Restaurant Seating Blog

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Have a Fundraiser Night at Your Restaurant

Most people like the thought of giving to a worthy charity, but they don’t always have the extra money to donate. As a restaurant owner, you can appeal to this desire in people to do good things and promote your restaurant at the same time. Consider holding a fundraiser night at your eatery. Donate a portion of your proceeds for the evening to a charity.

Choose Your Charity Wisely

There are a number of great charities out there, and many of them are very worthy of your donations. However, each person has their own idea of which charity is the most worthy, and if you talk with your employees about which charity you should choose, you will find that you are going to get quite a few different answers. Some will want you to donate to the Red Cross, while others might want to you donate to a local school.

When you are choosing your charity, you should be the one that makes the final decision, but that doesn’t mean that you should just choose the first charity that you find. Consider donating to a local charity. That way, people will feel as though they are doing something good for their community just by going out to dinner. You don’t have to choose a local charity though. Choose the one that your head and heart tells you is right.

Advertise Your Intentions (more…)

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Host a Singles Event at Your Restaurant

I already discussed the topic of bringing in more customers by hosting a singles night. This post is adding a few tips and insights into what has already been mentioned before to create a better review of the concept and to help you make the most of the idea.

The logistics of hosting a singles event might be tricky at first, but it is possible to do. Here are some tips that you can use to figure out how to start your own restaurant-styled singles night.

First, what is your slowest day of the week? You are going to want to choose that as the night that you hold your event since you have the potential to earn equal to or more money during this night than you regularly would. Once you know the day that you are going to hold your event, you will be able to continue with the rest of the preparations. (more…)

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Frequent Loyal Diners Deserve Rewards

If you have been in business for a while, you have probably started to see some familiar faces around your restaurant. Those customers that come in a few times a month, once a week, or even a few times a week are your best and most loyal customers. They probably even sit in the same area each time that they come into your place. You and the rest of the staff may even know them by name.

You want to treat them well, and you want other customers to follow their lead. It would be a wonderful world if you could count on all of your customers to come back day after day, wouldn’t it! A great way to repay those loyal customers is by offering a stamp card so that they will be able to save a little bit of money and feel welcomed and appreciated.

The card can have several spots on the back – generally around 12. Each time the customer comes in and orders an entrée, a buffet meal or the like, your employees can stamp their card. After the customer reaches those 12 stamps, they are entitled to a free meal and you replace their card with a brand new one. They will keep coming back, and you can be sure that they are going to tell their friends about it. When they bring others to your restaurant, you are the winner because you are able to meet and greet some new blood. (more…)

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Changing Up the Menu and the Seating for Restaurant Success

If your restaurant is having trouble getting business, it isn’t the end of the world, and it certainly isn’t the end of your business. You have to take a look at how you are doing things and see if there might be something that you can change. Even some small changes can get the excitement building about your restaurant and bring more people into it. Let’s look at a couple of things that you can do that might be able to breathe more life into your restaurant.

The Seating

You might not even realize that there is something amiss in your restaurant until you look at it from the perspective of a customer. You are concerned with the day to day operations, and you never see that perhaps the seating and tables aren’t up to par. If you have tables with uneven legs, or that are too small (or even too large), or if your chairs aren’t comfortable, it can cause problems. No one wants to be cramped or uncomfortable when they are trying to enjoy a meal. Rearrange the tables if you have to. Also, investing in some high quality restaurant chairs and tables can be a great idea if you can find it in the budget.

The Menu

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Social Networking and Your Restaurant

You probably use social networking in your personal life. Most people today do. Perhaps you Tweet about the things that you are doing with your friends or family or about the latest movie you saw or book you read. People love Facebook too, and it can be a great way to keep in touch with people you know and even to meet new people. Of course, social networks are also a great way to promote your business. If you want to get more people into your restaurant, get onto all of the social networks that you can.

Set up special pages on Twitter and Facebook specifically for your restaurant. While you want to let people know about all of the great things that your restaurant serves, you don’t want to inundate them only with promotional posts. Make your restaurant’s social network a fun place. Give people some insight into the neighborhood where your restaurant is located. Maybe post some information or links about things people can do in the area after they’ve dined at your place. Of course, you will also want to make sure that you add information for any discounts or specials that you are currently offering – just don’t overwhelm people. (more…)

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Singles Nights Bring More Customers to Your Bar

Finding someone special today is more difficult than it has ever been. Even if you are happily married, you can probably sympathize with the plight of all of those singles out there. Meeting people is tough, and you never know what you can expect. Online dating might have some benefits, but you don’t get to meet the person face to face for a while, and most people crave human contact when they are looking for a potential soul mate. Since you are a bar owner or manager, you are in a perfect position to help these people. Best of all, you will be able to drum up more business for your bar. More business is always good!

How can you do this? Set aside one day a week / month at the bar to be singles night. On this night, only single people who are looking to connect with others will be in the bar. Since everyone knows that its singles night, no one will have to worry about approaching someone only to have to slink away later, once realizing that they are already with someone. Make it a comfortable and friendly atmosphere where people can get to know one another. To draw in more people, you might want to offer discounted drinks for the first couple hours of the night.

If you want to make your singles night really effective, you are going to have to do some advertising. It isn’t too difficult, but you are going to need to start your advertising at least a month before you have your first singles night. The following are some great ways to start getting the word out.

First, make sure that you put an announcement on your website. If you don’t already have a website or blog where you talk about your bar and the events and specials you offer, then you are behind the times and you really need to set one up. In addition to advertising on your own site, look for websites and even blogs that talk about events in your location. Advertise in these places as well to spread the word further. Also, make sure that all of your employees know about the singles night and let them mention it to some of the regular customers. Word of mouth is a low tech and effective way of getting the word out.

Once the word is out there you will also need to prepare relevant music for the singles night and re-arrange your bar chairs and tables to make room to getting around easier and to make sure most of the areas in the bar are visible.

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