What are the secrets to attracting customers to your restaurant? What an interesting question! We've put together a (non-exhaustive!) list of ideas and tricks to give you the best chance of selling out. Some ideas are very easy to implement, others require more time and commitment on your part... It's up to you to choose from all the ideas presented below and try to apply them in your fast-food restaurant! Discover 8 ideas to attract customers and fill your restaurant.
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8 ideas to attract more customers and fill your restaurant
1. Launch special promotions to fill your restaurant
"50% off all desserts", "20% off every Wednesday lunchtime for students", "1 pizza bought = 1 pizza free on Friday evenings"...Â
Restaurant promotions and special offers help to attract new customers and retain existing ones by offering attractive incentives. This can boost sales, increase footfall and build trust with your customers. Customers remember the days when their favorite restaurant runs special offers, and will want to come and take advantage of them!Â
2. Celebrate major events all year round
If you want to build long-term customer loyalty, you can follow their rhythm throughout the year. Set up a calendar of the year's major events: Christmas, New Year, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Halloween...Â
In the same vein, you can follow the calendar of upcoming sporting events: the Rugby World Cup from September 9 to October 15, 2023, the African Cup of Nations in January 2024, the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament in March 2024, the Olympic Games in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024...Â
Customers are used to going out on the evenings of big events, with friends or family, and you'll have every chance of selling out!Â
3. Develop your visibility on social networks to attract new customers
Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Tik Tok... Social networks allow you to reach a wide audience, which can help increase awareness of your restaurant. By sharing attractive and engaging content, you can reach new people and encourage them to push open the doors of your fast-food restaurant!
Social networks are also a great way to promote your restaurant's special offers, promotions and events. You can share information about offers, special menus, tastings, upcoming events, etc., toattract customers and entice them to come to your establishment.
👉 Going further: 8 tips for developing your restaurant on social networks
4. Appear on Google Maps (Google My Business listing)
Creating a Google My Business listing for your fast-food outlet offers a number of undeniable advantages: increasing the online visibility of your establishment, displaying key information such as address, opening hours, menus, showing photos of your dishes... The idea is also to collect customer reviews to obtain good referencing on Google.Â
5. Attract influencers to talk about your brand
There's no denying it: influencers play an important role in marketing and advertising. So much so, in fact, that you can call on one of them to reach a large audience. Working with an influencer will give you greater visibility on social networks (thanks to their fan base and subscribers), broaden your audience and encourage engagement with your brand, product and/or point of sale.Â
Influencers are often talented and innovative content creators, so it would be a shame to miss out on this opportunity!Â
6. Make it easy to collect (because today's customers don't wait)
Especially if you run a fast-food establishment, customers come because they don't want to wait. Save them time with touch terminals and QR code ordering at the table. Your customers place their orders at their own pace and don't have to wait to pay.Â
By facilitating checkout, and more broadly, by improving the customer experience, you show your customers that you've understood their expectations of fast, efficient service.
7. Create ad campaigns
Targeted advertising on social networks or Google Ads can boost orders and fill your restaurant. This option will require you to invest some money, but it's well worth it! Targeted advertising on the social networks Facebook and Instagram will enable you toattract a younger, more connected clientele who consume. You can highlight your classic menus, seasonal recipes, marketing operations, special offers... Targeting an audience that will be receptive to your advertising campaign.Â
👉 To find out more: Watch the webinar on how to become an advertising rockstar and boost orders for your restaurant.Â
8. Set up a loyalty programÂ
Encouraging customer loyalty, by rewarding them for their regular attendance, boosts sales and attracts new customers thanks to the exclusive benefits and rewards on offer.Â
The "plus" with the Innovorder loyalty program is that you can recover your customers' data, so you can talk to them and find out about their habits and expectations. A great way to strengthen customer relations!
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How do you manage customer flow in your fast-food restaurant?
Attracting customers is great, but managing them is even better! If your marketing operations have been successful, then you have every chance of filling your restaurant. But you need to be ready to handle the flow when the rush comes.
To make your job easier, digital innovations are solutions that are easy to implement. This will enable you to streamline service, reduce waiting times for customers and make life easier for your teams.Â
In-room order terminals
With the touch-sensitive order terminal, equip your fast-food restaurant with a new ordering channel, enabling you to serve more customers in less time, and reduce cashier traffic thanks to self-checkout.Â
Thanks to an optimized checkout process, increase your average basket by 25 to 40%, with additional sales to boost your average ticket: supplements, coffee, dessert, etc.Â
👉 Find out how Alfi increased its average shopping basket by +28%.
The QR code for ordering at the table
The QR code placed on the tables offers a fast, seamless consumption experience. Your customers order and pay directly from their smartphones by simply scanning the QR code! As customers are autonomous, your staff can concentrate on welcoming them, serving them and preparing them in the kitchen.
A production screen in the kitchen
The Kitchen Display System allows you to optimize order preparation and simplify the work of your teams!
The benefits:
- no more round-trips, thanks to automatic sending of orders from the till to the KDS,
- prioritizing orders,
- instantly dispatches preparation orders and dishes by station,
- and reduces the risk of errors.
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Did you like these tips? Don't hesitate to consult our other articles on our blog to help you develop your business!
Innovorder is the leader in digital solutions for commercial and institutional foodservice. Our team supports restaurateurs in their digital transformation with a complete ecosystem (kiosk, KDS, online ordering, checkout).
