Running a restaurant is not an easy business to get into, and there are many pitfalls you can come across along the way. Iit is a hugely satisfying career, however, so it’s no wonder that so many people choose to do it. Opening your own restaurant means not only having to deal with the food and your staff, but also having to look out and care for your customers.
Keeping your customers happy above anything else is the way to ensure they will become repeat customers, tell their friends and family how great you are, and recommend your restaurant, too.
Here are some ways to do it:
Friendly Staff
It goes without saying that the food in your restaurant needs to be excellent; people won’t come back, no matter how great everything else is, if they don’t enjoy the food. So, besides the food, something else that is just as important is the friendliness of your staff. Again, it makes no difference how great the food is if the staff are miserable and rude – customers won’t come back.
Customer service, then, is something that you will need to get right if you want to make your customers happier. Not only will it improve the way your customers feel about your restaurant (and encourage them to come back), but it will keep your staff happy, too. After all, the happier the customers are, the more they will tip, and that’s great for staff morale. Some tips on improving customer service include:
- Smiling more
- Asking questions
- Keeping personal conversations out of customers’ earshot
- Listening more
- Going the extra mile
- Patience
With delivery software used by restaurants you can also connect to your audience when they’re not in the restaurant with rewards, convenience, and even a full menu they can look at on the app and make their decisions for what they want to order before they arrive. Though designed for delivery, there are ways to use this software for so much more to incentivize your offerings and audience, keeping them feeling a personal connection to your restaurant and its staff.
The Right Décor
Great food and great service are a good start, but customers need to be comfortable in your restaurant to be completely happy. The right décor will help with this. Although you won’t want your customers to linger all night at the table (you need to turn the tables and have at least two sittings each evening), you won’t want them to feel rushed or that they just want to get away because they aren’t comfortable at all.
Choosing the right restaurant furniture is crucial. Not only do the chairs and tables need to match your theme well, but they need to be comfortable to sit at. The tables need to be the right height and big enough for people to eat comfortably when there are plates, cutlery, side-plates, and glasses on the table. The chairs need to match the tables so that customers aren’t bending over their food or having to reach up to the table.
As well as this, the floors, wall coverings, and general décor need to be soothing. Anything that just doesn’t match is going to be jarring and people won’t enjoy their food so much if they are in uncomfortable surroundings.
Reward Them
Rewarding your customers for their loyalty will definitely make them feel happier, and it’s not a hard thing to do either. You can create a loyalty program that encourages repeat business and even referrals. You could have a loyalty card that offers customers a free dish (for example) after they have visited you a certain amount of times, or something that gives people a free meal on their birthday. There are many different options, so it’s important to pick the one that works best for your business and your customers.
