How to attract customers to a fast food cafe. Don't be pushy

19.07.2009 23:54

For a long time I worked as a confectioner and a pastry chef, and then as a manager in a network of coffee shops of an all-Russian scale. Today I own a coffee shop located in a small (25 thousand square meters) shopping center. When the institution first opened, it was not yet operating at full capacity (about 15% of the area was occupied), so there were few visitors. In addition, there is a strong competitor in the neighborhood - a huge operating shopping and entertainment complex.

At first, no more than ten people a day came to our cafe, the monthly revenue was about 150 thousand rubles. We puzzled over how to attract customers, tried the most different ways, many of which yielded no results. Departments in the shopping center, which were created simultaneously with ours, began to close after some time. In the end, we managed to increase attendance to 50-60 people a day, and the monthly turnover - up to 500 thousand rubles.

I’ll tell you which marketing measures turned out to be a waste of money, and which ones made sense (see also: What factors influence the attendance of the institution).

Ineffective measures

Advertising on city radio. We paid for the rotation of a commercial on the Hit FM radio station, which broadcasts to Nizhny Novgorod. Moreover, we sponsored various games on the radio, as a prize giving out a certificate (1500 rubles) to visit a cafe. About 40 thousand rubles were spent on the campaign, but the effect turned out to be zero.

Advertising in magazines. We started with a full-page ad in You and Your Child magazine. They also published my article about what desserts can be given to young children and how store cakes can harm a child. Although the magazine is actively distributed in antenatal clinics, kindergartens and children's goods stores, these publications did not affect attendance, and 20 thousand rubles. were wasted. Then I wrote two articles for the Nizhny Novgorod magazine Love, Family, Home. The first is about what should be the wedding cake(not just how it looks, but how to cut it beautifully, etc.), the second is about what desserts are appropriate for a wedding. The return was very weak: the magazine has a lot of advertising for similar services, and it is very difficult to stand out even with expert material.

Using the internal broadcasting of the shopping complex. Placement of advertising did not cost us anything, it took about 3 thousand rubles to create videos. I explain the absolute inefficiency of this measure by the fact that it is very noisy in the shopping center and visitors do not listen to advertising.

Advertising on receipts for rent. Not far from our shopping center is a new microdistrict "Bear Valley"; there are many young families with children. It seemed to me that a coffee shop with desserts, where they do not smoke or sell alcohol, should have no end to such customers. I arranged with the local HOA to print ads on the back of rent receipts. The costs amounted to about 10 thousand rubles. (HOA considers them as advertising revenue). However, I did not take into account that in the microdistrict the apartments were received mainly by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. When a local visitor approached the window with a child and saw the price tag “150 rubles”, you could often hear something like “What are you doing! It's a bottle of vodka!

Effective measures

Fortunately, most of the methods we have tried have worked. Moreover, many of them turned out to be even less expensive than those that did not live up to our expectations. Here are some steps that helped attract customers and increase revenue.

Business lunches. At first glance, it is unprofitable for a coffee shop to feed guests with lunch for 180 rubles. - at best, we just compensated for the costs. Therefore, we tried to sell the client something other than a business lunch. Unfortunately, only one or two people out of ten made an additional order. With a full load of the institution for a month, the margin from this service was about 50 thousand rubles. However, despite the economic inefficiency of the idea, we were able to attract the target audience. Daytime visitors, accustomed to the institution, began to come in the evening - to drink coffee and eat dessert. Some time later, we abandoned the business lunch, but left inexpensive hot dishes on the menu. There was no churn of visitors.

Breakfasts. We offered three breakfast options - from light to very dense - costing from 99 to 399 rubles. Usually, the guest has more time for breakfast than for lunch, and almost always he takes more tea or coffee, not limited to the drink that is included in the price. Breakfasts attracted new customers and taught the staff to be in good shape from the very morning.

Tastings at the mall. This method works only if you can buy something that is offered to try somewhere nearby. We set the table in the shopping center and treated everyone to a cake and a drink, inviting them to look into the coffee shop. On average, five people out of 50 came in - some just looked, others ordered something. The cost of one tasting is about 3 thousand rubles. Later, we began to hand out flyers with special offers and short-term discounts on certain goods. In this case, the result was better: about half of those who received the coupon came to the cafe.

Inexpensive branded product. We are the only ones in Nizhny Novgorod who make sweets self made. Although the labor costs are high (I cook caramel myself), they are justified. We place a showcase with sweets in the shape of a cockerel, a gun or a heart at the entrance to the cafe, and it works like a magnet for customers. At the cost of candy about 2 rubles. we sell them for 50 rubles. And we give candy to the holders of the permanent guest card, regardless of the amount of the order. By the way, visitors who have collected checks of our institution in the amount of 5000 rubles receive a permanent guest card, this card entitles you to a 10% discount.

Permission to bring your own alcohol. We do not sell alcohol, but we allow visitors to bring their own, paying 200 rubles per bottle. “for the cork” (in other establishments, this service is called the rental of glasses). This is beneficial for customers: for example, a bottle of popular rum in a store costs 900 rubles, and in another institution they will ask for at least 3 thousand rubles.

Servicing guests of a nearby hotel. The hotel does not have its own dining room, so we agreed to install our own advertising with a menu and flyers for a discount there in the lobby. The hotel guests really began to come to us.

Cooperation with neighboring cafes and restaurants. We have established a free partnership with a restaurant that is located in the same shopping complex and sends their customers who are going to have a banquet to us for cakes to order (their chef does not prepare desserts). We offered the partner establishment 10% of the amount of each such order, but they refused: it is enough for them that their customers can receive a service from us that the restaurant does not provide. In this way we receive up to ten cake orders per month.

Free advertising on Channel One. On the air of federal channels there are regional advertising inserts. Our shopping center bought time for a commercial and gave us the opportunity to tell about ourselves completely free of charge. Especially for this occasion, we began to prepare a megalatte and a mega dessert weighing about 1 kg - a treat for the whole company. Guests who saw our ads started asking about these special offers from the doorway.

Banner on the fence. We printed a colorful banner with the call "Try it!" and a bright photograph of the dessert (the cost of a banner is about 500 rubles per 1 sq. m) and hung it on a fence near the shopping center. And although it did not last long, the flow of customers in those days increased markedly.

Summer terrace. I calculated that placing a sign on the facade of the shopping center will cost us almost as much as building a summer veranda, on which we can also hang our sign for free. So we did. Moreover, we had to pay only for the veranda itself (180 thousand rubles plus the cost of equipment and a banner - only 300 thousand rubles), and the administration of the shopping center did not take money from us for permission to install it. The veranda with a beautiful sign has attracted many new visitors to us.

Practitioner tells

Anastasia Gutkevich Marketing Director of the coffee chain

Reference

Traveler’s Coffee LLC (Traveler’s Coffee)
Field of activity: catering business, coffee production
Territory: management company - in Novosibirsk, office - in Moscow, representative offices - in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg, dealers - in the Volga region, Siberia, Central Russia, Kazakhstan; coffee houses - in 37 cities of Russia, as well as in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine
Number of staff: 70 (in coffee shops - 400)
Number of coffee shops in the network: 70

If the coffee shop is in a good location, it will be visited by 200 people a day without much promotional effort. For establishments in sparsely populated areas, additional measures are needed to attract guests. Let me tell you what we do.

1. Map of the trading territory. We make a list of organizations (business centers, banks, beauty salons) that are within a ten-minute walk from the coffee shop, that is, places where customers can come to us from. Coffee house managers go around all these organizations, communicate with managers and employees, give them bonus cards and sometimes coupons with a deposit. In this way, not only individual customers are attracted, but also entire companies.

2. Flyers. Experience has shown that coupons for the second product for free are most effective (it doesn’t matter what exactly is offered - a cup of coffee or a dessert). The cost of these promotions (printing flyers, the work of promoters and sometimes a trainer) does not exceed 0.1% of the coffee shop's revenue. The response when using such coupons is 2-7% (and in small towns, where such offers are still new, it reaches 70% - word of mouth is triggered).

3. Announcements in social networks. The offer must be exclusive - this acts like a magnet on our page subscribers. For example: “We have brought a rare coffee variety” or “Our Michelin-starred chef has created a new dessert.”

4. Tastings in shopping and business centers. We sample our soft drinks or coffee and distribute discount coupons or bonus cards. This results in an influx of new customers. You can arrange a free tasting. The maximum payment to the management of the center is a package of coffee as a gift or a bonus card with a small deposit for one or two cups of coffee. The cost of tasting is less than 2 thousand rubles. If at the same time coffee or syrups are sold, then the event fully pays off.

5. Master classes. Employees of our coffee houses conduct master classes in latte art, alternative ways of brewing coffee, making desserts or sandwiches. We post the schedule of master classes on social networks, we take invitation cards to companies located nearby. The response to such invitations is up to 15%. In small towns not spoiled by such attention, managers hold such events every weekend.

6. Cross promotion. In some cities (for example, in Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk) we agree on a partnership program with a local cinema: with a cinema ticket, a guest can get a 5-10% discount from us, and with our bonus card - a discount on a movie ticket.

7. Flash mob "Take it with you." We are only planning this event, but we are counting on a good effect. We will attract 30-50 students to the action. They will walk through the city, take the subway, ride the tram, holding glasses, sandwich bags, cake boxes - all with our logo.

CEO speaking

Alexey Chukhlantsev Executive director of the management company

Reference

OOO Management Company RestProfi
Field of activity: confectionery production, restaurant business (chain of coffee houses "Pitkofe", author's establishments - cafe "Refined", confectionery house "Bushe H.O.", network of Italian cafes "Mama Pizza")
Number of staff: 700

In 2000-2003 I worked in a European level restaurant Fashioncafe. It was located in a sparsely populated area, and the main task was not just to increase the flow of visitors, but to attract those who are ready to order a full dinner or business lunch, not limited to a cup of coffee on the go.

One of the methods of attracting such customers were events: tastings, fashion shows, presentations. For example, they agreed with an expensive lingerie store to hold a show in a restaurant, and the restaurant notified its regular guests about the upcoming event (as a rule, they were invited by phone). Another example is the cognac tasting of a famous cognac house. On the one hand, such events helped to promote the relevant products, on the other hand, they gave the restaurant an additional reason to remind guests of themselves, invite them to try cognac or watch a show. On the days when the events were held, the institution was 100% full, in addition, the number of regular customers grew due to those who were invited to the events by our visitors.

In this article, you will learn how to attract the attention of a new target audience and how to increase the number of visitors in the restaurant. Modern customers who visit establishments Catering expect much more from your establishment than just delicious food. In this article, we have collected great ideas and tools to attract the attention of visitors.

Who are Millennials?

This is a solvent target audience, modern youth, accustomed to the fast pace of life and gadgets. In order to attract them to your restaurant, you need to understand what drives this generation and what its needs are.

Millennials make up 64% of the total population and 60% of them eat lunch/dinner out at least once a week. As you can see, this is a huge part of the population, and they can become your regular customers, bringing a stable income. Your task is to adapt the restaurant and attract the attention of a new target audience. How to do it?

Millennials or Generation Y(Generation Y; other names: millennium generation(millennials, generation "next", "network" generation, millenites, echo-boomers) - the generation born after 1981, who met the new millennium at a young age, characterized primarily by deep involvement in digital technologies. At the time the term was coined, Generation Y was contrasted with Generation X, which corresponds to the previous demographic generation.”

Which restaurant is preferred by modern visitors

The main factors influencing the choice of a restaurant for generation Y are:

price policy
popularity of the restaurant on the Internet
availability of healthy and wholesome food on the menu

Of course, today's youth start working much earlier, but not everyone can afford premium restaurants, and if you are not among the middle-priced establishments, then you can hardly expect to attract the attention of young people.

It is very important to have your own pages on social networks and regularly post special offers and news. People have been on their phones for a long time, and if they can’t find out anything about your restaurant from the Internet, you won’t get a single visitor.

Try to ensure that in a minute the site visitor can get all the information he is interested in - what is the cost of the average bill in your restaurant, photos of the interior, dishes and promotional offers. This is the most important information that should always be available and up to date. It is also important to have reviews from real visitors, on the basis of which your future client will decide whether your restaurant suits him or not.

As a restaurant owner, you must understand that this is a new challenge for modern society, but in a highly competitive environment, you need to meet all the requirements and wishes of your future guests.

The fast pace of modern society allocates not so much time for business lunches and snacks, however, people began to pay much more attention to what they eat, and oddly enough, fast food has long faded into the background - it has been replaced by healthy and healthy food. food.

Statistical data according to which modern young people visit restaurants:

prefer to order 4 small portions different dishes than one thing
they usually go to a restaurant for lunch.
55% prefer public tables in restaurants where different groups of guests sit.
68% will seek out information from their friends before choosing a restaurant.
87% will order good and expensive food even if they have a lack of money.
40% order something else from the menu every time they visit a restaurant.
They prefer fresh, less processed foods.
80% want to learn more about how food is grown.
They view food as entertainment and self-expression.

According to these statistics, in order to interest a new target audience, it is necessary to adapt the restaurant menu for everyone who adheres to a healthy lifestyle, but at the same time make prices for healthy meals available. As a restaurant owner, you must understand that this is a new challenge for modern society, but in a highly competitive environment, you need to meet all the requirements and wishes of your future guests.

What do you order most often in a restaurant?

Millennials prefer to call themselves “foodies” – people who take a great interest in what they eat and drink and love to explore new foods and drinks. What might get their attention?

Combination traditional dishes, as well as non-traditional side dishes and sauces:

Leafy salads with an even greater variety of dressings and sauces.
Dishes prepared exclusively from raw seasonal fruits and vegetables of local origin.
Chicken dishes are still very popular.
Homemade lemonades, tinctures and author's smoothies from fresh fruit and vegetables.

Size matters! Offer small, medium and large portions

Thus, guests can order more dishes in small portions and try everything. Giving visitors a choice small portions you will give them what they want - combine dishes with each other, experiment with new flavors and get vivid impressions of discovering new taste properties.

Be sure to encourage them to take pictures in your restaurant! Any photos of satisfied visitors that they will post on Instagram and Facebook are your free advertising. Hold regular photo contests, and the winners with the most likes will receive a free dinner. This is a great marketing ploy that meets the needs of a new generation.

Another very useful feature of millennials for the restaurant business is the desire to always try something new, unusual and discover new places. This is a great opportunity for small establishments to show what they can do.

Waiters with tablets instead of a paper menu will not only speed up the work of the entire institution as a whole, but will also be adequately appreciated by your guests - the speed and quality of service will be fully consistent current trends. help you

It is very easy to attract the attention of a modern consumer - you need to offer him something that no one has offered. Secret Recipes cooking, home kitchen, homemade tinctures, freshly brewed caramel beer, etc. - all these are new sensations that people will definitely want to experience on their taste buds.

Restaurant promotion on Instagram

Instagram is an integral part of the ritual of visiting restaurants. Pay special attention to serving dishes, and then photos of your visitors will scatter on the Internet, collecting likes from their friends, who will definitely be interested in your exclusive offer. Do not forget that you should always have wifi working and your restaurant page on the Internet should contain up-to-date information. About 32% of visitors always check the menu of a restaurant on the site before they come, and believe me, they will be very unpleasantly surprised if you have not updated the price list on the site for two years.

Millennials prefer restaurants with large quantity tables where there are visitors. This behavior is caused by the need to compensate for a lifestyle where most of the time you are alone with a work computer, and going to a restaurant is a social event. The interior should be as simple as possible, and the chairs should be adapted for a long and comfortable stay in the restaurant.

The trust of visitors is the basis for the success of the restaurant

Treat your employees with respect. Demonstrating a respectful attitude towards subordinates is the key to a good reputation, and the trust of your customers. If your visitors see that you care about the comfort of your employees, then they will know that due attention will be paid to them.

Technology is at every turn, and we are increasingly dependent on it in our daily lives. 70% of restaurant visitors have free Wi-Fi, a very important aspect when choosing an institution. The more modern technologies you engage in your own restaurant, the better. Waiters with tablets instead of a paper menu will not only speed up the work of the entire institution as a whole, but they will also be adequately appreciated by your guests - the speed and quality of service will be fully in line with modern trends.

This is probably the largest material of its kind on the Internet. I recommend bookmarking it and sometimes reviewing it, perhaps while reading, there will be interesting ideas. I will make a reservation right away. Do not take all advice literally. It is worth considering the format of the institution and the type of visitors. Some methods can be taken as they are and immediately implemented, some will not work in any form. Think about it, perhaps some of the tips can be reworked a little. Or maybe some combination of the above methods will work for your establishment.

The more reasons to visit your establishment, the better.

If your institution does not have an entertainment component, be sure to add it. What it will be depends on the subject. It can be live music, board games, a host or a creative team with a show program.

Themed parties to attract visitors

Now the Halloween holiday is very popular, adults are happy to dress up and apply various drawings on their faces. But don't limit yourself to this holiday. Here is a small list of ideas that are already being used in establishments and attracting visitors: a masquerade, a gangster party, a superhero evening, a musical. It is not necessary to come up with a scenario on your own, you can invite a host of holidays who has experience in holding such events. And if the event is held on weekdays, you can get an impressive discount.

Use simple and clear promotions to increase restaurant revenue

Promotions must be specific and attractive, so that the client immediately understands what benefits it will bring to him. "Two for the price of one" or "Three for the price of two" works great just about anywhere. The following tips can also be attributed to promotions, but these are more specific examples.

Increasing the average check in the institution using "Wholesale prices"

The principle is this. When buying a certain amount, give the visitor a gift. For example, a visitor made an order for 1500 rubles. Depending on what he chose, tell me that when ordering over 2000 rubles as a gift, a beer set, fruit cut, a bottle of champagne, etc.

Offer something else that goes with the current order

Depending on what the client purchases, you can offer an additional product that goes well with the order. Croutons for beer, dessert for tea, etc. But be careful. This must be done in a non-intrusive manner. In some places, the staff strongly insists or makes a displeased face in case of refusal and such behavior spoils the mood of the guests.

"Ready Sets" to simplify selection and increase profits

This method is very successfully used in the sale of sushi and rolls. In a cafe, bar or restaurant, this can also work. For example, a beer set includes four glasses of beer and nuts, while the client saves 200 rubles. Similarly, you can collect sets of food, snacks and spirits.

offer more expensive

Implementation of the loyalty program

Give discount cards to regular customers or for a check with a large order amount.

Collect contacts of existing clients

It is much easier and cheaper to attract a person who has already been with you and was satisfied than to attract new visitors. There are several ways:

Completion by visitors of a small questionnaire for a fee or to provide a discount
An offer to join your group on a social network or subscribe to an account
If you have a website, you need to install counters on it. For starters, at least Google. Analytics and Yandex.Metrika. They will collect all visitors to your site and, if necessary, you can make them an offer.

Working with existing clients

Announcements of events in the social network
SMS-mailing with information about discounts, events, etc.
Retargeting is a way to show an ad to customers who have already visited your site. This method will be discussed in more detail below.

Free WiFi

There are people who do not let go of their gadgets. Many sitting in an institution, take pictures and post photos on social networks. Someone needs to send an important letter at work. Fast and stable internet will be a big plus.

Smells

To find out what specific smells to use, it is better to contact specialists. They can be used both indoors to create a pleasant atmosphere. So and outside, to attract those who pass by.

Educational master classes

If your establishment cooks delicious steaks, give a master class on cooking steaks. If you have a dance club, give club dance lessons. If it's a karaoke bar, organize vocal courses.

Banquets and corporate events

If you don't offer banqueting services, you lose most of your profits. You can read more about attracting customers to corporate evenings at.

Outdoor advertising

Signboards, banners, pillars. It is more expedient to do this in your area or where there is a large concentration of your target audience.

Bright appearance of the institution

Attract the attention of passers-by different ways. Bright facade, signboard, illuminated advertising, video screen. It's not just about getting attention. You need to make people want to go to your establishment. Demonstrate profitable offers, beautifully set tables, mouth-watering dishes, attractive drinks.

Handing out flyers to attract new customers to the cafe

Leaflets should be with a specific interesting offer. Do not just use the name of your cafe in advertising - talk about promotions, raisins, discounts, unique dishes, theme parties, new cocktails, etc.

Make targeted offers

For example, Wednesday "Student's Day" and advertise the event among students. Or "Driver's Day" - a discount upon presentation of the rights. It will appeal exactly to the target audience, advertising on social networks allows you to see what placement formats exist, which will be discussed below.

word of mouth

In order for a person to start talking about your institution, you need to exceed his expectations or surprise him very strongly.

Make promotional gifts and discounts that are not expected from you. For example, a free cocktail for the seventh client, etc.
Unusual, uneven prices
Products not found anywhere
Unusual interior design

Business lunch

During the daytime, offer inexpensive meals. On the tables you can place information about themed parties, promotions and discounts.

Affiliate Marketing to Attract New Customers to a Restaurant

Collaboration with companies located near the institution

Conducting various lottery competitions

People love to receive gifts. Conduct various drawings through social networks or directly at your institution.

"Cross Pollination"

Lotteries and promotions can be held in conjunction with some other business, beauty salon, photo studio, taxi company, etc. The principle is this. You invite them to hold a promotion and give them, for example, three coupons for 1000 rubles in your establishment, and you take coupons from them for a free haircut, 5 free taxi rides, a free photo session, etc. The more prizes, the more willingly people participate in the draw. Plus, you can agree to jointly advertise this promotion, and the advertising budget will be multiplied by the number of participants.

Copy successful models

Copy competitors by modifying it a little. Pay attention to the menu, the behavior of the waiter, administrator. Enter in Yandex or Google "restaurant and the name of your city." Open the first 10 sites, see what ideas you can adopt
Think of a business that you consider very difficult and competitive. Open 5-10 sites representing this business and find interesting ideas that can be adapted to advertise your establishment

Goods "locomotive"

Sell some drink or dish very cheaply (at cost price or even lower), so that it is very conspicuous and sets you apart from other establishments. Tell about this product in promotional materials.

"Attraction of unprecedented generosity"

Make a certain day very cheap for customers. Pick a time when you usually don't have clients. Make it a publicity day. Such offers are very effective to advertise through coupon services, the most popular of them will be listed below.

Create a website for your institution

The simplest site is better than none. It is not necessary to invest a lot of money to create a website. A simple business card can be created for 3000-5000 rubles or even for free. Your client does not need a unique design. Post photos of your establishment, menu, promotions, map, contact details. In most cases, this is sufficient. There are a large number of free constructors, in my opinion the simplest.

Maps and reference books

Yandex.Directory
Google.Addresses
Foursquare
Yarmap

Thematic portals

Review Portals

Create communities and accounts on popular social networks

Actively invite people there, especially your visitors, and reward those who join with discounts or gifts. You can inform group members and subscribers about your offers free of charge. The main thing is not to bother them. Do not make more than two commercial entries a day.

Advertising in the social network "Vkontakte" to attract visitors to the institution

At the time of this writing, this is the most visited site in Runet. In second place is the resource classmates. Compared to other social networks, advertising here is quite simple. The most popular advertising methods

Posts in thematic communities
Ads in the user feed
teaser advertising

Geo-tagging

A very curious way. People take pictures in places they visit and post photos on social networks. When a photo is sent to the Internet, it marks where this place is located on the map. With the help of advertising on social networks, you can make an offer to these people. For example, those who are marked in the establishments of competitors or in any other places near you.

Propose to birthday people how many days before their birthday

If you collect contacts and actively promote your institution, you will have an impressive base in a few months. You can send them a message with a special offer for birthdays
Social networks allow you to show an offer to people who have a birthday soon

Search Engine Optimization

Many are looking for cafes and bars in the search engines Yandex, Google, Mile. People enter their queries into the search bar. Search engine optimization is aimed at ensuring that your offer is shown in the first places. This is a rather long and laborious process, but if you get into the “top”, you will receive a hot, interested audience for free. There is a faster and easier way to get to the first places of search engines, but it is paid.

Contextual advertising of bars, cafes, restaurants

It allows you to show ads in the first positions of search engines in a shorter time. With proper configuration, you can fully provide an institution from this one channel of attraction. If you want to get the first customers from the Internet this week, get acquainted with.

Thematic contextual advertising

Unlike search engines, it is shown not at the time of the search, but to people who could potentially be interested in your offer.

Experiments

Determine a certain percentage of the profit that you will invest monthly in testing new customer acquisition channels. There is such a strategy "Gold Digger". You test different channels and collect the ones that work best for you.

In any situation, there are always opportunities. Using the example of one metropolitan cafe, we will tell you how you can triple income in a few months and attract visitors, despite the crisis.

To the question "How are you?" now many answer simply - "Crisis, you understand." Such a response from an employee may mean his dismissal or a drop in income, from a freelancer - a reduction in the number of orders, from a businessman - a decrease in profits and even losses. Such a global crisis, of course, has affected almost all compatriots - only 16% of Russians say that nothing has changed in their lives and wallets over the past 1.5 years.

But sometimes things go badly outside the systemic crisis - these are personal problems of a company, entrepreneur or individual. If initially everything goes wrong and there is inefficiency, then in difficult times it will be bad at all. You must always develop. So let's see how you can significantly increase the income of a cafe with minimal investment.

Initial data

Cafe "Black Cat" in one microdistrict of Moscow, there are several other competitors nearby: one of them is a fast food chain point, the second is a bar open until the morning, and several other small catering outlets offering their menus during the day.

Things were not going well in the "Cheka", it was necessary to urgently introduce anti-crisis measures, more precisely, measures aimed at improving the efficiency of work. At the time of the start of the experiment, the average daily revenue was 10 thousand rubles, the average check was 300 rubles, that is, about 30 people came per day. Everything was in order with the kitchen and prices, at first glance, it was not possible only to “lure” new customers.

The owners of the Black Cat cafe tried to “shake up” the situation and allocated money for advertising - 75 thousand rubles at a time. We spent them on distributing leaflets, ads in social networks and in the local newspaper. According to advertising, only 2 (!) Clients came within a month.

Something had to change, and quickly.

Working Ideas to Attract Customers to a Cafe

Management brainstormed among employees and applied their ideas to make a difference. Only those solutions were chosen that cost the minimum - there was no extra money. For 2 months, it was possible to increase revenue by 3.5 times, and net profit increased by 5 times. What proposals "shot"?

Business lunches with the right positioning

The cost of a complex business lunch in a cafe is 300 rubles. Not a very tempting offer, people rushing to have a bite to eat at lunchtime are used to smaller numbers. Therefore, the prices for lunch of the day were indicated on the pavement sign “by article”. The announcement that in the cafe today borscht for 39 rubles and salad for 59 rubles led many hungry people.

And already inside, they themselves examined the appetizing photos of the menu, appreciated the comfort of the place and also took the main course with a side dish or tea and coffee with dessert. In general, all this cost 300 rubles, but the client chose only those positions that attracted him. Although the average bill “dipped” a little, there were much more visitors during the lunch period (from 11 am to 4 pm), which allowed increasing revenue.

It took a minimum of expenses - it was just necessary to rewrite the announcement of a business lunch.

Advertising in the neighborhood

There were no office and administrative buildings near the cafe, only beauty salons, a car service center and a center for children's creativity. An agreement was reached with these organizations to place cafe advertisements on their territory - just small business cards indicating the cafe on the map of the microdistrict. Husbands, waiting for their spouses from beauty treatments, dropped in to a cafe to have a bite to eat; parents, taking the child to the circle, could drink coffee with dessert and work on their laptop; and car owners, handing over the car for repair for an hour or two, calmly “killed” time under the seagulls or also ordered something significant from the menu.

Of the costs - an additional circulation of business cards.

affiliate program

In addition, a partnership agreement was concluded with these neighboring companies and all their employees, upon presentation of corporate bonus cards, received a 5-10% discount. As a bonus, they received a business lunch menu for the whole week in advance and knew exactly what was in the cafe today. They went to lunch sometimes alone, sometimes with a whole team, but this also contributed to an increase in the flow of orders, both for the lunch menu and for dishes from the evening menu. The number of loyal customers immediately increased by a couple of dozen people.

Expenses – decrease in profits due to discounts for the staff of "friendly" companies, which was offset by increased turnover.

Promoters with coupons

The new edition of the flyers did not just tell about a cafe nearby, it included a specific offer for a potential client - a coupon for two cups of coffee or tea when ordering dessert. Now advertising materials were not sent to the nearest trash can, new customers came to the cafe with them, if they were satisfied with the atmosphere, interior, prices and choice of food and drinks, they subsequently returned repeatedly.

Expenses - 20-30 rubles (the cost of two drinks) for each attracted client who pays for a dessert worth 100-150 rubles, and can also stay in a cafe for dinner or even become a regular visitor.

Two months later, the revenue of the Black Cat cafe exceeded one million rubles a month (an increase of 350%). For a small establishment with 8 tables, operating exclusively during the day and without alcohol, located in a residential area surrounded by several competitors, this is a good result. Now you can try other ideas to increase revenue and attract customers that will allow you to get even more, without a significant increase in advertising costs. This is possible, as practice has shown.

2. Marketing

2.2. “Life is hard without a friend” or how to increase the influx of regular guests.

What is Platius?

Platius is a loyalty bonus system. What is the difference between a bonus system and a discount system? The main difference is that in the discount system we immediately give a direct discount, and in the bonus system, if our client pays 1000 rubles, then, for example, 100 rubles of them are credited to his personal bonus account. He can later use these bonuses in your restaurant.

Let's analyze the differences between these two systems:

1. The effect of encouragement, when we need to encourage a guest's return visit.

The first option: we have a 10% discount in one restaurant, and the second option - we have 600 rubles on our account in another restaurant, which we can spend on our favorite drinks. And here the "psychology of the creditor" begins to work, when the restaurant can be called our "debtor" and we want to get our money back, so we return to this restaurant to spend bonuses.

2. Financial efficiency.

In terms of financial efficiency, a 10% discount is the same as a 30% bonus, i.e. to accrue a bonus three times more profitable. Why is this happening? Because if a client dined for 1000 rubles and he has a 10% discount, this means that we literally gave the client 100 rubles. But if the bonus is 10%, then we gave him our own food for 100 rubles more. And since our food cost is on average 30%, we get such a difference from here. And in this respect, the bonus system for restaurateurs is much more profitable than the discount one.

What other tasks does the bonus system solve?

1) The Platius system allows you to work without plastic cards. All that a client needs to register in this system and start accumulating and spending bonuses is to enter a special promotional code on the check. To use the bonus system, no cards are needed, it is enough for a person to have a smartphone and the Internet at hand, and without these two things it is now difficult to imagine any restaurant visitor.

2) The Platius bonus system allows you to store up-to-date information about guests in a restaurant. Indeed, in order to register in the system and start accumulating their bonuses, the client will need to enter the correct phone number and receive an SMS confirmation of registration. We no longer need paper questionnaires and lists in excel, the database of our clients is stored in the system, which is constantly growing and the data is updated. Moreover, we see not only the name and phone number of the client, but also all the orders made by him, his preferences, any statistical data about the specific visits of each guest.

Such a system allows us to build our contact with the guest depending on the data that we have. We can wish our guests a happy birthday via SMS. We can make a targeted gift to the client in the form of services or dishes of our restaurant, in other words, to surprise a person and thereby increase the frequency of visiting guests.

3) A unique feature of Platius is the ability to play games between customers, assign different statuses to our guests, thereby involving them in constant contact with our restaurant.

4) We can selectively reward desired behavior. For example, we have large stocks of meat, we did not calculate the purchase. Then we announce a promotion that all guests who order steaks this week will receive an increased bonus. And we can send this information about the action to everyone who has ever ordered steaks from us.

To summarize: what should we do to motivate our regular guests to come more often?

We must know them. And the Platius loyalty system will make our friendship with customers permanent and strong due to three main features:

1)Storage up-to-date information(phone numbers, preferences, previous orders)