The pandemic greatly affected the food industry, and restaurant owners are feeling the brunt of it. While it is still profitable in its way, proprietors have needed to adapt to the changing landscape of the business. Marketing is one aspect of the food industry that changed a lot. Without the typical dine-in experiences, advertising a restaurant can be challenging, but it is still possible. Here are some things you can do to make your place a hit.
Online Is The Future Of Food Marketing
If your restaurant does not have an online presence, then you need to start one. Without a website for people to visit or a social media page to interact with you, potential customers will not engage with your restaurant. You need to work with the website development team to create a website that highlights your food and allows people to order from you directly. This means building a very visual website and integrating an online ordering system. This is more complex than many people think, and you have to work with a team to ensure that your order delivery platform works. Your website is also the perfect place for updates on your restaurant’s activities, allowing customers to know what you are offering.
Sell Food Kits and Share Recipes
People have developed a big interest in cooking for themselves. But they usually have problems with sourcing ingredients, and they don’t have the right recipes. You can use this to your advantage. Start selling meal kits or sharing recipes. Both of these can be a big boost for your restaurant,
First, meal kits are a great way to promote your restaurant while also selling during the pandemic. They solve the problem of getting ingredients and preparation. A lot of meal kits have meals ready for cooking, with all the ingredients mixed up. All that the customer has to do is the last steps of preparation and cook the meal. This means you can reasonably mark up the price a bit without seeming to be unfair. The convenience factor is a big boost and will encourage customers to buy it. People will also want to try out your food when cooked by professionals, which is a great thing for post-pandemic recovery.
The problem with meal kits is that it can be difficult to produce and package them. If you don’t have the resources to create them, your other option is to release the recipes for free. It sounds like you are getting nothing from it, but home-made versions of your specialties can encourage people to try out the real thing.
Work With Influencers
The world of social media is full of potential helpers for your promotional efforts. Influencers have an audience ready-made for your marketing. Contact one that has a food blog and has them highlight your restaurant. This is an excellent way to reach out to many people, with someone they trust highlighting the good things about your restaurant. Since a lot of their followers trust them, you can have an immediate boost in popularity. With many people wanting to go back out, a recommendation can put your restaurant on the top list of priorities.
Provide Multiple Options
Customers will still be hesitant to go out, even with vaccinations and other precautions. You need to be able to accommodate as many customers as possible. This is where the options come in. There will be those willing to dine at your restaurant, but more will be willing to order deliveries or pickups. You can even offer scheduled orders. For example, a customer might specify a time when they want to dine or get their food. Ordering days in advance is not common, but some people now want the option to schedule their lives a bit.
Besides the dining options, you should also offer additional choices when it comes to what you can sell. Food may be your main selling point but think about other merchandise. A popular item is gift certificates. These are great items to sell since they can last a long time and can be used as promotional items.
The pandemic was a game-changer for a lot of businesses. Mainly because of the many challenges that are popping up for them. Restaurants have a harder challenge because of the various difficulties presented by COVID-19. But with the recovery on the way, it is a good time to start promoting your place again. Start early so that you can be ideally positioned as the world starts opening up again.