Ian Said's Page

Owning and operating a restaurant in today’s economy can be a challenging proposition, which is why it is so important to build customer loyalty.  In truth repeat customers make up the bulk of any restaurant’s customer base and word-of-mouth advertising can do wonders for building up your clientele.  But how do you go about building customer loyalty in the restaurant industry?

While any one of the following five suggestions will help to increase your business,…

There is nothing like a holiday to increase your customer base. Whilst holidays like Christmas, New Years and Thanksgiving are shoe-ins for advertising, sometimes it is the smaller, more personal holidays such as Veteran’s Day or Father’s Day that can truly make a difference in your numbers. Keep in mind, however, that while advertising and marketing to increase your customer base on the larger holidays is fairly simple, you need to be more personal when it comes to…

It’s not cheap to run a restaurant, but food is one of the biggest costs associated with it. It is therefore of utmost importance to keep your food costs within an acceptable percentage to avoid financial hardship and prevent having to pass on the costs to your customers.

Here are 13 tips on how you can achieve this:

1) Take Inventory Regularly

Making note consistently and regularly…

Location. Location. Location. It’s a cliche for a reason. Before you fold the napkins or add a dash of anything, you need to settle on a location. This should never be an afterthought. You can have the best food in the world and still be hungry for customers if you are not in the right location. Location is really the key to the success of your restaurant. Even if you have the “perfect” spot in mind, don’t get too attached until you do a little research first.

Here are four factors to…