A restaurant is one of the most complicated types of service enterprises. From the manager there are required not only organizational skills, but also the ability to create a special atmosphere of an institution, pleasant for visitors. Without this condition any loyalty building is out of the question. It therefore requires a fine-tuning of marketing, allowing you to both attract and retain customers. In this article, we’ll give you the Top 7 features diners love.

The main reasons for the underdevelopment of restaurant marketing should be looked for in the following:

  • The level of economic/marketing training of restaurant owners is quite low compared to executives in many other types of businesses.
  • The lack of understanding of the value of marketing and the reluctance to finance this area. And the desire to save money applies both to the financing of marketing programs, and to the salaries of specialists who could organize such work. Therefore, very often marketing in the restaurant is reduced to what seems necessary – advertising in the media and outdoor advertising.
  • Serious specialists in advertising and marketing are in no hurry to work in public catering enterprises. First, they do not consider this work prestigious and giving considerable experience. Secondly, there are few prospects for growth in the restaurant. In a single institution in general, rarely meet a single specialist, let alone a department or department. Thirdly, the level of salaries in the restaurant for such positions is low and suitable only for novice professionals.

Attracting your target group

You should plan the target group of visitors already at the stage of developing the concept of the restaurant. The concept is based on marketing research, which draws the target group.

Also at the stage of developing the concept are defined parameters of the institution, able to attract the target group, as well as those that will cut off the undesirable public. These things are interrelated – a clear positioning of the institution attracts certain visitors, automatically cutting off others. A set of measures designed to attract the target group and cut off the undesirable public looks like this:

  1. A well-planned advertising campaign that clearly reflects the restaurant’s image;
  2. Location;
  3. The price category in which the restaurant operates;
  4. Cuisine;
  5. Service;
  6. Design of the facade, signage, entrance and interior;
  7. Services provided by the restaurant.

It should be noted that one of the most important problems that restaurants face during the first year of operation is a drop in the stated level. That is, for the first few months after opening, everything works fine by inertia, and then there is a weakening of control, primarily in such important components as kitchen quality, service, and advertising.