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Every restaurant owner wants to know “how can I increase traffic to my restaurant while standing out from the competition?”
Although a daunting goal, the truth is there are many simple ways you can bring in new customers and increase repeat visits.
We’ve outlined three simple and cost effective ways you can increase traffic to your restaurant.
1) Increase traffic to your restaurant through social media
It is no secret that social media plays a huge role in how we connect and communicate. So why not use that to your advantage to help increase traffic in your restaurant?
Use your social media accounts to keep current customers and potential customers informed with what’s going on at your restaurant.
Keep your followers attention with consistent engagement. For example, post about your special of the day or your new drink that is all the buzz.
Furthermore, a great way to increase traffic to your restaurant through social media is with contests.
For example, you can run a contest to encourage followers to engage with your social media pages and offer a free gift card as the prize. The contest can be as simple as liking your page or having customers post and tag a photo of themselves in your restaurant.
The prize will bring the winning customer back to your restaurant, and will increase views on your social pages. When customers share these posts you will increase your social media reach to their followers. This is a great way to expand your audience for free!
2) Target your slow hours
Although it is important to focus energy into your busy hours, it is equally as important to not ignore the slow hours.
Increase traffic to your restaurant by creating a promotion or advertising initiative that targets the slower hours of the day or slower times of the year.
For example, Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest nights for restaurant owners and diners. Why not try and balance that increased traffic across the day before or the day after Valentine’s day?
Create a special promotion that targets February 13th or February 15th to encourage customers to visit during a time that is often a slower night.
Not only are you increasing revenue by driving more overall traffic with a promotional offer, but your customers will be happy they don’t have to fight long wait lines; a win-win for all!
Using a tool like the loyalty programs we provide at Ackroo, can help you better track the dips in traffic. A loyalty program also provides an easy way to contact your customers to let them know about your special promotion via email or direct mail.
3) Continue to evolve your menu to help increase traffic
A simple way to increase traffic to your restaurant is to continuously evolve your menu. This will help you keep up with food trends and customer preferences.
Certain menu items could be a hit in your restaurant while others could be a flop. The goal is to flush out what isn’t working and replace it with menu items that are a crowd pleaser.
As well, keep your menu interesting by adding special dishes for special occasions like Valentine’s Day or Halloween. Who wouldn’t love red velvet pancakes on the day of love?
In addition, when you are making any changes to your menu, be sure to communicate these changes in store, on your social media pages, and through email communication to your customers.
We hope our tips help you accomplish your goal in increasing traffic to your restaurant!
Have any questions about increasing traffic into your restaurant? Are you curious about how a gift card and loyalty program from Ackroo can help? Contact us to get in touch with our team of hospitality industry loyalty program experts!
