- Provide exceptional customer service
Customer service is the most important factor in F&B restaurants that makes your customers satisfied with their dining experience in your restaurant. Providing excellent customer service means to go out all lengths and cater to customers’ needs and wants. It starts from before customers entering the restaurant to customers leaving the restaurant with a smile on their face.
When customers are waiting in the queue, greet them “Good Morning/Afternoon Sir/Madam” and show them their seats with your hand in the right direction and say “Thank you for waiting, this way please.” This gives the customer a good first impression of you and your customer service standard even before they stepped into the restaurant.
After they enter the restaurant, you may pull their seats out with both hands and allow them to sit. Also, you may recommend some of your restaurant’s signature dishes (or beverages) to the customers or you can inform them about the current promotions ongoing in your restaurant which they can utilise. If your restaurant has menus of the day such as “Iced Tea of the Day” or “Soup of the Day”, let them know the selections of the day even before they ask. It shows that you are well familiarized with the menu and at the same time providing them with a variety of options to choose from.
After taking their orders, you can also check with them if they need any servings of complimentary bread and water. Little actions go a long way. The small details that you keep in mind and show a lot about your hospitality, initiative and helpfulness.
After they leave the restaurant, greet them “Goodbye Sir/Madam, hope to see you again!”. The final closure after your excellent customer service is memorable and they are more than happy to visit your restaurant in the future. In conclusion, portraying your good customer service will increase the number of existing customers to your potential regulars, which will eventually lead to an increase in your restaurant sales and the figures will add up to a significant amount in the long run.
- More variety of sides option
Your restaurant can include more variety of choices of sides where customers can choose from according to their preferences. Different types of customers have different preferences. Some customers who are on diet may prefer salad to fries while some adults like fries as compared to sauteed vegetables. If your menu is not extensive enough, customers may give up selecting their favourite food and end up ordering appetisers, light bites or drinks, or they may even walk out of the restaurant, causing your restaurant to lose a potential customer and sales incurred in the long run.
To satisfy customers’ choice, your restaurant can include a variety of side options for customers to choose from such as fries, mixed salad, mash or roasted potatoes and buttered corn etc. Customers can then take their time to select their favourite sides to go along with their dish, increasing customer satisfaction.
If there are side options which cost more than the existing options, you can also include them as “Premium Sides” and charge for changing to those sides. Generally, customers would not mind topping up a little more money to get the sides that they wish to have. This is a win-win situation for both parties where customers’ needs are taken care of and your restaurant also benefited from the sales at the same time.
- Return Vouchers
Return Vouchers attract customers to return to your restaurant and dine again as they can utilise the discount for their meals on their next visit. There are higher chances that customers will return as a huge group with their families or friends to make the best use of their existing vouchers.
In order to obtain return vouchers, you have to include certain criterias which will benefit your restaurant as well. Criterias can include minimum spending of $200 in your restaurant for a $20 return voucher, 10% discount on total bill capped at $10, only applicable to main courses or vouchers can only utilised on weekdays only where there are less crowds. You have to work out and decide on the best promotion which attracts the customers and at the same time, ensure that your sales are not affected by the return vouchers.
- Loyalty Programme / Membership
Other than return vouchers, your restaurant can come up with a loyalty programme and membership for customers to enjoy. This is a good way to churn existing customers to regular members by offering them a membership programme. For example, customers have to pay a one-time fee to subscribe as a member and obtain their own exclusive physical or online membership card which helps them to save more in the long run. They can enjoy membership discounts every time they come and dine. You can decide if the membership is a lifetime membership or they can renew their membership every one or two years.
You can expect to see these members more frequently in your restaurants. They are likely to bring their family, relatives and friends to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays and festive days. Ultimately, you will be earning revenue from their membership subscription and the amount they spent each time they visit your restaurant which also benefits the customers throughout their membership period.
- Aesthetic background for Photo-Taking
Nowadays, everyone likes to take quality photos with nice backgrounds and themes and share their photos to social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. By having an aesthetically pleasing background for photo-taking, more customers would upload their photos taken at your restaurant to their social media profile and tag your restaurant. This is a good way of marketing as well.
This will also further increase your customer base as their followers will also be attracted to your restaurant’s interior and would feel like dining in your restaurant upon browsing through their photos. Thus, they will also be the one who “promote” your restaurant online to gain new customers.
- Enhance your menu description
You can highlight a section for your famous dishes in your restaurant menu and give it an eye-catching name as “Chef’s Recommendation” or “You can never say no to these!”. With this section, customers will get to know the best-selling dishes and they are more prone to ordering those. Include more best-sellers in the main course, so that you can earn much more revenue for your restaurant.
Additionally, you can include important information about certain dishes such as “Spicy” and “Can change to Gluten-Free bread” so that customers know the contents of your dishes with just a glance. When customers are provided with an additional option, they are more likely to order the dish and select the choice they prefer.
- Use Waitrr’s Mobile Ordering
During peak hours or when there is a shortfall of staff, customers can use Waitrr and order instead of waiting for their orders to be physically taken from the staff. They can avoid the long dreadful wait when staff is assisting other customers or busy serving the dishes. When customers can order their food themselves through Waitrr, it eases their frustration of having to capture the attention of the staff as customers can easily select their orders, pay and their food is ready to be cooked and served. Therefore, your restaurant would profit from the customers as they are less likely to walk out of the restaurant because of the long waiting time and slow service, with the help of Waitrr.
Another benefit when your customers uses Waitrr is that they are likely to spend more ordering online as they can take their time to look through the menu, adding on more sides or appetizers as they feel in control of what they order on their mobile phones.
