So, you’ve started a restaurant. You know that having a great menu and a fun atmosphere is essential to retaining your customer base once they start trickling in. Once you have that, you’d think you were good to go, right? Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
60% of restaurants fail in their first year and 80% go out of business within five years of opening. What is a huge cause of business failure? No one knows about them. Restaurants need to do their part to advertise as a means to grow their customer base. Reaching more potential consumers means that they will make more money to be able to keep up with wages and expenses (that are constantly evolving).
Don’t let this deter you if you have it in your heart to create and run a successful restaurant. Start advertising and reach more customers than you ever thought imaginable. Continue reading to discover everything you need to know about restaurant merchandising in Tampa Bay, FL.
Why Is Advertising Your Restaurant So Important?
Advertising is so important to having success in your restaurant-owning dreams. It helps your restaurant to constantly be seen by potential consumers. Advertising is meant to be like a reminder that your restaurant still exists and you are ready for your previous customers to come back and for new customers to come in and give your delicious food a try. Maybe they’ll become regulars, too.
Knowing this and implementing the right merchandising strategies will help you to stay afloat when it comes to running the next restaurant to flourish in the Tampa Bay area. Your marketing investments will return to you tenfold when you start bringing in more customers.
Types of Restaurant Merchandising Materials/Programs Available
To reach your preferred customer base, you have to get a few people through the doors and please them to the point that they leave happy. Once your faithful customers start talking about how great this new place is for a bite to eat, you may find a few more people trickle through the doors.
Word-of-mouth used to be the greatest source of advertisement… then the internet came along, which allows you to reach more people than you ever thought possible. Getting to that point can be a little tricky. We’ve listed some beneficial merchandising methods that can give your restaurant the boost that it needs.
Banners & Signs
Big T Printing acts as a one-stop-shop for all of your restaurant signage needs. You can find everything that you need for physical marketing. A visual brand for your restaurant can be great for business. Once you have a brand in mind, you can come up with a logo. Your logo can then be used to create banners for the walls, tabletops signs, menus, and even more.
Once people get to know the image for your restaurant, they will associate that image with the great experience they had when they stopped in for a meal.
Branded Glassware & Coffee Cups
Surrounding your customers with banners and signage is great, but you can take it one step further by having your logo on the cups that they will drink their beverages out of. Branded glasses and coffee cups are available through Big T Printing.
Restaurant Uniforms & Merch Apparel
Our screen printing and embroidery services will take your uniform and give it a personalized touch.
You can also utilize our screen printing services to create apparel for you to sell in your restaurant. When your customers wear your merch, you will reap the rewards of their passive advertising. Wearing a hoodie or a t-shirt representing your restaurant may spark a conversation. This will spread the word to other potential customers who come to your restaurant to see what the buzz is all about.
Local Marketing
Becoming a part of your local community acts as a way for you to market to the residents who live near the restaurant. The impact that you make on your community (like through charity and other good deeds) can help to reinforce your place among other businesses and keep your customers coming back for more.
A User-Friendly Website & App
Go digital. Having an up-to-date, user-friendly website is so important for your younger audience who may look you up on the internet. An app that customers can download to their mobile devices is also extremely helpful for business. You can even set your restaurant up within an app, like GrubHub and Uber Eats, to offer a delivery service to the local residents and visiting tourists.
Social Media Presence
Having a presence on social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, can help you to get your restaurant noticed in your community. You can also hire someone to manage your social media accounts if you don’t have the time to do it yourself.
Food Blogging
Starting a food blog that relates to your restaurant’s brand can also help you to grow your audience. You can hire a local blog writing service to write your content if that isn’t something that you can manage on top of running your business.
If this isn’t ideal for your method of advertising, you can get some visibility by being publicized by local food bloggers.
How Else Can You Grow Your Customer-Base?
Once you have all of your merchandise techniques in place, you can then advertise with restaurant coupons and promos. Loyalty programs are also a great way to keep your regular customers coming back for more.
What Works For You?
When it comes to advertising your restaurant, you have to decide what types of advertisements would benefit your restaurant and bring in new customers. Once you know what you are looking for, you can decide which tasks you can handle and which ones you would like to delegate to others.
Contact Big T Printing today for more information about our screen printing and embroidery services. We’d be happy to answer any questions you might have about the different restaurant merchandising materials that we have available to help advertise your restaurant.