complaints, and reviews, enhancing your customer service.

Partner with Food Delivery Apps

With the continuous advancement of technology, customers expect convenience. If you are short of staff or your restaurant location is not easy to find, you can partner with third-party deliverers. Food delivery companies can take some workload to streamline your ordering process.

Some of the popular delivery apps in Australia include DoorDash, Menulog, Uber Eats, and Open Table. Aside from delivering the food to your customers, food delivery apps can also promote your business online and drive traffic to your restaurant website.

Offer Online Ordering

Customers have different preferences when it comes to dining. In this technology-driven world, people no longer want to wait in line just to make an order and get served. Waiting for a long time makes customers unhappy and gives them a reason to jump to your competitors.

Build a professional website and offer online ordering. By allowing customers to order online or make reservations, you are increasing productivity - processing and completing more orders in less time. You can also create a Google My Business page to optimise your online visibility. Making it easier for your customers to find you on the internet helps you attract more customers and bring more sales to your business.

Wrapping Up

Social media marketing, online ordering, website, and delivery apps are essential tools that can make QSR businesses more competitive. Not putting any effort into digital transformation can lead to a massive loss of sales and a lack of customer engagement.

Clover Marketing, a Melbourne-based digital marketing agency, has been helping food service businesses grow and thrive online. We conduct a thorough analysis of your current data and marketing insights and provide you with digital marketing solutions and content strategies that will leverage your online presence and maximise business performance.