If you're a restaurateur or a restaurant manager how do you compete with restaurants in close proximity that..

Question

...have the same or similar concepts as yours?

Answer 1

Well I had an old friend who was very successful in the department store business.. He owned part of what is now Dillards.. he sold out to them several years ago.. He had a saying that went this way"You have to get them in your store first, then if you dont sell them something, its your own d**n fault." he was one of the most successful people I have ever known... He would come up with  ways that would make people want to come into his store.. He built a parking lot a good distance from down town.. ran a subway to his department store... Had a restaurant in the subway waiting area.. at morning he had  bacon and eggs cooking that you could smell getting off the subway..well dough nuts too. and in the evenings he had chicken and BBQ cooking that you could smell waiting for  your ride.. he was something else.. bottom line is. I think you need a way to get them in your store.. ..Id say if you sell breakfast...have real cheap biscuits and gravy in the mornings or something similar.. something to get them into the habit of coming to your place.. lots of possibilities.. but I think you have to give something to get something.. that gets peoples attention

Answer 2

We try to give the best service possible. Also, we do promotions with local hotels and businesses. Especially new businesses. For example, we give out a discount card (10% off for 3 months) to employees at any new business in the area. This will give us a better chance to earn their patronage on a regular basis.

Answer 3

yes

Answer 4

Well, I'm "only" a waitress, but I've been at my job for 20 years. Basically, it comes to service. A good cook definately helps, but service is a must too. Usually the first person you see when you enter a restaurant is the server. That server has to be nice and courteous. The server has to be experienced to handle complaints accordingly. And a server has to handle themselves too.

I've been to restaurants where the service is bad, and I won't go back. And I've been to restaurants where the waitresses look like c**p and I won't go back. If you can't do yourself up for your job, ( decent hair, makeup, ironed clothes), then you shouldn't be in public. I'm not saying that you have to be beautiful, but there is a big difference between clean and caring or dirty and disguisting!!

We have a lot of repeat customers. We have customers that come back because of us waitresses. They like our personalities and we try to make them feel at home.

One time, we had out of towners in, and they commented on how they liked our atmosphere, noticing that we called each other (staff and customers) by our first names. I never paid attention to that.

You can offer specials to compete, but if you don't like the restaurant to begin with, it won't matter what the specials are. I think it's more on taking care of the customer, and making them a repeat one. And if you have people that don't do that, then you're going to fail.

Answer 5

We do everything better. Food, service and ambiance. I am on top of everything because, "God is in the details."

I also find post card mailings announcing special events very effective.