10 tips to boost restaurant sales

Today, I’m giving you 10 tips to boost your restaurant’s sales. In fact, these aren’t tricks, but rather tools and professional actions that will enable you to increase your sales, improve customer loyalty and, above all, ensure the long-term future of your restaurant.


We’ll take a look at the broad outlines for each of these points, each of which will be the subject of a detailed article later on. The various actions will enable you to set up a guideline for building customer loyalty, creating your database, boosting your online presence and implementing yield management. We’ll see what it’s all about later. The importance of your website. Awareness of the people skills you may need. The possibility of using bloggers to increase your online presence. So let’s take a look at the possibilities.

Diversify your customer segments:

The first point concerns diversifying your customer segments. It’s important to consider and be able to diversify your customer segments. Why? If one of these segments were to fail due to an economic or health crisis, as we have seen, you would have the other customer segments to support the company’s economic activity. Segmenting your customers also enables you to generate different revenue streams from the same segmentation. That’s why you need to seriously consider customer segmentation in your business model.

Develop your database :

The second point ties in with the first, and concerns the development of your database. Today, the value of a restaurant is no longer based on the value of the goodwill, but on the various assets such as equipment, materials, brand name, recipe book, human skills working within the establishment and a few other details. Today, the value of your restaurant will be your database. That’s the number of subscribers you’ve managed to generate. Let’s imagine for a moment that you’ve managed to generate a database of 10,000 customers over time. You’ve got a gold mine on your hands.

The value will lie in the number of subscribers. Because ten thousand loyal customers can order takeaways on a regular basis, can call on delivery services, can order other services from you, and can actually come and eat there on a regular basis. It’s your database that will increase the value of your restaurant. This ensures an economical and stable cushion. That’s why you need to set up tools to continually and gradually develop your customer database.

10 tips to boost your restaurant sales: create loyalty strategies :

The third point concerns loyalty strategies. Still referring to the two previous points, the question to ask yourself is: what loyalty strategies do I want to put in place? Loyalty strategies will prevent you from having a high No show ratio, for example. It’s verifiable: when customers are loyal, you can be sure that if they decide to cancel, they’ll call you back, contact you and mention the cancellation. A customer who has been poorly retained, or not retained at all, will not call you back. Your loyalty strategy will also enable you to increase your average bill.

Your strategies will also result in a higher booking rate. For a restaurant, this is a key factor in effective management at all levels of the business. These are just a few examples. Through your loyalty strategies, you will increase your database. These same strategies will increase word-of-mouth advertising. In our line of business, this is very important, and remains a cornerstone of a restaurant’s clientele. So of course we’re going to have to work on all these loyalty strategies. We’ll have a chance to talk about this in a future article.

Boost your online presence:

Another key point is to boost your online presence. So of course there are many tools available through social networks, whether Facebook, Instagram or commenting sites, which offer free versions as well as paid versions to increase your visibility. There are also other types of networks, such as LinkedIn, a more professional network, but one that is proving very interesting. You can share your posts for free through this network. The same network that could relay the information to their members. This could boost your online presence. In the near future, it’s worth keeping an eye on Twitter. As you know, this social network was recently purchased by Elon Musk. It could offer new, even more powerful tools, and could become a very important player in business development.

Working on your online presence also means responding to different opinions, whether positive or negative. This online presence is a showcase for your restaurant, your philosophy, your reputation, your services and your know-how. This online presence will enable you to increase your database and win the loyalty of new and potential customers. As you can see, all these actions lead to your database.

Implement yield management :

Another major point of interest in your your business model business model is the principle of yield management. In simple terms, it’s a pricing policy based on your opening hours. This pricing policy is designed to stimulate sales and generate traffic during certain opening hours. The aim is to create a range of services that meet the needs of these same opening hours. This method is designed to optimize your restaurant’s revenues. The method can be applied to your different customer segments, who will respond differently to your offers.
Not only will you boost your sales, but you’ll also optimize your customer capital, resulting in a higher retention rate. You’ll need to think about what you want to achieve. We’ll come back to this in more detail shortly.

10 tips to boost your restaurant’s sales: a profitable website

It’s an increasingly important tool for the catering world, and especially for restaurateurs. There was a time when many restaurateurs didn’t have a website, nor did they want one. Today, it’s an essential technological tool. It is mentioned that 80% of people refer to the website before making their decision. The purpose of your website is to expand your online presence, and also to promote yourself and offer services such as gift certificates or loyalty cards.

Today, we have all the technological tools we need to help restaurateurs grow their business. Your website could offer services such as online ordering, delivery service, gift cards, personalized service, merchandising and more, all of which could prove highly profitable for the restaurateur. For example, many people are always looking for gift ideas. Your offer of gift certificates could be worth a lot of money. Your website is an indispensable tool for better management and profitability of your restaurant. The resale value of your restaurant of your restaurant.

Percentage of sales :

Another way to boost your restaurant’s sales would be to consider a program that allows your team to reap a percentage of net sales. It’s a great way to build employee loyalty and involve them in the company’s success. There are several methods for implementing this principle. At the end of the month, a fixed percentage of net sales could be distributed among all employees. Another method would consist of a percentage per individual according to hierarchical level. This could also be based on an agreed base amount. It’s all about really boosting your sales, and above all enabling your team to be proactive and even more committed to your business. We’ll develop all these aspects in a future article.

Skills :

Related to the previous article, people skills are also an important factor in boosting your restaurant’s sales. It’s important to think about what kind of skills you really need. It’s entirely possible to reorganize the structure of your restaurant’s organizational chart. The aim is not only to improve employee motivation, but also to enhance the company’s performance. There’s always room for innovation in your restaurant’s various departments. Remember, a restaurant isn’t just a kitchen and a dining room.

Use bloggers:

With 10 tips to boost your restaurant’s sales, bloggers could come in handy. When it comes to increasing your presence on the Internet, there are many bloggers who specialize in writing about discovering places to eat through their websites. Don’t hesitate to call on them. You can contact them and invite them to discover not only your cuisine, but also your cooking philosophy. They’ll be able to make up their own minds. Then they’ll publish about your restaurant. This article published about your restaurant will find its way onto the web. This will increase your presence on the Internet. It’s a great way to get your business listed. These bloggers are always eager to discover new places, so make the most of it.

The design of your restaurant :

The design of your restaurant is another factor that can boost your sales. In the age of Instagram, you can let your customers be your ambassadors. It’s the best way to advertise your restaurant. Your restaurant’s design could win you design awards and introduce you to new customer segments. Your restaurant’s design is designed to boost sales. A customer who feels comfortable in your establishment will tend to increase the average bill. It’s also a good way to differentiate yourself from your competitors. It’s obvious that the cost could be high when the restaurant is set up. That’s why you need to calculate the impact your design will have on the average bill.

In conclusion:

As you can see, these are just a few of the tools and suggestions that could help you boost your restaurant’s sales. Each point will require you to reflect on the right strategies to boost your sales. This diversification in the management of your restaurant will help you increase its value.

Philippe Bertrand

Founder of the Quebec Restaurant Entrepreneurship Center

  • Master of Restaurant and Hospitality Management
  • Licence Rights-Economy-Management: Creating and taking over a restaurant

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