Yesayan L.A.
Supervisor: Usikov V.O.
Donetsk national university of economics and trade
named after
Mykhayilo Tugan-Baranovsky, Ukraine
A
VALUE OF MARKETING IN A RESTAURANT BUSINESS
Marketing is an
important part of any business, especially in hospitality industry nowadays.
Restaurants are
popular and profitable exactly due to marketing methods. There is a distinct
target market that all restaurants seek to capture and the most successful
marketing tactics help some of them create a niche for themselves.
The aim of this article is to
introduce importance of marketing in restaurant business and to consider the
most profitable ways of its improvement.
Most restaurateurs would
prefer to think about food than to think about marketing, but unfortunately
this aspect of the business can't be ignored. Luckily, getting the word out
about your restaurant isn't as daunting a task as it might seem. Check out
these top ten easy, low-cost marketing tactics that will help create a buzz
about your restaurant.
Many people who
open a restaurant don't fully understand the role they should play as an owner.
They're convinced that managing or focusing on the operational functions in
their restaurant is all that's really needed from them to create a profitable
foodservice enterprise. As a restaurant owner or manager, you should
continuously evaluate the success or failure of each individual restaurant
marketing technique that you put in place. You should also perform a general
marketing assessment to review your entire marketing plan at least once every
quarter. Use these steps to assess your marketing strategy:
1. Determine your
success
Track promotions
and any changes in profit, or use customer surveys to determine the success of
your marketing tactics. Make sure to measure the success of each individual
marketing technique. If you try to assess your entire strategy at once, you
will never know the effectiveness of each specific tactic.
2. Determine your
future marketing strategy.
If your marketing
techniques were successful, and there have been no recent changes in the
marketing environment that would render them ineffective, continue using and
strengthening these proven techniques.
Restaurant management involves many different aspects, including public
relations, inventory, dealing with staff, customer service and the list goes on
and on. Here are 10 things about restaurant management:
− the customer is always right. Always. The golden rule of business – the
customer is always right. Even if you don’t agree with a customer’s complaint,
how you handle it will determine if the customer comes back to your restaurant.
− restaurants need advertising. A big part of restaurant management is
advertising. Restaurant advertising has come a long way from newspaper ads and
radio spots. Social networking offers a low to no cost way of promoting your
restaurant.
−
the price of food changes and the
cost of running a business changes as well. Therefore it’s important that
restaurant menus have prices that keep food cost low and profits high.
−
small steps can save restaurants
money. Switching to energy efficient light bulbs and low flow faucets are just
two ways that restaurants can save money.
An attractive menu board, with appealing meal
possibilities and easy-to-read descriptions of them, will attract a customer’s
attention quickly. Make a board too confusing, and chances are you’ll lose
customers rapidly. By keeping everything easy and quick to understand, you’ll
help customers make fast decisions, and hopefully encourage them to come back
time and again.[1]
The correctly made menu matters very much in a
restaurant and the amount of guests and profits depends on it.
− customers are more likely to
remember the first two and the last items on a list. Put your most profitable
meals in these positions.
− with a tri-fold menu, most
people look at the top of the center page first and then continue on in a
counter-clockwise direction.
− when reading a bi-fold menu,
most readers will look first to the top right page. Be sure to put the most
profitable items where the reader’s eye goes first.
− showcase up to three
high-profit items in a box, in order to draw attention. More than three
highlighted items will overload the customer with the result that none of the
items will attract attention.
− hide cheap, popular items in
the bottom right-hand quadrant of the menu, where the customer will look last.
− too many
options are overwhelming, so cut out the low-profit items to leave space for
your customers to decide. Adding inserts are a great way to keep the menu from
crowding while drawing attention to certain high-profit items.
3. Brand building. Restaurants become powerful
brands when they deliver what they promise and customers begin to expect high
standards that are associated with their brand. Consistency becomes critical
for brand sustenance.
4. Be different from others. Most restaurants
spend large amounts on new getting new customers, little realizing that if they
have quality product and service on their side, they will benefit far more from
existing customers. Wooing them for repeat visits would be far easier,
something most restaurants do not consider. [3]
In conclusion, at the observance of all these
advices a restaurant will become profitable and will attract more clients. For
the successful operation of the restaurant every proprietor should make the
marketing strategy and stick to it constantly.
References:
1. http://myrestaurantmarketing.blogspot.com/
2. http://forty.co/insights/how-to-market-a-restaurant
3. http://www.marketing-business-consulting.com/restaurant-marketing.html
4. M.A. Gorenburgov, M.M. Khaykin Economy of
restaurant business. Moscow: 2012.