In today’s food industry landscape, the competition out there is fierce. That means you have to stay on top of your game and get a little creative when it comes to outshining the others. Luckily, we’ve got some sweet tips that are easy to put into play.
- Use delivery to dial up dine-in.
Remember, delivery customers are also dine-in customers from time to time, so use the delivery bag as a vehicle to woo them into the restaurant. Drop in a flyer with dine-in specials or advertise an upcoming event. Maybe even throw in a little incentive, like a free app or drink when they come in for a visit. Take advantage of the opportunity to engage them further and showcase the other great experiences your business has to offer.
- Optimize and minimize your delivery menu.
While we’re talking delivery, it’s super important to make sure that the items you offer travel well. Test them out. Which ones hold up? Which ones don’t? Better yet, take a look at customer reviews and comments to see which dishes consistently garner positive reviews. The goal here is to give your customers the best delivery experience possible, so don’t feel like you have to offer everything you offer in restaurant, especially if the quality is going to be affected by the trip.
- Elevate non-peak periods.
This is where the Skip Analytics tool comes in handy. Have a look at your numbers to see when your peak and non-peak times are (you can do that by searching by hour, daypart, or time of the week). See a pattern? Consider trying out a special or a discount during that down time, like a Happy Hour from 2-5pm with drink specials or half-priced apps on a slower evening. You’re already paying for rent, staff, and utilities so why not make the most of it?
- Upsell and cross-sell to outsell.
Another great way to supercharge those sales is to get the customer to spend more on every visit or delivery order. Build in opportunities to upsell add-on items like drinks, shareables, appetizers, or desserts. You can also bundle up a couple of items and offer that bundle at a slightly discounted rate compared to selling each item separately. Even though you’re offering them at a discount, you could end up selling more of them overall. These are the types of offers that will help you stand out in the crowd and edge out the competition.
- Trust in the power of science.
Want to increase profitability up to 20%? Tap into the power of menu engineering to turn that menu into a money-maker. This involves strategically arranging prices, items, and layout to enhance the customer experience. For example, you could put your best-selling, most profitable items at the top to make sure they don’t get lost in the mix and put your less popular, lower margin dishes at the bottom. Looking for more menu design tips? Check these out. Need some pricing pointers? We’ve got you covered here.
(Source: https://restaurant.eatapp.co/blog/food-cost/menu-engineering)
- Play around with presentation.
Sometimes you just need to get a little creative. Give some thought as to how some of your menu items are going out there, whether in-house or for delivery and see how you might be able to tweak them to optimize quality. For example, you might want to take one of your popular dine-in menu items and create a snackable version that would travel better for delivery. Or maybe create a bigger, shareable version of that item to appeal to groups coming in for Happy Hour who may not want to eat a full meal.
As you can see, implementing tactics to boost sales is easier than you think. With a little creativity and ingenuity, you can turn your business into a profit powerhouse.
