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In the dynamic and ever-evolving restaurant industry, culinary experiences are shaping customer preferences. After all, this business is all about people with customers at the forefront of decisions being made. So how do you thrive in a customer-driven competitive market? The industry is projected to reach $1.2
This is the foundation of menu psychology, and for restaurant owners using online ordering platforms, it’s a powerful opportunity to influence how customers engage with their menu items. And while it’s been used for years in print menus, these same techniques can be applied to digital menus, too.
From salted egg yolks and chili crunch fusions to mushroom-infused teas and freeze-dried fruit powder garnishes, Kimpton’s in-house experts share the standout ingredients, menu items and techniques that will come to the table in 2025.
They must also focus on creating memorable experiences for customers at every touchpoint. 60% of guests who have a positive experience are likely to dine at a restaurant more frequently. Knowing these customerexperience factors can help you create a positive and welcoming environment that will keep guests coming back for more.
"Merchandise is more than just a revenue stream — it’s a way to deepen the connection with your customers and expand your brand’s reach." The idea for a dedicated merch program originated from my belief that a brand isn’t just a physical space or a menu—it’s a lifestyle.
From improving your Google listing to leveraging customer reviews, these tips will show you how to boost your visibility and drive more traffic to your restaurant. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, you could be losing out on potential customers. This way, you won’t need to code your site from scratch.
What current retail trends are influencing licensing strategies in the F&B industry? Retailers are also embracing limited-time offers and seasonal innovations to drive traffic and create a sense of urgency.
It is atop the list for restaurants looking to modernize, differentiate, and elevate experiences. Foot traffic or heat mapping, menu item engagement, or consumer demographics by time of day. Foot traffic or heat mapping, menu item engagement, or consumer demographics by time of day. As of 2024, over half of U.S.
Quick-service restaurants maintain a steady customer satisfaction score of 79 (on a 100 point scale), while full-service restaurants — despite slipping 2 percent to 82 — remain one of the highest-rated industries in the Index, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI®) Restaurant and Food Delivery Study 2025.
Understanding your target market is the foundation of making smart decisions for your menu, pricing, and overall guest experience. Without a well-defined target market, restaurants risk wasting resources on strategies that dont connect and menu offerings that dont selltrying to appeal to everyone, but standing out to no one.
Youre delivering a great dining experience, yet foot traffic remains inconsistent, online engagement is low, and new customers arent coming in as often as youd like. The problem isnt your food or serviceits visibility and customer engagementand were going to help you fix that. Optimize your Google Business Profile.
When going through the ordering process, diners want three things: Speed Ease Clarity Your menu categories have more to do with delivering on those expectations than you might think. A well-organized menu—whether it’s a physical menu or an online menu—guides guests quickly to what they’re craving.
MVP Menu Performances More than 200 million people tuned in to the Super Bowl last year—many with a plate of wings in front of them. “Americans love the convenience of delivery, but restaurants who hand the experience over to third party apps without a strategy risk their reputations,” said John Mazur, CEO of Chatmeter.
While your restaurant may feature a diverse menu, delicious food, a great ambiance, and excellent customer service, you will still struggle to build a customer base without promoting it. Others tend to emphasize their cheaper menu options. Both approaches might cause your restaurant to fail in attracting new customers.
Does the energy feel flat, and the customers look bored. Get some fresh customers through the door and start the neighborhood talking about whats happening in your restaurant again. You need ideas that will wow new customers and get the regulars excited to come back in.
The menu, which includes the ever-popular fry bread taco, tells a story of connection, innovation, and respect for legacy and Indigenous culinary traditions. Thirty Nine’s menu highlights high-protein and precolonial ingredients. Oden’s culinary advocacy reaches far beyond the walls of the museum restaurant.
Behind the scenes, strategic decisions greatly impact a restaurant's bottom line, and at the forefront of these is the art of menu engineering. Far from just a list of dishes, a well-engineered menu is a powerful tool that can significantly increase a restaurant's efficiency and profitability.
These metrics give you a clear picture of your delivery performancefrom order volume and customer retention to delivery speed and profitability. This might seem like a small detail, but it plays a big role in the overall delivery experience and significantly impacts customerexperience.
You can have a crowd-pleasing menu, loyal regulars, and a packed dining roomand still watch your margins disappear. Too many restaurant menus are built on intuition and aesthetics, not real numbers. What Is Menu Engineering and Why Should You Care? Because not every dish thats popular is profitable.
Leveraging engaging and authentic video content allows restaurants to showcase their menu offerings, build a recognizable brand identity, and create a loyal base of regulars and word-of-mouth referrals. Showcasing New Menu Items and Specials While many aspects of a restaurant shape the experience guests have, the most important is the menu.
Have you ever walked into a restaurant, excited for a great meal, but the server can’t answer your questions about the menu? There was a time when 70% of F&B employees didn’t receive training for customer service. A well-informed team improves service, enhances the dining experience, and reduces errors in the kitchen.
Whether through supporting local charities or participating in food drives, local restaurants can become go-to places for customers who want to support their community. It helps allocate resources directly to those who are most likely to become loyal, repeat customers.
When business slows down, its easy to blame the season, the weather, or people not going out like they used to, but sometimes all customers need is a good reminder or the right reason to show up again. Encouraging repeat visits from loyal customers? Or bring in a wave of new customers who havent tried your place yet?
Consider this – the menu is the most important component of a successful restaurant and once designed it can, and should, impact every other aspect of the business. YES – the menu is that important! The menu comes first and should reflect the philosophy of the owners and chef and how the operators expect to be perceived by the public.
First, Segment Your Audience Your guests want you to know their lifestyle and consumers often feel frustrated when the buying experience feels impersonal. Create an app to make it easy for Gen Z to place a mobile order, review their regular meals and stay up to date on seasonal specials and rewards.
It’s the first impression most customers will have of your restaurant. Restaurant operators who neglect their Google Business Profile are missing out on the 62% of customers who turn to Google when looking for a place to eat. This is ChowNow customer, Maple Block Barbecue’s Google Business Profile.
This doesnt mean cutting corners and sacrificing the customerexperience; its about knowing where your money is going, spotting leaks early, and fine-tuning whats already working. Create specials that use the raw materials you already have in-house or seasonal ingredients you can buy at the best market price.
Email marketing might not be as flashy as social media marketing, but for restaurants, its possibly the most effective way to stay connected with customers. Unlike social media platforms, where the algorithm overlords dictate who will and will not see your posts, emails go straight to your customers inboxeswhich they check daily.
Restaurant review sites aren’t just for diners—they’re also savvy tools for restaurant operators to gather customer feedback and help control the narrative around their dining experience. Below that, you’ll see a “what’s the vibe” section where customers can post images of inside, outside, food, and anything else they find interesting.
Understanding what customers order, when they order, and how often is an untapped goldmine of information for restaurant operators. Using that data can help you answer questions like: Are we pricing our bestsellers too low or overpricing items customers arent buying? What do repeat orders say about our customer preferences?
Also, there is no other marketing medium that can reach your customers as best and as affordable as email marketing. This is especially true if you wish to boost awareness about your restaurant, attracting new dine-ins, or enticing customers to keep coming back. Highlight Your Menu. Seasonal recipe tutorials.
Customers expect to browse menus, place orders, and pay for their meals with just a few taps of their phones. For restaurant operators, this presents both an opportunity and a challenge: how to implement an online ordering system that maximizes revenue while maintaining control over their customer relationships.
And operators who don’t have one at all are missing out on a huge opportunity to tell their restaurant’s story, connect with new customers, and distinguish themselves from other restaurants in their area. Think of it as a handshake with potential new customers, a moment to say, “Here’s who we are, what we serve, and why it matters to us.”
A spike in food costs, a drop in sales volume, or one slow season can wipe out months of hard work. That includes the ingredients and packaging for your menu items, but not things like rent and payroll. This gives you a sense of how effective your menu pricing is.
By Jordan Hayes, Contributor Relocating a restaurant is a major event that offers an opportunity to rebrand, refresh, and create excitement among your customers. A well-planned announcement not only reassures loyal patrons but also attracts new customers eager to explore your new location.
Typical restaurant KPIs involve monitoring costs around food, labor and supplies, pricing adjustments, table turnover rates during peak periods, customer wait times, promotion effectiveness, brand sentiment on review sites, and training completion rates. Define the one or two KPIs most critical for your top growth goals.
In today's fast-paced world, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) are constantly looking for ways to attract new customers while keeping their existing ones happy. By displaying menu items, offers, and specials on screens, QSR operators can effectively communicate with their customers and influence their purchasing decisions.
From the rise of Instagram food bloggers and selfie walls to paying outrageous prices for the #SaltBae experience , consumers are now expecting restaurants to deliver an experience beyond flavor. In a world still recovering from a pandemic and economic crisis, consumers long to escape into experiences of delight and togetherness.
This edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features the National Restaurant Association's State of the Indusrty Report, food industry pressures, foodservice opportunities, influencer marketing, foot traffic analysis and the dining-out dollar. 2020 State of the Restaurant Industry.
By Tracie Johnson, Contributor A restaurant is a destination, an experience , and a reflection of the cultural moment -- not just a place to eat. Understanding a rapidly changing landscape characterized by rising costs, evolving customer habits, and an increasing demand for originality is critical to success.
There is an opportunity for QSRs to attract new customers by integrating bold, exotic flavors and ethnic cuisines into LTOs and menus. What factors fuel the rise of global fusion foods on menus, particularly in QSRs? What are some best practices for promoting fusion foods on a menu? Does this trend have staying power?
In recent years, consumer behaviors have drastically changed to now preferring delivery services and an increased willingness to pay a premium for a seamless experience. The data revealed that 60 percent of consumers surveyed prefer human staff versus AI-managed customer support, despite the potential for increased service efficiency.
In addition, bartenders are mixing sparkling wine of all styles and prices into their cocktails to add effervescence, crispness or sweetness to the experience. Wines Chill Out : Chilled selections of red and sweet wines appeared on menus across the U.S. Will non-alcoholic beverages be the hot new drink on tap?
Franchise brands have many goals in common: enter a new market; attract new franchisees, employees and loyal customers; increase average unit volume (AUV); and accelerate franchise expansion strategies. Every brand has a story, and that’s what makes customers, employees and franchisees take notice, choose you and keep coming back.
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