How to attract customers in your restaurant: 10 tips to try

Unless a restaurant is running at 100% capacity 100% of the time—which only happens in the realm of fantasy—a restaurateur will always wonder how to reach more guests. The math is pretty simple, after all: The more customers served, the more revenue a restaurant makes. And the more potential customers reached, the more overall customers will be served. So naturally, the question of how to attract customers in a restaurant is an old one, but the answers have evolved just like the restaurant industry itself has.

Having regulars is one of the best things that can happen to a restaurant. But, just like friends, regulars were once strangers. Tapping into new customers and encouraging first-time customers to come back is the way any restaurant builds its brand.

You can rely on referrals and positive word-of-mouth, sure. But there are plenty of other methods available to restaurant owners today to help attract customers to their restaurants. Let’s check some of them out.

Ramp up your social media

Social media marketing has been redefining the way restaurants market themselves for years now, and the trend is not going to let up. That’s because the results are there: Some 50% of diners have tried a new restaurant based on something they’ve seen on social media, and 57% of diners have taken action based on a restaurant’s social media post. That stat is even higher with millennials, at 68%.

Providing high-quality social media posts like videos and beautiful images as well as responding to guest feedback makes your social media stand out. New guests will check to see how you respond to social media posts and many will make decisions based on that first impression.

We’ve done deep dives on restaurant social media marketing strategies before: pairing with influencers and bloggers, what social networks to focus on, how often to post, what kind of posts to make, and so on. Rather than rehash that information here, we’ll leave this section with an exhortation: If you don’t think you’re focusing on your social media enough, you’re probably right. It’s one of the keys to the restaurant business. Check our previous articles on social media engagement for full details on the most effective strategies.

Get your website right

Making sure your restaurant’s website is in tip-top shape can give you a competitive edge. This is doubly true if you’re in an extra-competitive environment and are competing for valuable search engine volume. “New York pizza,” for example, would have an outrageously high search volume and number of listings. So what can you do to stand out if you do, indeed, run a New York pizza place?

Getting your search engine optimization (SEO) up to snuff would be the best thing you can do for your website. That means standing out for specific search terms in which you want your restaurant to appear at or near the top of search results. A good way to do this is to get more specific so you can tap into local search SEO. Using the NYC pizza example, consider your specific location. “Park Slope pizza,” while still a difficult search term to come first in, is far easier to rank in than “New York pizza.” The more specific you get, the better.

You can change up your on-page copy to describe your business. You could also begin a blog campaign, either by yourself or by hiring a blogger. Going for a number of specific search terms will help create a strong online presence in search engines.

Don’t forget email marketing

Email marketing may seem dated, but it’s definitely not out of style. Research shows that for every $1 spent on restaurant email marketing, there’s a $36 return. You don’t need to be any sort of math whiz to figure out that’s a wicked return.

Before your email marketing is effective, however, you’ll need to get your customer base’s emails. This can take time, but it’s absolutely worth it. You should guard your email list like a dragon guarding its gold because it’s that valuable to digital marketing.

After all, you can directly send coupons and other incentives, advertise special offers, and conduct just about anything else with digital restaurant marketing—all while bypassing social media platforms.

Best of all, you’ll likely know your demographic so you can tailor your message specifically to them. If you can come across as a real person and provide regular updates to your business, you’ll keep customers engaged with your story and make them feel like they’re part of something.

Touch up your ambiance

Updating your ambiance and making your restaurant both modern and inviting is a great way to attract new customers—and an excellent opportunity to promote yourself on social media.

Consider refreshing your artwork, changing up your lighting, replacing old furniture, and rearranging seating to suit the atmosphere you’re aiming for. Upgrades to lighting alone can make for a significant change to ambiance without breaking the bank or going too far off course. Knowing your target audience can help you decide just what direction to go in, so keep their specific customer experience in mind.

Add or update menu items

Keeping your menu fresh keeps loyal customers interested and gives new customers a reason to check out your restaurant again if they’ve passed it over before.

Some suggestions for updating new menu items:

• Offer unique, limited-time specials to drive a sense of urgency
• Create prix-fixe menus, pairing an appetizer, main course, dessert, and beverage
• Offer a seasonal menu: include a few additional dishes or replace items that are out of season

In each case, you’ll have ample opportunity to share images and videos of your new dishes on social media, which can help you reach more guests.

Partner with local businesses

Other businesses that aren’t restaurants are also thinking about how to reach more guests. These can be any variety of businesses: florists, interior designers, breweries, distilleries, local farms, food suppliers, and much more.

There are multiple ways you can pair with them. The simplest is to offer a coupon code so customers get discounts on both of your services. For example, if a florist provides arrangements for your Valentine’s Day decor, make sure their business’s information and a coupon or QR code is clearly visible on each display. This way, new customers get a discount at the florist and on a return visit to your restaurant.

If you’re pairing up with other companies in food and beverage, consider a special event. For example, connect with a brewery, set up a tasting event and pair your plates with their beers. Both the restaurant and the brewery will benefit from the recognition.

Another great type of business to partner up with is hoteliers. Hotel guests are often business travelers with high budgets and little knowledge of where to eat. The “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” philosophy is an established part of the hospitality industry, so restaurants and the hotel business have been friends for a long time. In return for the hotels recommending your restaurant (and providing guests a coupon code), consider offering in-room service for guests at nearby hotels.

Encourage online ordering

Not everyone wants to go out to eat all the time. As food delivery and online ordering become ever more popular, it’s easier than ever for restaurants to get their name out to new customers via delivery before they ever set foot in your door.

Relying on third-party delivery apps is a simple and straightforward way to get your name out there. Essentially, the third-party app is incentivized to do your marketing for you because they earn a cut. If you want to circumvent that cut, you can take orders for takeout or delivery directly from your website. Whichever route you go, make sure your back-of-house can handle extra orders to prevent bottlenecks for dine-in orders.

Develop a loyalty program

Customers love to feel rewarded—especially loyal customers. Logically, developing a loyalty program is a good idea. But what can that look like?

Sure, you can go the old route of a simple punch card, but we’ve come a long way since then. A few options for customer loyalty programs include a customized loyalty app, a check-in system with perks, or a program based on social media accounts.

Host some special events

If you have the space, making your establishment one that’s amenable to special events is an excellent way to attract new customers. Offering your restaurant as a place for company events, birthday parties, or holiday celebrations is guaranteed to draw in new customers and help them remember your restaurant’s name.

Providing entertainment like live music and add-ons like free food and gift cards can cement you in customers’ memories and incentivize them to come back.

Encourage online bookings

Since so many customers find restaurants online now, making bookings online as easy as possible is a simple, straightforward choice.

Yelp Guest Manager not only makes online bookings the easiest thing in the world but does a whole lot else to boot. It’s a fully customizable, full-service, front-of-house platform that provides amazing bang for the buck at a flat rate with no additional charge per cover. From online check-ins to waitlists, two-way messaging and more, the guest experience from start to finish is a cinch. Plus, metrics out the wazoo help you keep track of your profitability and just about everything else.

We’d love to tell you more, but we’d rather show you. Reach out to us for a free demo and we’ll get into the details. Guest Manager will definitely help you reach more guests: Restaurants that start using Guest Manager experience up to 2X the traffic on their Yelp Business Page.*