If you’ve been in the restaurant business for longer than a year or two, it likely comes as no secret to you that summer can be rough on the ol’ pocketbook. While different types of restaurants experience the dreaded “slow month” at various times of the year, August and September can be particularly problematic for restaurateurs across the country.
It’s not too hard to figure out why. People like to get out and about during the summer months, especially once it cools down a touch. Families and couples are apt to go to the mountains, lakes, beach, or perhaps simply go to the park for a picnic. Now, we can’t remember the last time we actually went on a picnic ourselves, but we see other people enjoying them from time to time! Unless your restaurant is fortunately located at a tourist destination, like in a mountain town or along a beach, you probably will experience some degree of issues.
Whatever the reason behind the slow month you experience, we at Online Orders Now are here with just the tonic you need to turn that slow month or two into a season that is far from catastrophic. We can’t change the fact that folks like to spend time outdoors during the summer just like people tend to eat out less during the holidays, but there are other ways of solving the problem. If you want to get your proverbial wheels turning a little bit, keep reading! This post, along with many more to come, will help you brainstorm ways to increase revenue for your restaurant.
Tap Into Your Community With Proactive Marketing Efforts
One thing we at Online Orders Now see quite a bit of is missed opportunity within a restaurant’s local community. While most restaurant owners know that they should be connecting with local businesses and residents, it’s sometimes tough to know where to start. The end result is owners focusing on other areas of their business, which means nothing ever happens! Well, it turns out that profits can be a decent motivator, and as such taking a hit on your bottom line over August and September is a great time to get serious about some local marketing efforts!
Look To Establish Partnerships With Local Businesses
The old “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine,” (referred to as a symbiotic relationship in the animal kingdom), we’ll just call it a win-win. It might take a bit of research, and more than a bit of bravery, but be proactive and reach out to a local business you admire, or at least one that you could see yourself working with. Establish a promotion from which you both can benefit. Be smart about it too; don’t partner with a plumber, partner with businesses that aren’t direct competitors yet still are related to leisure and enjoyment. When people are shopping for clothes or are enjoying a beverage, they’ll be more likely to be in a state of mind where they’ll stop in for lunch or dinner! Another tip is to consider reaching out to local businesses about hosting an event at your restaurant. It might be for a corporate holiday party — offering a discount and simply getting your brand out there will likely yield some results, as those type of decisions get put on the back burner by decision makers.
People Like Free Stuff
We get that a restaurant which gives away too many free menu items isn’t going to be sustainable, so it’s vital to be strategic about what you are giving away to get more foot traffic. On the one hand, people have to be incentivized to come in, meaning you need to make your free “x” desirable. On the other hand, you can’t give away a huge breadwinner either. Something many a business likes to do is make a conditional free offer, where you get a menu item for free as long as you purchase something along with it. On the other hand, simply offering a free drink with no strings attached will almost certainly lead to more folks walking through your door, many of whom will almost certainly purchase food alongside their complimentary beverage, for example.
Open Up A New Revenue Stream
Though we have a horse in this race, perhaps the most effective thing you can do to help your restaurant is to implement restaurant online ordering software that integrates with your POS system. As it just so happens, we are the industry leaders in this field, pioneering a range of functionality and features throughout the years, many of which are now considered essential. We’ll write more on what we can do for businesses in future posts, but we encourage you to view the many benefits and features Online Orders Now provides when we help restaurants adapt to the modern digital age — a vital enterprise.
Stay Tuned!
Online Orders Now is your source for intuitive online ordering software that directly integrates with your current POS system. In future posts, we’ll get into more depth regarding what exactly our online ordering system can do for restaurants of all kinds, but for now we hope that you’ve enjoyed our first post of our summer series designed to help restaurants help deal with the slow months by providing practical solutions. However, if you are interested in learning more about the most profitable online ordering software since 2006, contact us today. Otherwise you can view a demo for yourself at your convenience!