Owning a small restaurant in a popular tourist location like Oahu offers so many perks. You’ve got an ever-increasing number of potential customers to appeal to, and you’re based in one of the most beautiful vacation destinations in the world. When it comes to job satisfaction, you certainly have very little to complain about.
However, every business has its downsides, and one difficulty that many small restaurant businesses in general face is how to stand out amongst their competitors. You might not have the funding for fancy advertising, which may mean you’re unable to pick up that rush of tourists that the bigger, more established businesses are able to bring in. So how can you still make your small restaurant business shine?
If you feel you’re struggling, don’t be disheartened – there are ways to stand out from the crowd that don’t have to involve forking out the cash for excessive promotion. Aside from having a website, which is a business essential, here are some simple steps to getting your small business out there and increasing your customer base:
Offer special customer service
When people go on a vacation, they enjoy being treated extra-specially. They don’t necessarily want the same customer service experience as back home, where they’re largely ignored and handled as another number by their servers and waiters. They’d rather be treated with warmth and welcoming, and it takes a friendly type of person to succeed in delivering that sort of customer service.
Take your hiring process seriously, be meticulous with applicants, and make sure the staff you take on have a real knack for friendliness and hospitality. You’re far more likely to gain repeat customers and a wealth of positive online reviews if you can offer something of extra special value to vacationers.
Re-evaluate your menu
No matter what cuisine you specialise in, you need to make sure that you’re offering up enough diversity and uniqueness to appeal to a customer who could quite as easily go down the road for a bigger selection. That’s not to say that the more food you can offer, the better – but think carefully about your menu options for the biggest appeal.
Always take food preferences, allergies and special dietary requirements into account when you’re designing your menu. Nowadays, more and more people are following the vegetarian diet, and if you’ve only got one or two vegetarian dishes on your menu, you’re not really catering to that audience. The same goes for gluten-free and nut-free menu options – make sure you’ve got plenty of choice, and you’ll be a hit with tourists simply for showing basic insight.
Be unique
Even if you’re offering the same sorts of foods as your competitors, there’s always a way to do it uniquely. Perhaps you can create variations of a traditional local dish or dessert, or find a way to put a modern twist on it. You could also consider your dinner setting, or the service itself, and think up ways to make this particularly different from the settings and services that your competitors offer up.
Think about what makes you different and act on it. You don’t have to do anything too extravagant, but it might be nice to be known as “the restaurant that does XYZ”, instead of just another food venue in your location. Share this uniqueness across to your website to widely appeal to potential customers.
Stay in touch with your customers
We’re not suggesting here that you befriend each and every one of your customers and add them on Facebook, but there’s no reason why you can’t take their information and (when consented) use it for your marketing purposes. People love being reminded of their favourite destination while they’re back at home, so they’re likely to welcome an email from you reminding you about their fantastic experience last summer in the middle of their working day… and, over time, it may even be enough to encourage them to make another trip out to see you.
One way to make your communication more personal to your customers is to email them on their birthday with a special celebratory offer. While you may not see much response to this if you’re largely a restaurant for tourists, you’ll be remembered simply for going that extra mile when it counted.
Consider your setting
Any restaurant business relies heavily on physical appearance, so if you’ve experienced a recent drop in customers, you might want to consider your current setting. Ask yourself a few questions, like: Is the theming appropriate for what we serve? Are certain elements starting to look outdated? How might a customer view the restaurant on a first-time visit? Be honest with yourself, and if you need to, enlist in the help of a friend or family member who won’t be afraid to tell the truth.
You might only need to make one or two subtle changes to your business to make it more visually appealing. A simple repaint of your walls or ceilings, or trashing your tables and chairs for more modern alternatives, could be all it takes to completely transform the interior of your restaurant. A full change in theming is only really necessary if it’s been a good decade or so since your last refurb.