Starting, Owning and Marketing A Restaurant Blog|Starting and Owning a Restaurant - Construction, Planning, Marketing, Opening and Managing a New Restaurant

Restaurateurs spend many hours confined within the walls of their restaurant locations. We become slaves to our masters, the customer. We also become stale like day old bread - still good for some things, but the creative juices are harder to get flowing. Traveling, or visiting multiple restaurants locally, gives us the opportunity to get the mind open for a rush of new ideas.

Rarely have I eaten a dish in a restaurant that I wanted to copy. On the other hand, rarely have I visited another restaurant without coming away with flavor combinations that worked, presentations that caught my eye and customer service thoughts that were good (or bad).

On a trip last week to a major metropolitan area for a few days, I came away with;

• A sauce idea for chipotle sweet and spicy mustard. The flavors worked.
• While consuming a better than average pizza at a local popular pub I detected a smokey flavor that lead me to believe the pizzas were cooked in a wood fired oven. I came to find out they only had a standard deck oven, but used a smoked provolone cheese as part of the ingredients. That gave me the idea for an oven braised brisket sandwich that would be topped with the smoked provolone cheese that could add a new dimension of flavor.
• While consuming a horrible hotel breakfast, there was a yogurt sauce comprised of frozen blueberries and a touch of maple flavoring that topped fresh fruit. It worked!
• A house salad that was served in a giant martini glass tuned upside down at the table onto a plate. It had everyone oohing and awing at the sight.
• In a virtual zoo of restaurants along a mile stretch of commercial roadway, there had to be 60 restaurants, independents and every national chain imaginable. Visiting a couple of the independents that were exceptionally busy was my goal. They were surviving quite well in the midst of one of the most competitive markets I have seen - with ongoing construction that will lead to more potential competitive conditions. I wanted to know why they were full on a snowy weekday night. An un-scientific, quick survey showed three things. One, the two independents I visited both had food that matched the demographic for the area. Two, service was on target, friendly and not scripted like many chains. Three, the atmosphere was cozy and locally themed versus the clinical look of many chains.
• Two other notes I made in this beehive of restaurants was that half empty parking lots at five big name Italian chains in this mile long stretch showed that over building in any market can be a silly venture. Finally, the burger wars were evident. The big names were there including stalwarts McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, White Castle, Rally’s, Sonic and expanding chains like Five Guy’s, Red Robin, Steak n’ Shake, Dairy Queen and WhataBurger. Nestled in between all of the big names were a couple of local favorites that seemed to be able to find their niche with long lines that exceeded the chains during the dinner hour. The second note I made was the number of sub shops that were tucked in every corner of the area. There were two Subways, Quizno’s, Grinders, Blimpie’s and a Firehouse Sub Shop being constructed. The mental note I made was the potential for a local sub shop to produce a better product than any of the cookie cutter franchises. I have yet to see a sub franchise be able to compete with a good product produced by an independent in a local market for subs.

Prior to the recession, restaurant guests seemed to be a happy lot. They ventured into just about any food purveyor that opened their doors partly for exploration, curiosity and culinary adventure. In the last two years wallets closed up like the strings on a beggar’s purse. Consumers with less discretionary dollars to spend wanted value and “comfort”.

If you look the word comfort up in the dictionary, the common definitions include to “soothe, console, reassure, support, encourage and make physically comfortable”. That seems to sum up the average diner who walks into a full service restaurant in today’s new world. The term comfort has to be your goal for the purposes of restaurant marketing.

In the restaurant world we have bantered around the word comfort primarily to describe a particular type of food that made people feel good or brought back memories from earlier days. In fact most restaurants who changed their menu philosophy in the last year or two will tell you that “comfort” foods sell better than they ever have. That is one blessing this financial hurricane has made clear - you can be creative using lower center of the plate proteins and give the guest what they want at the same time.

However, comfort must extend beyond the plate to get more frequent visits from your guests and keep the buzz about your restaurant going. To extend your comfort factor consider these tips;

• Are you offering a comfortable atmosphere that matches your concept and guest’s expectations? Is your restaurant too loud, too quiet, too bright, too dark, too fancy, too casual?
• Physical comforts are just as important. Are your chairs too hard, too high, too soft? Is the temperature too cold, too warm? Do you smell of pleasant food odors or stale carpets and bleach cleaned floors?
• There is comforting service standards to consider. The old days of hard hitting up-selling professed by out of work “consultants” is over. You and your servers need to be less formal and more personal with the guest. Names are important. Smiles are like gold. Haste is unforgiving. Manager visits are expected. Greetings on entering and exiting should be part of every staff member’s vocabulary. The days of the pompous waiter in the tux are over.
• Value IS comfort. People want to know they are making good buying decisions. That applies to buying a car or a meal. Highlight the things that make the guest’s experience at your restaurant a value. Can you rattle those things off right now - this minute? Is it portions, prices, entertainment, friendly servers, exceptional chef, fun, easy to park and enter, quick service? Embed those comforting aspects of your restaurant in your server’s mind, your POS materials and advertising as part of your marketing plan.

In a recent article the NPD Group, a statistical research company of restaurant trends, said that total restaurants in the US declined in 2009. In general, the only segments seemingly holding their own were the quick service and fast casual chains. Hardest hit was fine dining and independents in all segments. The stats should not surprise anyone.

It should be easy to figure out that chains have more resources than independents. Many of them are feeding on themselves by selling company owned stores to franchisees and building sales by loss leader promotions at the franchisee’s expense. The arrogance of the fine dining segment, who failed to recognize early in the recession the customer’s reluctance to pay exorbitant prices, have just begun to realize dining habits may have changed for many years to come. Even the celebrity driven, curiously named restaurants of famous chefs like Gordon Ramsay and many other media made restaurant “stars” have shuttered their doors.

While most of the chains will survive, although several smaller ones have filed for bankruptcy, the real disaster is the loss of the independent restaurants across the country. These are places that have seen the proprietors put their heart and soul between the walls of memento filled structures dedicated to serving their guests the best they could. Unfortunately, the guests had to endure the same economic impact as the restaurants that wanted to serve them.

Many people, even wealthy people, have been clutching their bank statements as mutual funds declined, the security of jobs were in question and the financial structure of the country was threatened with total failure. In the main stream, millions of people are out of work and many more are losing their homes to excesses of the past. Eating out has become less of a habit and more of a thoughtful experience mitigated by relative financial condition. Big spenders moved down a notch, the secure middle class went to more fast casual and the unemployed or lower income segment moved quickly to QSR’s.

For independent restaurants, many have closed. Others are digging deep in their pockets to survive and still more are hovering daily between solvency and bankruptcy. The end of the recession is not at hand. There are no quick fixes that will magically transform the world overnight.

There are the exceptions to the gloom and doom word picture. Many restaurants made the adjustments early. The owners, management and chefs came out of the kitchen and recognized their patrons were disappearing. Management listened to concerns of other customers, new and old, who were still visiting, watched their ordering habits change and reacted. Most of these restaurants are doing well and many have grown or “beat the street” meaning doing better than most.

If you are an independent, keep connected to your guests. Listen to the customer and not to media. Forget the “restaurant consultants” who believe coupons, discounts and promotions will solve all your problems. Don’t believe the the remarkable stories about social media and the instant successes - it doesn’t happen that way. If you are struggling and can make it for a few months more financially, here are a few steps that may salvage your dream:

1. If you haven’t done it, make the toughest financial cuts you have ever had to make. That may include the loss of long term employees, reducing salaries, wages and/or hours. Every expenditure should be questioned, no matter how big or how small.
2. Today, not tomorrow, talk to your suppliers. Find out what IS selling. Even more important find out what is NOT selling. The larger purveyors can help you with refreshing new ideas for your restaurant. Use them - most are looking for new business also.
3. Creatively change your menu. Look for value from a customer’s perspective, while maintaining a reasonable margin. If $25 steaks have been turning grey on your line, try the alternative grades and cuts. Let the customer know you are searching for alternative proteins to offer some relief to their pocketbook crunch. Make that menu change today and let the customer know it. In the past, restaurateurs have always focused on higher priced items. Now your focus should be better value items. If you don’t offer them, guests will migrate elsewhere.
4. If you haven’t used inexpensive marketing tools like email marketing, viral marketing, networking, word of mouth campaigns, community involvement and dozens more, start today - all of these take time to produce long term results.

Finally, if you are lost, and feel you can make it with some direction, send me a private note through the comment section of the blog. Tell me your circumstances. All comments are first directed to me before they go public. None will go public that deal with any individual restaurant. That keeps the “consultants”, spam and sellers of products and services from ruining this restaurant blog designed for the independent restaurateur. If nothing else, I will send you a copy of The Restaurant Ebook for free or at least the section titled One Hundred Ways to Market Your Restaurant. All 100 ways cost little or nothing. Maybe all you need is a restaurant cheerleader. I can be that also. One thing I can assure of - I know what you have been dealing with! My three restaurants are in the same economy as yours.

 Note: No identifiable information will ever be published!

It is sad to see independents close their doors. Let’s re-connect with the guest and keep the dreams alive.

Word of mouth is unequaled in the power to get new customers through your doors. Word of mouth marketing is also one of the most universally misunderstood. Just because Aunt Violet made a comment to a neighbor that she visited your operation and the food was “good”, that is not word of mouth restaurant marketing. While it was a positive sign that Aunt Violet made the comment, having “good” food applies to 75% of the independent restaurants in the country.

True word of mouth restaurant marketing includes customer training. That’s right, training the guest to be your ambassador to friends, family and acquaintances. When a customer knows what to say and how to describe your restaurant, the effectiveness of the communication is of far more value. You wouldn’t think of sending a server to a table without training — why would you send your guests into the world without the right things to say?

For instance, if Aunt Violet had told her neighbor, “ Joe’s Restaurant had great food because they used “all local citrus” from farms in the area that reminded her of what “fresh really is”. Where do you think a phrases like that came from? What if Aunt Violet had stated, “Joe’s had rustic bread that tasted like it came from a monastery in France”. Where do you think that description would come from? How about bacon that was “apple cured and thick cut”.

Restaurants communicate with guests in many ways. The common methods are through menus, servers, table POS, signs and advertising. Repetitive phrases that describe your food, your differences and the things that make the dining experience unique can be embedded in your guests mind. I call them “talking points” much like speakers and politicians use in preparation for speeches. Do your servers, menus and signs contain talking points your guests can use when describing their visits to your establishment?

As the new year begins and a new decade is born, the question about the costs to start a restaurant will survive and be repeated another million times in the next ten years. In hundreds of emails, countless meetings and numerous uninformed writers querying me, I know I’ll hear it. And yet, it’s difficult to explain to the questioner why it’s the wrong question to be asking.

Obviously, each restaurant is different. The size, type, location, demographic and owner choices cannot be factored in a brief encounter. What can be determined are the things that cause financial pain and hardship for most restaurants who’s new owners don’t ask the important question -  ”What are the costs to start a restaurant that I won’t be able calculate without experience?” That is the question. It is easy to calculate and add up equipment costs, food inventory, salaries and fixed costs, but what about the things you didn’t think of?

Below is just a partial list of costs generally forgotten or not factored into those starting restaurant budgets;

• Deposits - While these may not be carried on your financial statement as a cost (or expense), they are a cash outlay that be in many thousands of dollars. There are lease security deposits, utility deposits, bank deposits for starting cash and even possible retainer deposits for professionals like attorneys and accountants. Collectively, these could total $5000 to well over $10,000.
• Licenses - The cost to start a restaurant has grown significantly in the last few years as local, state and federal agencies have turned licenses into a method of taxation. Examples include licenses for occupancy (from $200 to $1000), cafe permits for operating on sidewalks or streets, liquor license fees for inspections, forms and filing fees, franchise fees for registering your business, fees for state and identification numbers and fees for federal filings and tax ID numbers. These fees can total thousands of dollars depending on your location.
• Professional Fees - No one should start a business today without competent advice from both an attorney and an accountant. While their fees can total as much as $250 per hour, they can save you tens of thousands of dollars in taxes and problems as your business grows.
• Impact Fees - Many communities now charge start-up “impact Fees” that are supposed to be the cost of your usage of community services such as gas lines, water lines, streets and infrastructure built by the local government. In the last restaurant we opened, I had a $10,000 surprise during construction!
• Cash Flow Requirements - Of all the cash needs, this one can put you out of business in a hurry. Without getting into a whole accounting class on cash flow, let it suffice to state that a profitable restaurant can go bankrupt profitably (with negative cash flow) just as easy as a slow to develop restaurant can run out of cash. If you do not have the cash to survive for six months in a worst case scenario you and your accountant calculate, don’t open a new restaurant until you can.

These are the things that are commonly missed on restaurant business plans. These items can turn a great concept into locked doors very quickly. Food and service are still the biggest factors in buiding your restaurant, but cash needs can bring you to your knees no matter how great the food is.

One of the hiring strategies at our restaurants over the years is to avoid employing people from the hotel industry. Before I have a dozen nasty emails, read on! Generalizations are never good. The exceptions are quickly and easily pointed out. However, hotel trained staff do not think like independent restaurant entrepreneurs.

It’s not their fault! Hospitality and lodging personnel are forced to live within budgets, percentages, rules and performances based solely from numbers dictated by corporate managed food and beverage operations.

Are they successful at what they do? Most are until the situation requires thinking and acting outside the lines. Many hotels and travel based food operations have found in a recession they no longer had captive restaurant visitors where service was sometimes an afterthought.

The difference between hotels and large upscale chains and independent restaurants is the ability to operate and adapt quickly through a clear path directly to the restaurant guest. As the recession closed in on the consumer and restaurants across the world, independents had to find new ways to keep butts in the seats of our restaurants. All restaurants had to change quickly and menu strategies had to be re-thought. Hotels, white table cloth chains and high end corporate dining facilities have been hit the hardest with some major names seeing sales declines exceeding 25%.

One reason for the hotel and high end restaurant revenue declines was their inability to move away from just numbers and connect with customers. One thing is for certain. Guests want value. That means they need to perceive that every dollar spent can be justified as reasonable in these hard times. Hotels and the big ticket chains thought, at first, they were just going to lower that prime New York Strip from $49 to $39 ala carte and the problem would be solved. It didn’t happen. Justifying $39 for a 12 ounce piece of meat and little else won’t work anytime soon.

Menus had to be re-designed to give the customer more for less. The numbers game became less about margins and more about plate cost versus selling price in real dollars not percentages. For instance, a surf and turf with filet and lobster may have a price tag $50 on a menu. The cost to produce that plate may be $25. Not bad if you can get it. But people quit spending $50 or $40 - they wanted to avoid being extravagant while the financial world crashed and burned.

Recession Restaurant Menu Lesson One- High priced anything won’t work! Even the wealthy downscaled their eating regimens. Price points become critical. When the consumer defines the term “value”, they mean a well rounded bargain for their buck. It could be just food. It could be the combination of food and service. It could be food, service and entertainment or ambiance, or convenience, or almost any combination of attractions.

A positive example would be the restaurants that focused on improving service, increasing customer loyalty programs and re-thinking their menu by being creative. Instead of serving that $15 per pound fillet, they moved to chicken, pork and lower priced proteins, but served them in new ways. That big plate of chicken Marsala on a large bed of fettuccine noodles became attractive particularly with a price tag of well under $20 for a complete dinner. It sure looked better to the consumer than the lonely 10 ounce fillet at $30 dollars or more. Even the QSR chains quickly discovered that offering those 99 cent specials while raising drink prices by 30 or 40 percent didn’t fool the consumer very long. They just quit buying the drinks!

Recession Restaurant Menu Lesson Number Two- Forget trying to lure the consumer with low priced offerings that require expensive add-ons to complete a reasonable meal. Plate cost versus selling price must become part of your restaurant menu planning strategy. Creativity will survive, but ruthless discounting may hurt brands for years to come.

Forget trying to price based on margins. What does it cost to produce a dinner entree before adding center of the plate proteins? If you offer a salad, potato (or other side) and bread, what is the cost? Let’s assume it’s $3. If you add to that a lobster tail at $6, the old mentality may have been to triple or quadruple the combined cost for a total of $27 to $36. The recession has forced us to look at minimums for plate production and work from there, while having a price target in mind.

For instance, if you want to keep entrees below $18, and you need a $12 production minimum, $3 plate cost before the feature item, that leaves $3 maximum for the center of the plate.

Now you can adjust prices and menu items using this philosophy. Impossible, you say! If you can’t buy into  that theory,  you are probably struggling in this economy or are just plain lucky with a perfect location that has lots of captive business. If you think $3 (or other number you calculate) is too little of an amount to allocate for the center of the plate, that is where creativity and self bargaining come into play. Creativity begins with knowing your food costs. An 8 oz. chicken breast probably costs you around $1. A bone in 8 oz. pork chop will cost you about $1.90. Pollock, tilapia and catfish will all fit into that range. All of these leave room for a creative sauce and presentation.A reasonable portion of shrimp, mussels, clams and much more will also work.

Self bargaining is another creative tool. Hypothetically, you could be shooting for an AVERAGE production profit of $12 per plate, that $17 shrimp scampi won’t make it. Then create another dish that makes up the difference by using much lower proteins like pasta, rice, sausages, ground meats. A Tuscan sausage fettuccine may make up the extra dollar you spent on a seafood grill that went over your target. The goal is to balance your menu to keep prices down and seats full, while keeping positive cash flow. An empty restaurant that insists on the status quo won’t make payroll, pay supplier bills and cover fixed costs.

Recession Restaurant Menu Lesson Number Three - Margins won’t work. Know your costs. How many covers do you need to break even? What is the average per plate production cost you will need to break even? What is your per plate production cost? What proteins can be offered to give value and profit an equal share of the menu item? It’s amazing how many restaurants report they are running the same number of covers, but at average tabs of 10-15% less in sales. That means you have to put profit back into the picture on a per cover basis.

If you don’t know your costs, menu pricing in a recession will be dangerous. Many of the casual chains are running big promotions the franchisees pay the price for.  They may drive traffic, but profits at the corporate level are based on sales, at the expense of the franchisee’s profit. Trying to duplicate this pricing tactic as an independent may be tempting, but your costs and ability to survive are immediate. Driving traffic through loss leaders will leave you looking for real dollars to make payroll.

Keep an eye on commodities. What is coming down? What is going up? Focus on proteins that have a sustainable pricing outlook. Work with your suppliers closer than ever before. Get advice about what items and menu ideas may fall into your price points.

When will the recession end? Whoever has the crystal ball to foresee that could be very rich - but they won’t be in the restaurant business. It is very likely our industry will feel the effects of the economy for several years to come. Even as economic health returns, people have changed their habits. Returning to the free spending consumers that used a great deal of their disposable income on dining out, may be a long time off.

Every restaurant owner and manager knows that food prices can sneak upward. In fact, in 2008 prices were rising so fast on eggs, grain products and plastics that by the time you could change your menu, it was already outdated. Most of us would have paid dearly for a crystal ball that could forecast the future to stay ahead of the upward spiral.

Fortunately prices have begun to moderate. Many have come down and others fluctuate more frequently than ever before. It is a balancing act to keep reasonable menu pricing that allows a profit margin. Below are a few things that may help with your costs for re-sale items;

• Many major suppliers have a weekly or monthly commodity report that shows trends and predictions for the immediate future. Ask to be placed on the mailing list for these regular communications.
• Key item prices must be watched closely. Do you know what 20 items you spend the most money on? If not, you should! Take that list and create a spreadsheet that lists the items and change your cost weekly or monthly for all 20 items as your invoices come in. At the bottom of the spreadsheet have a total for each week or month. Is that total going up or down? This is a simple, but effective way to view immediate price trends and alarms for your major ingredients.
• If you are in the middle of a menu change, factor in the seasonal and regional price fluctuations of your restaurant’s biggest selling items. If you are steak house you know that beef is going to increase around the holidays and come back down in the early spring. Vegetables cost more (in general) during the winter than in late spring. Restaurant menu pricing is an art, not based on just today, but the life of your menu.
• Crude oil prices affect a major part of your overall costs of doing business. If crude is high, so is the cost of gasoline and diesel fuels that lead to higher delivery costs (surcharges, too!). Delivery costs filter through the entire restaurant industry, since trucking is the major source of product moving. Oil prices also affect the costs associated with plastics and packaging materials.

Projecting costs as you revise your restaurant menu can also be moderated by adjusting portions, garnishes and side dish offerings. Creativity can keep your margins in check between menu adjustments.

Find a system that works for you. It can make the difference between a profit or loss. The other option, doing nothing, won’t work in this economy and perhaps ever again in the future.

Of course, there is always that magic crystal ball that may someday appear on Ebay or Craig’s List - but I am not going to wait on it!!

How can anyone ever pay more than $5 for a sub at Subway? Will consumers pay more than a $1 for a double burger at McDonalds? Will the food at Applebee’s ever be worth more than $20 for two people? New studies show the answer may be an emphatic NO!

Heavy discounting on solid menu items may actually permanently harm the big brands. When the recession begins to unwind for the restaurant industry, there are indications chains that merely lowered prices to fill seats can expect consumers to balk at paying higher prices for the foreseeable future. As the jobs picture brightens and unemployment returns to acceptable levels, that doesn’t mean diners will forgo bargains. By that time the public will have been conditioned to look for those same chains to continue bargains and low prices.

On the other hand, independent restaurants who became creative and worked hard to offer new menu items that were pocketbook friendly, but seen as a value to the consumer will emerge stronger. There will not be the consumer backlash toward price increases the chains will be forced to impose. Heavily franchised brands like Subway, McDonald’s, Applebee’s and all the rest have shown decent financials during the recession. So who is paying the price for heavy discounting? The franchisees. The owners of the franchises continue to pay their royalties based on sales volume to the mother corporation. Low prices drive traffic, not profit at the franchise level.

Independents who brought back comfort foods, worked with suppliers to find lower cost proteins and shed costs to survive, will not suffer the same consumer rebellion many marketing experts are predicting for the discounters. The message here is clear. Consumers have certain expectations when it comes to value. Once you establish a value for a product you can’t say, oh, we were just kidding, it’s worth much more!

The restaurateur who suffered through the recession by working hard to be inventive will be rewarded with loyalty as consumer discretionary spending on restaurant visits returns to normal.

As most restaurateurs do, I visit new restaurants that move into our operating area.  I am particularly partial to independents who are following their dream. The challenges of opening a new restaurant are great, but I know its rewarding to see a new face walk in the door in the early stages.

In this particular case the new restaurant is facing steep odds. They are serving Cajun style PO Boys and sides in mainly a quick take out format. They are located on a main thoroughfare in a suburban city center. There is some walk by trade. The footprint is small, about 600 square feet. Their overhead should be relatively low.

The food I ordered sampled four different items. The quality was above average. Service was a little slow even though I was the only customer they had right after they opened at 11 AM one morning.

As most restaurant owners do, I silently watched as my food was prepared and viewed the equipment, atmosphere and process to prepare the order. I can’t help myself from assessing the survival chances of this new sub shop. It’s a bad habit, but the mind has a will of its own that can’t be denied.

My assessment is that they will serve a product we typically call “good food”. I am sure the new owners consider this assessment accurate (what new restaurant owner doesn’t?). Unfortunately, they ignored some basic key elements to give themselves a chance to make it in an industry that has an 80 or 90 percent failure rate. Their weaknesses include:

• Parking. They have about ten spaces shared along with a half dozen other tenants along a busy street. Any other parking available to them was a block away or across a four lane busy highway. Remember, this is a carry out operation with only two tables and eight seats.
• Service cycle. My 15-20 minute wait went quickly due to natural instincts wanting to assess everything. However, a second trip would not be so forgiving. Also, how would they fare if there were two or three customers at the same time that morning. People go to carry out locations for speed and convenience. They will have neither if they expect enough volume to grow sales.
• While the restaurant was sparkling clean and new, the ambiance was non-existent. They are trying to present a Cajun theme, but a couple of pictures on the wall doesn’t do the concept justice. There are so many inexpensive options for a fun look using back bayou decor. Waiting for “good food” alone won’t keep the customer occupied.
• Other little factors included a small selection of cold drinks, few retail items off the menu and limited description of the food on the menu.

Can they change and recover from these negative elements? Most are quickly correctable. The one that is impossible to correct without some major construction in the whole area is parking. You can’t overcome a bad location. It makes no difference how good your food is or how quick you serve people. If they can’t get to you, they will go down the street to McDonalds when speed and convenience takes priority over superior food.

I hope I am wrong. Time will tell.

In the

If you have followed the last nine months of the journal on how to construct, open and operate a restaurant, you know that, at a general rule, we don’t like or use general coupons that serve no purpose other than giving a discount off your menu. In fact, it is very possible that you can condition your guests to only visit you when a coupon is available. You might as well just lower all your prices and advertise the low pricing policy you created. Not very wise in this uncertain market with the chains below cost mentality.

On the other hand, coupons can be a successful marketing tool if used for a specific goal and tracked for their success accurately. Here are a few types we are considering as our summer business seems to have reached a plateau;

• Bounce Back Coupon - The best place to start developing more business is with your existing customers. Offering an incentive for a return visit or a reward for some activity on your behalf can be used occasionally. For instance, if you are trying to build business on a certain day, for a certain menu item or time slot during the day. You can also offer a “Reward” coupon. If a guest usually comes in alone, offer a discount if they bring a friend. If a couple comes in frequently, offer the couple a discount if the bring another couple.
• Charity Coupon - If there is a group, cause or event you support within the community, offering a coupon that can be used for that charitable purpose may serve the purpose. An example could be offering ten percent of a guest’s check amount to a specific church if they bring their church bulletin on Sundays. Flat rate donations such as a coupon given to a charity for an event. If they bring the coupon in you will donate “X” dollars to the cause.
• Menu Highlight Coupons - Introducing new menu items can be a challenge. Restaurant guests seem to order their favorite menu items and don’t venture too far. You can offer a limited coupon as an incentive to try single or multiple new menu offerings.

These are just three uses of coupons that serve a purpose. They have a specific audience and/or purpose. It is critical that the response be tracked for future use or relevance to your restaurant’s goals.