Keep Guests Coming to Your Restaurant with These Tips

As a restaurant owner, you have an obligation to your patrons. While serving delicious meals made with quality ingredients is a high priority, there’s even more that goes into creating an unforgettable dining experience. Providing top-tier service that goes above and beyond what is expected is key to establishing a relationship with guests. These suggestions will ensure that they return again and again.

Welcome Each Guest

Most guests prioritize food quality over everything else when it comes to spending money while eating out. However, it’s easy to forget about delicious food, when other areas are lacking. This is why it’s so crucial to begin the diner’s experience in a positive and uplifting way. Train employees to greet each person with an authentic and genuine interaction. A welcoming smile, a positive affirmation and natural conversation all go a long way in setting the right tone for your guests.

Dress the Part

Your restaurant waitstaff uniforms play an unspoken yet very significant role in conveying your brand’s message. It begins with an understanding of appearances in the hospitality world. What your staff wears sets the tone for the rest of the experience. A clean, polished ensemble reflects the authenticity of your restaurant, whether you run a hip café or a refined bistro. The key is to select attire that is in keeping with the spirit of your establishment. A crisp custom uniform work shirt, for example, is essential in any bustling atmosphere. It maintains its neat, poised appearance even when servers move busily from table to table while navigating chaotic restaurant traffic. The inarguable class and sophistication of a smart custom uniform work dress contribute to the ambiance of a fine-dining venue. Uniforms also help patrons recognize staff members easily and convey a sense of responsibility and reliability. These are important facets that one might not instantly associate with restaurants, but they are essential to establishing a continuing relationship.

Sell Dishes Properly

Guests can easily read the menu, but it’s up to your servers to provide more detailed information about dishes and daily specials. Make sure they are trained to recognize the nuances and elements that make each meal noteworthy. Explaining how it is prepared, for example, is more effective than merely telling the patron the ingredients that it contains. Take it a step further by having servers provide recommendations. What side dish best complements the meal? Which wine offers the best balance? This type of deep knowledge and rich understanding of the food can help customers make tough decisions and try dishes that they might not otherwise consider. Moreover, it helps sell specific items you may want to push.

Listen to Feedback

Feedback exists for a reason, and it’s important to be mindful of what you hear from your patrons. Prioritize these requests to ensure they receive precisely the type of dining experience they expect every time they stop by for a meal. Implementing changes at the expense of what you think is right versus what your guests expect can be enormously impactful—it not only shows that you care enough to listen, but that you trust and value the patrons’ words.

Make sure to contact guests directly as needed, especially if they have specific complaints that require focused attention. Your goal should be to initiate a conversation and continue that dialogue as needed. Make it a point to create a positive back and forth that instills in the guest a desire to return. You might offer an incentive, such as a gift card or a free beverage, or you may invite them back to replace a dish that they weren’t satisfied with during their previous visit. Always think in terms of how you can improve the overall experience. Remember that word of mouth is everything in small and large communities alike. You can trust in positive reviews to help generate more business for you, so it pays to be as open and willing to fix problems and address concerns as needed.

Implement Useful Technology

In a convenience-driven society highly dependent on technology, it’s the small additions that make the biggest overall difference. A self-service kiosk near the front of your establishment, for example, makes it easier for customers on the go to place their orders efficiently. You might also implement handheld devices for your servers to use during their shifts. This allows them to check orders while they’re working, send messages to cooks, accept payments at the table and many more convenient steps that can save time and create a smoother and more seamless dining experience for patrons.