Why The Customer Experience Is Important To Restaurants

We all know that the restaurant industry is changing fast. Online ordering, third party delivery services and meal plans are just a few of the activities leading to the decline in customer traffic. While your sales may be growing, are you looking at your guest checks to see if they are growing as well? For many operators, the growth is a result may be from higher check averages do to price increases. 

Smart operators have come to grips with the fact that third party delivery services are here to stay because the consumer wants it. If you’re not online to meet their needs, someone else will! 

What else will help your business? In many ways it is back to the basics of food quality, customer service and a good value for the money spent. Does your restaurant meet those needs? Consumer food preferences are changing, has your menu changed with the times or is it the same as it was three years ago? How about customer satisfaction? Do you actually read the reviews to evaluate performance of the front and back of house! Have you used this information to improve performance? Do you respond to reviews, good and bad? Many restaurants I see, do not respond to reviews.  I know it’s not easy to do, but it does send a message to people who look at your reviews to make a purchase decision. 

Are you active in your community? Many operators have jumped on the social media bandwagon to fuel their growth.  That train has slowed down due to algorithm changes by Facebook. Unless you are investing in Facebook ads, you impressions and engagement have dropped. Perhaps you should look at being more active in you local community with causes you customers participate in. 

With many clients we have performed a social media audit to identify who their customer really is. This activity in most instances gives insights into menu ideas, marketing ideas, and strategies to grow your guest counts. This approach in alignment with technology trends helps balance the high tech and high touch solutions in today’s restaurant environment to produce results. 

At FoodPro, our goal is to help restaurant owners succeed! The Core Advantage Partnership Program is designed to help busy independent operators stay on top of their game in this fast changing world of restaurant management. Let us help you become a better restaurant.