Save Your Failing Restaurant in an Eat-at-Home Economy
Author: Nick
Category: Money
Topics: economy, food
Call it what you want—a recession, an “economic correction,” a figment of your imagination—the economy is hurting. And nowhere is that more apparent than in my belly. Just to make ends meet, I’ve had to cut down my daily caloric intake from 7,000 calories to a mere 6,750. This has had a devastating effect on the local restaurant industry: eateries in my neighborhood are closing down at a rate of one roughly every 37 seconds! (No! Not the Dunkin Donuts! Take the Taco Bell instead!)
Okay, so maybe the situation isn’t that bad, but one only needs to walk into a local casual dining establishment to see that people just aren’t eating out as much today. Case in point: in April 2007, when I went to an annual work luncheon for my small team at a local Italian restaurant, every seat in the place was packed by noon; at this year’s meeting, our 10-person team accounted for about half of the crowd at lunchtime.
If you’re a restaurant operator, you may be going out of your mind right now trying to figure out how to prop up your dwindling business. With rising food prices making it more expensive to cook up that plate of fettuccine alfredo, and rising fuel prices making it more expensive for both customers to get to the dining table and for restaurants to get the ingredients to their kitchens, the situation seems pretty dire all around. But fear not, suffering restaurateurs! My 25 years of food-eating experience and I are here to offer you a selection of tasty tactics you can use not only to ride out the restaurant recession but to help you see your best sales in years.
- Cut the fat off the menu. Well, not literally (we Americans love our lard, after all). If your menu is loaded with dishes that force you to keep expensive ingredients in stock while the dishes themselves aren’t that popular, you might want to move them off in favor of lighter, cheaper fare.
- Substitute ingredients… carefully. Is anybody really gonna notice if you replace that fresh-chopped tomato sauce with Prego? With lighter customer volume, now might be a good time to play around with different brands and suppliers. Just don’t make tons of changes at once or you could stand to upset a few of the regulars.
- Toss consumers a bone. Yes, you’re hurting financially, but that’s because we are too. While it might seem counterintuitive, lower menu prices and coupons can help bring in customers who might otherwise stay at home and heat up a can of soup.
- Reward frequent diners. Keep ‘em coming back with deals like “pay 5 times, get the 6th meal on us.” Little rewards like this that make frequent customers feel special can help even the most budget-minded ignore rising food and fuel prices and sit themselves at your table week after week.
- Cut hours, even days. If it’s costing you more in electricity and staff than you bring in to keep that restaurant open until midnight, consider closing at 10pm. Or if Mondays are slow, money-losing days, maybe you should give your eatery the day off.
- Diversify. While cutting back on menu options is one way to cut costs, going the opposite direction might work too. In a dreary, upsetting economic environment like today, some customers may appreciate seeing some new and exciting dishes added to the menu. Or perhaps you could make some small tweaks to existing menu items to give them some extra ‘zaz and boink!
- Leverage the power of the internet. Does your restaurant have a website? If not, you’re losing out on one cheap, easy way for customers to find out more about your restaurant. Even a basic web page with a menu and directions could bring in more patrons, especially if your cuisine is unique and hard to find in your area.
- Get super-creative. Put your imagination to the test and see what you can come up with to help revitalize your restaurant’s image. Invest in your storefront, make Wednesday nights ’80s Karaoke Night, put in new dining furniture—the possibilities are only as endless as your savings account.
- Remember: sex sells. No, I’m not suggesting you install a stripper pole in the middle of your restaurant’s dining room, but you probably could stand to capitalize a little more on your hot college girl wait staff. On a related subject, there aren’t nearly enough Maid cafés in this country.
Hopefully following some of these steps will have your restaurant on the road to booming business again in no time. No need to thank me, restaurant owners… though if you really want to, I certainly won’t turn down a complimentary seven-course feast in my honor.
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40 Responses »
1.
Kyle
April 17th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Sex certainly sells, but I think restauranteurs focus too much on the male side of the equation. We have Hooters and a hundred of other restaurants like it. How about openning a Peckers? I think women are far more likely to splurge on wine and fancy cheese at a restaurant than men. They are also impressed by napkins folded into the shape of animals. You could probably double your female business right there. Just hire a clown to work in the kitchen.
2.
teleolurian
April 17th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Also, if you fire your cleaning staff, I bet you could attract all sorts of edible vermin! That would be awesome.
3.
Grant
April 17th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
During the last recession I was working as a restaurant manager putting myself through college. It was definitely tough times. The hardest part was the fact that we couldn’t give nearly as many hours to our employees as we did before the recession, which was tough because you know it hurt them not getting the hours
4.
Frugal Dad
April 17th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I’ve got a friend that recently reopened a restaurant in this environment and I’ll definitely share the strip pole idea. At this point he may be desperate enough to actually do it!
5.
s. jennifer rose
April 18th, 2008 at 12:07 am
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/17/MNO4107CO5.DTL&tsp=1
I told you we’d have $4 gas by memorial day weekend!
6.
Chadwyck
April 18th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
The website is a big deal for me. It is so difficult to find specific information about a restaurant… reservation policies, hours, menu/prices, alcohol selections, busy times, events, etc… I could call and harass the poor hostess with a battery of questions, but it’s better for both of us if I can find the info online.
7.
Maria @ Financial-Tip
April 19th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
A problem with implementing #9 is the chance of getting sued my male waiters and the older waitresses who are fired/ not hired because you want to have sexy servers. Not to mention … it’s just not a good policy. If my manager had asked me to wear tight pants or a lower-cut shirt to attract more business, I would have told him to forget it.
8.
Denver Mortgage Broker
April 19th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Some people say 2/3 of our economy is consumer expenditure driven. If people stop eating out, combined with everything else that’s happening, it could get really ugly — long recession.
9.
Obbop
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Who has the discretionary income? Who are the po’ folk least likely to eat outside the home.
Nowadays, younger folks with young kids are the poorest group. It’s been that way for quite awhile.
Quantifying the demographic sub-groups even further… the biggest group of poor folks are the kidlings themselves!!!!
So… don’t appeal to youngsters, McDonalds has done that for years.
Don’t appeal to young parents.
Look at oldsters.
Retirees.
Look at earlier hours since the old geezers go to sleep early.
Ensure your restrooms are old-people friendly with hand rails to ease their descent upon the throne.
Comfy chairs.
LARGE print upon the menu.
Not too many choices so those old decrepit braines don’t have to think too much.
Old folks fill up quicker. Smaller portions or encourage doggy bags….. make the old farts believe they are getting more for their money by getting two meals out of one.
Emphasize senior pricing. Over 55? What? 10 percent off? 15 percent?
Seniors love bargains. Offer them an itty bitty free appetizer while they wait for their ordered meal.
If you have background music aim it at the older crowd.
Also, remember the cut-off date… after a certain age more old geezers are in the waiting-to-croak old-folks home than are roaming the city looking for grub.
Observe old folks, talk to them, ask what they want in a restaurant. Then, if practical…. do it.
Oh, one more thing. For many old farts the most precious thing in their miserable lives is their grandkids and/or great grandkids.
Ensure you have offerings that would appeal to those spoiled disgusting mini-humans. Just the basic crap for those kids. And, refrain from smacking the little heathens with a mop or skillet as they behave horribly, out of control, as the grandparents look upon their precious little snowflakes who are assuredly damned to an eternity of Heck as they grow into even more disgusting putrid out-of-control adults.
Remember, the goal is the old fart’s money. And our economic system requires you cast aside all morality and personal honor to obtain that money.
It’s the American way.
10.
Dancer Pole
October 28th, 2008 at 2:53 am
Getting a pole actually isn’t that far-fetched of an idea anymore.
11.
Boca Raton Cuisine
November 17th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I think that internet marketing is really the way to go. Like you said, it is super cheap when compared to traditional print advertising. Most restaurants don’t have a proper online presence and are missing out on customers big time.
12.
J Curtis
October 15th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
We have tried most of the above, not the pole, and things continue to get worse. Our customers tell us that our food and selection are great; however, they just do not have the funds for eating out. Even our delivery service has seen a reduction. It seems the only thing we can do is give the food away! The food producers and distributors are not helping. Why is it we have to lower our prices to get customers, while they increase the prices we pay? They raised the fuel surcharge when gas went to 4.00. They, however, have failed to reduce it as gas went back to where it is now. What the hell! They have to be hurting, as well, since we are not ordering the amount of product we were a year ago. Can’t they lower their prices to help us out? What can we do, as a group to force them to lower their prices? Look at the price of chicken wings! 55.00 a case! 2 years ago I was paying 38.00 a case. Did the chickens quit growing wings? Somebody help!!!!!
13.
RestaurantMarketingSecrets
May 6th, 2010 at 1:56 am
Even in a down economy, people are still going out to eat. Not as many, not as often, but there’s still a market out there. The key is to build a relationship with your customers so they’ll want to come to your restaurant when they do go out to eat. Email clubs, frequent dining cards, birthday perks, kids eat free — all of these help build a relationship between your customer and your restaurant. It’s also more important than ever to really know who your target market is, so you can spend marketing dollars only on media and methods that you know are reaching those most likely to visit your restaurant.
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Janet
March 10th, 2011 at 10:42 am
I have also tried all but the stripper pole. I live in a rural area- Older people eat here. farmers eat when in planting and harvest season, no kids- very rarely. I used to be a thriving business in a very small town, now I am a dead business in a small town that is basically the same, everyone wants to keep it here, but no one wants to eat here. Foods good, cutting my neck trying to keep prices low, Wow. The debt just keeps mounting- help
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August 28th, 2011 at 11:40 pm
I’ve got a friend that recently reopened a restaurant in this environment and I’ll definitely share the strip pole idea. At this point he may be desperate enough to actually do it!
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