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“This enduring customer loyalty drives the restaurant industry forward, creating clear opportunities for restaurants to enhance the dining experience through strategic limited time offers, efficient delivery and exceptional in-person service," said Samir Zabaneh, CEO of TouchBistro.
For restaurant operators striving to cut through the noise and connect with today's diners, understanding the nuances of modern marketing and PR is crucial. What are common mistakes you see restaurant operators making in their marketing efforts and how can they rebound? It's essential for survival and growth.
This generation prioritizes social responsibility over traditional brand loyalty and gravitates toward integrity, sustainability, and values-driven experiences. The restaurant industry is undergoing a significant shift as Gen Z diners reshape dining expectations. By actively investing in the community through events such as LOOK!
Steady Online Ordering Brings Food Waste, Donations to the Forefront of Priorities Ordering food online increases restaurant sales, but it also can potentially increase wasted food if proactive measures aren’t taken – for both the business and consumers at home.
Winning new customers is harder in this market so operators should lean into customer databases to leverage loyalty. One tactic could be to maintain or roll-back the prices of their most popular menu items, allowing operators to promote the products synonymous with their brand while also recognizing customer loyalty.
For instance, I believe loyaltyprograms will evolve even further from providing customized recommendations, exclusive offers, and curated experiences based on past purchases and preferences. For instance, smart inventory systems can help reduce waste, while energy-efficient appliances cut operational costs and carbon footprints.
Building a restaurant marketing budget can feel overwhelming. With tight margins, unpredictable cash flow, and endless marketing options, its hard to know how much to spendor where to spend it. Creating an effective marketing budget doesnt have to be all that complicated. The good news?
Restaurants must now navigate a razor-thin margin between maintaining customer loyalty and managing escalating costs. “Restaurants can't simply rely on their traditional playbooks anymore," says Forrest Morgeson, Associate Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University and Director of Research Emeritus at the ACSI. "Smaller,
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.
Let’s explore 26 proven online marketing strategies to help your restaurant thrive. Target location-specific searches for more visibility The ultimate goal of your online marketing campaigns should be to bring in local customers to your restaurant. To do so, you must have an optimized website and engaging social media profiles.
This guide will teach you everything you need to know about getting started with restaurant marketing. By the time you finish this article, youll know how to approach restaurant marketing the right way and not waste time doing guesswork, crossing your fingers, and then hoping you see new customers walking through the door.
. "If I had the opportunity, I would encourage them to employ voice analytics, not to automate ordering, but rather to analyze customer/employee conversations for insights into customer experience, operational efficiency, marketing effectiveness, safety compliance, employee engagement, and more, he said. "The
Every online order, email sign up, and reward program interaction generates valuable insightsbut if that data just sits there, youre missing a major opportunity. When used strategically, customer data can help you personalize marketing, streamline operations, and create a better dining experience for your guests.
If the music is too loud or inappropriate, the guest’s night is ruined and their money wasted, no matter how good the food or service. There are technological solutions to this; for example, audio systems can be programmed to turn on at a certain time, and even change the tempo, genre and mood of music as the day goes on.
A strong POS system can streamline operations, inventory and menu management, assist with staffing shortages and scheduling conflicts, as well as assist with sorting through data and sales patterns to help personalize marketing campaigns in a new location. Tracking inventory can prevent unnecessary and costly food waste.
Do you lose money due to food waste? If customer retention is a priority consider a digital loyaltyprogram or automated marketing tools. Guest Experience & Loyalty : Integrate with CRM and loyaltyprograms to personalize offers and encourage repeat business. Identify your biggest pain points.
Use Automated Email Marketing to Stay Top of Mind with Customers 88% of people check their emails every day, making email marketing one of the most effective ways to increase sales. Reward Repeat Customers for their Loyalty A well-designed loyaltyprogram turns loyal customers into your most reliable source of repeat business.
This preference for environmentally conscious brands makes it critical for restaurants to find ways to integrate sustainability into operations and develop a plan to promote these sustainability initiatives through various channels including digital, marketing materials, and streamlined internal communications and messaging.
Unified commerce platforms are linking POS, payments, loyaltyprograms, and performance analytics to create seamless experiences across every guest touchpoint. Expect predictive systems that adapt to real-world conditions in real time: weather, local events, and market trends. And it’s not just for large enterprises.
Knowing how to calculate and optimize your customer acquisition cost (CAC) can help you make smarter decisions about your marketing and advertising strategies. CAC lets you get a clearer view of how your marketing efforts impact your bottom line.
Mobile ordering has become the preferred method for customers, with 71% saying they would rather use a restaurants branded mobile app over third-party platforms because its more affordable, easy to use, and personalized due to loyaltyprograms. Here is an example of a restaurants branded app.
Controlling food waste is a hot topic in the industry as well. Food Waste Management Food waste management has always been a challenge for the restaurant industry. Because each person is different and may not have been trained well in food preparation, the level of waste can be extremely high.
Additionally, digital inventory management systems provide real-time stock updates, helping maintain optimal inventory levels, reduce waste, and ensure the availability of ingredients. AI-driven predictive analytics, for instance, help forecast demand, manage inventory, and reduce food waste.
Create a Strong Online Presence While platforms like Instagram and TikTok can generate buzz for a restaurant, many Gen Z customers are still looking to traditional platforms like Yelp and Google Maps when choosing a restaurant to visit; therefore, marketing strategies should focus on creating a strong online presence for the overall brand.
This capability can prove invaluable for refining pricing strategies, optimising ingredient and waste management, and planning forthcoming shifts, among other benefits. To capture their attention and loyalty, businesses, including restaurants, must prioritise easy access and convenience.
Order Accuracy Rate Customer loyalty is significantly impacted by the order accuracy rate, which measures how often customers receive exactly what they ordered. Promotions & Discounts: Limited-time deals and loyaltyprograms can incentivize more online orders. What Impacts Order Volume?
Photo: Shutterstock Made-to-order food, value offerings, loyaltyprograms. Increasingly, however, they are becoming the hallmarks of convenience-store foodservice programs. By Heather Lalley on Jun. 17, 2025 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Convenience-store pizza edged out chain pizza in a survey of consumer taste preferences.
These include: Food Costs Labor Costs Occupancy Costs Operating Costs Marketing and Promotions Expenses Every successful restaurant owner knows that tracking these isnt just a bookkeeping exercise; its how you spot opportunities to save money, collect data for better decision making, and run more efficiently.
. “At a time when restaurants are continuing to face increased costs of operation, owners must be cognizant of not only the customer experience but also the impacts their changes will have on loyalty patterns. Is there a way for brands to better market dynamic/surge pricing so it might be more palatable to diners?
How can you adjust your B2C marketing strategy to align with their needs and provide an elevated culinary experience? You can craft a B2C marketing strategy that is interesting, relevant, and successful by following this checklist. Conduct market research to verify that your pricing corresponds to perceived value.
Restaurants that have an integrated POS solution are accepting payments more than any other function, but many also use these platforms for accounting services, inventory management, gift cards, mobile loyaltyprograms, and even leveraging internal customer data to drive social promotion and marketing campaigns.
Without a strong system in place, even the best restaurants in the world will struggle with unhappy customers, high turnover rates, wasted inventory, and razor-thin profit margins. Marketing and Customer Engagement Even the best-run restaurant wont thrive if no one knows about it. Its tough, and cant be done passively.
5 Use social media and email marketing to promote Super Bowl specials and gift card promotions to attract customers. Create a loyaltyprogram that rewards customers for repeat visits during the Super Bowl. Between social media, loyaltyprograms, apps and email/text, restaurants have a built-in database of loyal customers.
Other examples include: Software subscriptions with usage-based tiers Maintenance or repair work Overtime pay for hourly workers Semi-variable restaurant costs can sneak up on you if youre not watching closely, but theyre also an area where a little strategy can go a long way toward minimizing waste.
This gave rise to a variety of creative solutions including expansion to curated meal kits and market baskets. Recognizing this shift, Freshii , a fast-casual franchise with hundreds of locations globally, created a corporate partnership that enables companies to offer meal kits and market baskets at a discount to their employees.
By improving customer loyalty and increasing revenue through the smart use of technology from the public-facing part of the business all the way to the back-of-house prep, sourcing, and staffing. Focus digital marketing on upsales by extending an offer while consumers are on site or creating an order off-premises.
AI is a program developed by humans to respond to a set of instructions under specific environments. AI programs factor in various variables like human response patterns, scenarios, locations, languages, and more to deliver what is expected of them. But before we learn more about it, here is a quick recap of what AI and ML are.
We also see the Change Maker program as a way to identify future leaders for Snooze. With the right tools and support, Change Makers can assist with onboarding and training new Snoozers, manage relationships with local non-profit partners, and help drive local, community-focused marketing initiatives. Photos courtesy of Snooze A.M.
POS and Payments : Restaurateurs wasted no time investing in new point-of-sale (POS) and payments solutions to help them navigate the pandemic. Loyalty : Loyaltyprograms also saw a major uptick during the pandemic, with two in five operators implementing their loyaltyprograms in the last one to two years.
Restaurants, retailers and airlines have been using loyaltyprograms to drive revenue for nearly three centuries. From their humble, though ingenious, beginnings as copper tokens and stamps, through the era of credit card clubs, to today’s mobile apps, loyaltyprograms have become indispensable marketing tools.
Brand purpose is crucial in the management of restaurants as it can significantly enhance customer loyalty, employee engagement, and overall business performance. Reducing waste, whether food or packaging, is another initiative that appeals to them.
Furthermore, it also improves food safety and minimizes waste; moreover, it will contribute directly to your bottom line, which has seen participation from Walmart and Nestle. After announcing the partnership, the company ran a pilot program in outlets in Denver this month. Innovative Loyalty Schemes. Marketing and publicity.
TouchBistro acquired Boston-based TableUp, a provider of loyalty and marketing solutions for the restaurant industry. and will enable TouchBistro to fully integrate customer loyalty and guest marketing into its all-in-one point-of-sale (POS) and restaurant management platform. ” Tyga Bites Launches.
Smart Cost-Cutting Strategies for Restaurants Effective inventory management requires a well-trained, organized team using consistent routines, streamlined processes, accurate par levels, menu cross-utilization, and reliable inventory software to minimize waste and maintain efficiency.
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