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I wanted to share my insight on restaurants during PEAK rushes. Get it right when you are under pressure, and you will not only build sales on the short term, but also increase customer footfall during the rest of the week. Here's how...
Know your customers
Where your restaurant is situated and the type of dining experience you offer will likely impact your peak times. If you are extremely fortunate, these peaks will be predictable and regular, but not always. The starting point is to do your research, know who your customer is, and what their needs are, to the last detail.
- Commuters in need of a caffeine fix and a quick breakfast snack?
- Ladies (and gentlemen) who lunch?
- After work crowds who want wine with their meals?
- Or the weekenders who want to linger with the morning newspapers?
All have very different but very specific needs that you need to get right, every time.
Preparation
Preparation for the busy times is not just about structuring your menu and your marketing offers around likely demand, it is also about staff preparedness and culture, all geared towards your customers.
The busiest operational times can be a nightmare if you aren’t prepared. If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant you will likely know what this feels like. Those times where just everything has gone wrong. Certain menu items are unavailable, customers are getting agitated through service delays, your team are stressed out, customer experience is far from where you dreamed it would be.
It's time to shine, to provide a totally outstanding customer experience no matter how many customer come in, and delivered in a way that wows them, not leaves them with a sour taste in their mouth.
Preparation and planning will ensure that transactions and service delivery are world class. The businesses that are ready, prepared well in advance, with a team that are concentrating on having fun and bringing their leader's vision to life, rather than trying to resolve operational barriers every few minutes, will never be beaten.
A busy service completed well creates that magic ‘buzz’ or ‘vibe’ amongst staff that happens when the restaurant or café is running smoothly and leaves a lasting impression on your customers. Customers are smart, and they will notice if you get it right, and they will learn to be confident in your business.
The Keys to Success
‘So, what’s the answer?’ you may ask. Well fundamentally it boils down to two things: People and Data.
Data give you the insight to be able to identify trends, customer needs and wants, likes and dislikes, who your market is, when it comes in, what they want to buy, and even how they want to buy it, to name a few.
Then it’s down to your team.
A leader who uses data, has a vision and ability to communicate and inspire this across their team.
Any great leader would be nowhere without a team of talented, hard working, bought-in individuals who seek nothing more but to fulfil the vision and to bring it to reality, and then some.
A World Class Experience
A restaurant business with these two things is a formidable force. Any restaurant out there who is up against competitors with a data/people setup such as this, should be worried and will not be long before they fall behind. Don’t be one of them.
If you need a hand, feel free to get in touch.
Thanks for reading,
Sam
