#Restaurant Resources - 4 Ways To Improve Your Business
(Based on personal experience and consumer feedback)
4 very important basic things you should know and practice as a restaurant/food service provider in Accra:
1. Basic social media is free, utilize it.
Create accounts on all platforms and market yourself - let people see what you have. It’s the best way to reach all current and prospective clients at once.
Instagram works best for pictures and advertisements but Twitter is more interactive and is ultimately better for reviews, feedback and creating conversations. Facebook of course works for both.
Picture quality is more important than a lot of people realize - you’re not posting pictures just to post pictures, you’re posting them to attract customers. Your pictures should make people want to try what you’re offering. Flash-flooded pictures, bad lighting and angles - they all work against you. I personally only order from restaurants who use pictures of their own meals, not downloaded from the internet because there’s a 99% chance I’m not getting what you’re advertising. Your captions should have the relevant information as well (like what’s the name on the menu? What do I ask for when I’m ordering?) . If managing a social media page is too much work (busy schedule so you cant be consistent with content), there are a lot of social media managers who will gladly do the work for you.
If you have a marketing budget you definitely should go the extra mile and invest in your social media presence (influencers, branding agencies, sponsored posts etc). You should note though, no amount of online branding will work if your service sucks. An influencer’s job is to draw people to you and inform the public about your brand but it’s your job to make sure they stay (Through proper service etc).
2. Make communication easy.
“I called but they’re not picking up”
“They didn’t even return my call”
“I dmd them 2 weeks ago, no reply”.
Happens all the time. Sometimes you recommend a place, but they don’t pick up or return missed calls. It’s a little thing but it’s a major put-off for some people and not everyone will call back after the 4th unanswered call; they’ll just move on to the next vendor. I know sometimes you’re busy so you can’t answer, but please return missed calls the moment you see them because there’s a 90% chance it’s a prospective customer. Reply your direct messages too. And please be professional, don’t address them like you would your friend - it’s a business transaction.
I’m surprised that I even have to say this but don’t flirt with them (seeeeriously guys?).
You can (and probably should) ask for feedback, but keep the conversation centred on the transaction, don’t ask personal questions (its so inappropriate), don’t follow up later with WhatsApp broadcasts, don’t try to initiate irrelevant conversations. It’s shocking the number of times people do this.
3. Be consistent, it makes it easier for people to recommend you
It goes without saying, your food needs to be good. There’s absolutely no substitute for that.
It also needs to be consistent - if your jollof is spicy today, please let it be spicy tomorrow so if anyone is looking for spicy jollof, you’re the first name that comes up. Sometimes you find a place that makes something a particular way and the next time you go it tastes completely different. The portion size yesterday could feed 2, today it barely covers 1 person.
It’s good to keep evolving but your food tasting different every time means every time someone orders they’re taking a risk and most people (LIKE ME!) would rather not.
4. Work on your Delivery
That’s a 2-part conversation.
First the delivery times. If you’re known for long delivery times your business is going to be significantly less than it should be. Because people will only order from you when they have a lot of time to wait. That means fewer lunch orders than you would initially have had because no one wants to spend their short lunch break waiting for their food to get there 10 minutes before it ends, no impromptu “Wow I’m hungry, what can I eat” orders, no “let’s grab a quick bite” walk-ins etc. If I have to wait for 3 hours for food there’s a 90% chance I will never order from you again.
Second, delivery methods. Oh my goodness. I don’t think some vendors know how jarring it is dealing with dispatch riders who just don’t listen or are downright rude. Some people will tell you any delivery issues aren’t their problem because they use an external company but that is 100% not true - if someone bought from YOU, YOU need to oversee the delivery and ensure it goes smoothly, and any issues are your problem because it looks bad for YOUR business.
Good luck to all restaurants/food businesses operating during these times - it really can’t be easy. We appreciate you guys❤️.
If you would like to discuss more ideas and ways to grow your business, click any of the links below to arrange a meeting.