Why many Restaurants fail

A couple of days ago I was reading a blog headed “Why Restaurants Fail” by a company in the States called Harrison Marketing, a company that has over 20 years’ experience in assisting Restaurants with their marketing. Having read the blog it became blatantly obvious that what they were talking about was just not relevant to Restaurants but all service based businesses.

The conclusion in simple: you should not spend most of your time focused on getting new customers/clients but spend most of it looking after your existing clients, engaging with them and getting them to advocate your business. Having existing customers advocating your business leads to new (good) business and customers whom in turn you turn into loyal, advocates and so the cycle continues.

Besides the traditional ways of achieving this and the use of social media the next step is to use todays’ technology to facilitate this loyal customer engagement and management and this comes in the form of a dedicated app.

What better way to keep your customers and clients up to date with your services and events, reward their loyalty and provide them with a tool to share and hence advocate your business to their friend, fans and followers than on their smartphones in one place with minimal effort? This is exactly what is accomplished by a dedicated smartphone app.

Yes I hear you say the cost of such an app is thousands of pounds but no its not because for as little as £50 per month you could have your own branded, customised dedicated app with your own online content management system to update the app in real time and all you need to do is ask.

To get started email me at nelson@realtimeseating.com or DM me on @realtimeseating.

Below is the blog that I read and would like to share with you (via www.harrisonmarketingmd.com @chefpaul9828)

“Let’s take out poor cash management, poor location, poor lease negotiations, etc. from the picture for a minute. We have worked with many restaurants helping with operations and marketing. I am always amazed how many restaurants think they can make it if they if they have good food and service. Marketing is just something that is an afterthought. I do not mean marketing in the traditional sense, but actually being a marketing-centric company as opposed to a sales-centric company. Not sure of the difference?

Marketing-centric companies understand that marketing involves every facet of their business. From the second a customer pulls into the parking lot. How they are greeted, staff training, pricing, sales, PR product development, packaging, and customer service.

We all know the old 80/20 rule. 80 % of sales usually comes from 20% of your customers. So why do some restaurants try so hard to get new customers. The reason is they have failed at satisfying their existing customers’ needs. It is so much easier to increase customer loyally (and cheaper) than having to promote your establishment for new clients. Problem is, this escapes so many business owners.

Think about if you could just increase volume from your existing clients from say, 15, to 50%. These clients are the one you want to target and keep happy. This is why having a well-trained staff that are happy to be there will serve you well.

Bottom line, train your staff, take care of every client as if they are your only client, keep them up to date on what’s happening at your establishment, create loyalty programs for them, and I guarantee, you won’t spend a ton of money trying to find new customers."

12/02/2012 permalink | 2 Comments »

---

MARKETING IN A COLD CLIMATE EVENT

The Hospitality Network and Simon Lazarus PR present

A DAY OF WORKSHOPS FOR INDEPENDENT RESTAURANTS

Monday 30th January – Central London

2012 is going to be a challenging year for London. This seminar will help kick start your business at the start of this exciting and very eventful year. You will hear inspirational and practical presentations from respected restaurant personalities such as Iqbal Wahhab, founder of Roast at iconic Borough Market and Peter Harden of Harden’s Guides.

By attending you will gain:

–    New Ideas

–    The ability to win more clients

–    The chance to meet and connect with like minded industry colleagues

We will be running three very different sessions and you have the choice of attending one, two or all three. The more you attend the more you will learn!

At the end of the day (Three workshops) you will have benefitted from:

–    Returning to marketing basics

–    An update on the best in current marketing for independent restaurants

–    Practical hints and tips

–    Inspiration from key industry gurus

–    Thinking time away from your business

Prices:

One session £30 + VAT

Two sessions £50 + VAT

Three sessions £65 + VAT

We believe in the best for the industry, so £1 for each booking will be donated to the Clink Charity     www.theclinkcharity.com

MARKETING IN A COLD CLIMATE – THE PROGRAMME

Session 1 - MARKETING ESSENTIALS

9.30 – 10.00 Registration and networking

10.00-10.15 Welcome from Ashley de Safrin of the Hospitality Network

10.15-10.40 Old fashioned marketing – back to basics – Ashley de Safrin Partner THE HOSPITALITY NETWORK

10.40-11.05 Top class customer service - how this helps your business Sam Harrison, owner SAM’S BRASSERIE AND HARRISONS

11.05-11.30 Product, Perception, Profit – get the product right and improve your ratings – Peter Harden, HARDENS GUIDES

11.30-12.00 Networking

Session 2 - NEW GENERATION MARKETING

11.30-12.00 Registration and Networking

12.00-12.15 Welcome from Simon Lazarus

12.15—12.40 New approaches to marketing and PR Simon Lazarus, SIMON LAZARUS PR

10.40-11.05 The development of technology in restaurant marketing – Olivia Fitzgerald General Manager UK – LIVEBOOKINGS

13.05-13.30 i-marketing and the APPS revolution. How you can benefit Nelson Da Silva REALTIME SEATING

13.30-14.00 Networking

Session 3 - PERSPIRATION AND INSPIRATION

13.30-14.00 Registration and Networking

14.00-14.15 Welcome from Doug Talbott of the Hospitality Network

14.15-14.40 Low cost marketing – hints and tips Doug Talbott Partner THE HOSPITALITY NETWORK

14.40-15.05 E-mail marketing and growing your database Matthew Kirby FISHBOWL

15.05-15.30 Inspirational Marketing Iqbal Wahhab FOUNDER OF ROAST, BOROUGH MARKET

15.30-16.00 Networking

Prices:

One session: £25 + VAT

Two sessions: £45 + VAT

Three sessions: £60 + VAT

30/12/2011 permalink | 0 Comments »

---

Customer Engagement-Secret of Successful Restaurants

When websites were first introduced the techy savvy restaurants were the first to adopt this new technology and soon they began to reap the reward of having an online presence. While others lagged behind the same technology savvy restaurateurs introduced newsletters, online bookings and more recently social media. And what’s it all about ….simply its all about customer engagement.

We work with hundreds of restaurants throughout the UK and the US and what we have witnessed is that there is a common factor which contributes to making a restaurant successful…successful restaurants understand the importance of customer engagement.

All businesses need new customers/business but the successful restaurants work extremely hard at getting customers to refer the new business and more importantly they make sure that their customers never forget them (they are always on the mind through the use of newsletters, direct mail and social media) and they reward them for their loyalty.

So what is the new trend….

At the current exponential rate of growth of smartphones, it is estimated that by 2015 over 80% of the people in the UK will have a smartphone. By the end of 2010 it was sitting at 33.6%.

The ITU (February 2010) expects mobile Web access – via laptops and smart mobile devices – to overtake desktop Web within the next five years.

It is a fact that 99% of people leave home with their mobile phones (people are more likely to forget their house keys than their mobile phone) and given that most people have a mobile phone (it is safe to assume that over 90% of people have one) the new trend is for "mobile marketing" and the future will be about having your own brand smartphone app. There is only one problem....the future now is determined in months rather than years!

To have instant access to your customers is an extremely powerful tool as it can constantly be a reminder of your existence; you can inform them of current and upcoming events, reward them instantly for their loyalty or fill available tables with a late availability/last-minute offer.

So the only reason you would not start thinking of your own branded app would be the cost of getting one developed and then hosting it. That is why we have introduced an affordable way to have an app within weeks. With our Share Package you could have a cutting edge app for as little as £49 per month and a one off setup fee of £150.

Email us and we will send you a free mock-up of what your app could look like. Alternatively fill in the form below and we will contact you within 24 hrs. Don’t hesitate as smartphone technology is here to stay so get ahead of the game.

24/06/2011 permalink | 0 Comments »

---

What we do FAQs

FAQs

Q. What is the benefit of your system in cash terms?

One of our clients, a small 40 cover restaurant, after paying us our booking fee has taken just under £2,700 in takings over and above their usual takings over the last 3 months using our system

Q. Do you work with all types of restaurants?

Yes we do – however, we don’t work with all the restaurants in a geographical area. We aim to work with only a handful of restaurants in an area rather than every single restaurant that wants our system.

Q. What national chains use you?

None and we strongly believe in Local support for independent restaurants

Q. I already use other online booking services I don’t want another one?

We are not an online booking system that offers online discounts and booking service. We are a texting service that sends invitations to people who have SPECIFICALLY said they want to receive text offers/rewards when their favourite restaurant has availability - note it is their favourite restaurant and not every restaurant on our system

Q. How many people ask to stop receiving your texts?

A small number and the reason being that people have specifically opted in to receive texts from their favourite restaurant and will probably only receive one text a month – 2 at the most. [Some have not received a text for over a month]. A further reason that our “opt out” is extremely low is because people tell us how often they want to receive texts simply by engaging with us through our text messages.

Q. Do you just provide the booking service?

No, for a majority of our clients we also provide a marketing service – e.g. if they have a special event coming up or re-launching a website etc we will do a text out to their database [Again this is managed so not to spam people]

Q. The texting database you build up with the restaurant, who does it belong to?

The data is the restaurant’s customers so it belongs to the restaurant

Q. How big is your current Database? Q. How many people have signed up to your database?

A meaningless number as the people who will receive offers/rewards from your restaurant need to have “opted in” to receive texts from YOU. If they haven’t they won’t receive a text from you. {By the way the number is 10 881 but it is insignificant because none have signed up to receive texts from YOU}

Q. What are the costs? Q. How long are your agreements?

No costs at all until we physically have someone sitting in a seat in your restaurant – then it will cost you £2 per cover There are no agreements or set up fees, so if you choose to stop using us, you just do.

Q. I don’t associate my restaurant with other restaurant in the UK or services and I don’t what to appear on your website, is this possible?

Yes it is – we are a white label service and a high percentage of our clients are not listed on our website (they all have their reasons). They all call their text clubs by various different names.

Q. What really makes you different?

We change people’s minds – we target a person who has no plan to eat out that evening and send them a text and by receiving our timely text with a special reward from their favourite restaurant triggers a change of mind.

02/11/2010 permalink | 0 Comments »

---