3 Ways to Boost Restaurant Revenue

What restaurant owner doesn't want to increase restaurant revenue? What if I told you that there are three distinct actions you must take to increase your sales each and every month? Let’s talk about the three ways to boost restaurant revenue.  

We can’t ignore the current state of the restaurant industry. Depending on when you're reading this right now, we are experiencing inflation, and customers are cutting back on what they're spending. While they are still visiting, it might not as often which. This affects many of my restaurant coaching members in smaller markets where people are pulling back. You also have increased labor cost due to the labor shortage and minimum wages going up everywhere. Product costs are going through the roof. It never seems to stop, so one of the things that will help you is to change your mindset to be focused on what you can control.

There are only three things you can do to boost restaurant revenue. They are the same three things no matter what kind of business you're in, restaurant or anything else.

The first is to find new customers. This is often the most expensive form of marketing. (I am going to recommend someone at the end of this that can actually cut that cost way back and give you great success.) People die, people move, all these things go on in your in your life that require you to continue to bring new customers into your restaurant.  

The second thing you can do is get customers to come back more often. If you take somebody from once a month to twice a month, what does that do to your sales? If every customer goes from once a month to twice a month, you would double your sales.

The third thing you can do is get your customers to spend more money each visit. Instead of spending $20 each visit, what if a customer spent $24? That could have a dramatic impact. Think of all the customers that come in and if their spend went from $20 a person to $24, what a huge impact that would have not only on your topline sales but your bottom-line profitability.

Let’s look at each one of these separately.

There are reasons people don't come back that are not necessarily always about you. People die, people move out of the area, they find new interests and friends. Now, there is a percentage of your restaurant customers that are not coming back to you because of the people you hired, trained and manage on a daily basis. In fact, 82% of your customers don't come back because either the restaurant owner down the street's doing a better job, or your employees provided a terrible experience. It's really important to make sure your training systems are in line. Assuming you have good management and good people working in your restaurant, how can you combat these losses and boost restaurant revenue?

• Look at different services like “New Mover” mailers. I'm not a fan of discounting, but I'll give away a free meal for anybody who moves into my area. Think about it; most people have their favorite five, six, seven restaurants. It’s that scenario of people at home all asking where they want to eat that night, and everybody goes down the same give, six, seven restaurants and you go to the same ones over and over. Invite somebody in who just moved into the market, and you might become one of their top restaurants. It’s an ethical bribe.
• Another thing is birthdays. If you have a list of customers and their birthdays, you can send them out a gift like a discount or whatever you choose. You can also buy lists with people's birthdays and you invite them in for their birthday. What a great way to get people to come in and visit with you for the first time.
• Leverage technology such as delivery services. People who take out their food/have it delivered are customers who aren’t taking up space in your restaurant. Fewer lines, shorter waits and less likely they give up waiting to eat in your restaurant and choosing a competitor. If you have the capacity in the kitchen, and have more food going out the door, you can increase your sales.

How about getting customers to come back more often as a way to boost restaurant revenue?

• Put seasonal promotions out. For example, a seasonal menu or a limited-time offering. Using foods that are in season usually taste better and result in a better item. Plus they tend to be a lower food cost, but you can still charge well for them. People come back more often because they're driven in for this variety that you're bringing in.
• Community partnerships and collaborations such as with a charity that you love, a high school or college that's nearby. What can you do in your community to show that you're a part of it? People see your name everywhere and it makes them want to give back and come back to you.

Getting your customers to spend more each visit to boost restaurant revenue gets a little more scientific.

• This is the importance of things like recipe costing cards and menu engineering because you can change your menu using eye movement, boxing pictures, placement, descriptions, all these different things to influence what your guests purchase. With your men design you can push them toward a $24, high-profit item rather than their regular $20 item. Instead of the $12 sandwich, you can direct them to the $18 burger that is going to make you more money.
• Train your team to upsell and cross-sell. Getting people to spend more is also a matter of enhancing their experience. Better alcohol, a richer side dish, a light appetizer to set up their entrée. If you're selling them something that is going to make their guest experience better, it's worth every penny. And the team makes more money!

To simplify all these activities to increase your restaurant sales I'm going to highly recommend my good friends.

• Matt Plapp and his company America's Best Restaurants.
• Kamron Karington and his company Repeat Returns.

These are two extremely cost effective and incredible marketing experts that I put my name on. Do me a favor. Tell them DSP sent you. It's not going to get you any special treatment but at least they know where you heard about them. 

Be sure to visit my YouTube channel for more helpful restaurant management video tips.