Spark New Restaurant Promotion Ideas

Many people seem to think that restaurant promotion is a pushover. After all you just have to let people know you are there and that you sell a certain kind of food and they will come, right? Not only is this far from the truth, but you often have to analyze and dissect any new restaurant promotion ideas and work out for yourself why they won’t work before you decide to proceed.

New restaurant ideas are only limited by your imagination, but you do need to take some fundamentals into account before you let your active mind get the better of you. You need to outline your idea and be clear about its draw. What is the incentive? Why should people choose your establishment to satisfy their social and culinary needs. If you can’t see the wood for the trees, ask a trusted friend or business associate for their input. If you have some novel marketing concepts for your new restaurant ideas, make sure that you train your staff and don’t assume that they fully understand what you have in mind. You should know that a motivated staff is your best asset and you need them to be fully behind what you’re trying to do, to make it sing.

Just because you provide a place of employment for your staff, don’t think that they’ll automatically be inspired, loyal and productive for you. Invariably they will, if you bring them in on your new restaurant ideas at an early stage. Take time to sit down and really spell out your vision. Engage in question and answer sessions until you are sure that they can see what you are talking about.

As a prize is a great motivator, brainstorm a little and come up with an incentive or two to really get your staff behind your new restaurant ideas. For example, you could reward them in some way for introducing a group and encourage them to go away and network within their own family and friend environments to see if they can come up with some regular business this way.

As your restaurant will likely be open seven days a week and year round, use the calendar as your friend. There are typically a number of public, social or religious holidays during every month of the year and these are normally associated with a special menu, a special dish of some kind. You could come up with any number of new restaurant ideas if you think about creating a themed event in association.

Did you know, if you are trying to think of new restaurant ideas and something to inspire your client base, staff and even yourself, why not visit a website devoted to each individual day in history. If you are creative and realistic you can come up with a hook to tie in a special event to any given date.

Reward your regular visitors by creating a VIP club and offering them meaningful discounts or bonuses for future visits. If you are proactive in promoting the club you should be able to gain contact details, e-mail addresses of many of your visitors. When you have a regular basic communication with them you can help to build a loyal database and really boost your sales down the road.