Restaurant 4 wall marketing is what the owner can do within the four walls of the restaurant. Increase frequency of guests visits, how to up-sell, cross sell, build a restaurant referral program. The article highlights the use of space to build on these objectives. Furthermore renew your brand promise.
As a restaurant consultant in Mumbai, Mango Kurry can develop, audit your program and highlight some opportunities.
Restaurant Four Wall Marketing
Mango Kurry is a kitchen and restaurant consultant in Mumbai and can help you to develop a restaurant four wall marketing program
Its a cheaper to sell to an existing customer or guests than to to make efforts to acquire a new trial.
4 wall marketing is also neighbourhood makreting where the idea for a small business to concenterate its limited resources to communicate to customers and give a reason for them to come back.
4 wall marketing involves both silent selling and active selling.
By silent selling it means communication is available for customer to consume. Active selling selling the staff directly inform the customer about restaurants offers but think of this – now they have necessary collateral to strengthen their communication.
Its a win win.
Your four wall marketing can create opportunity for the ideal sale conversation with your staff.
Perhaps you do catering caught their eye, customers then may want to talk to you more about it. You then give them more brochure, your copy of your catering menu and your packages. This rich information may form the basis of new business.
Goal of Restaurant 4 Wall Marketing
Restaurant 4 wall marketing aims to
- sell,
- cross sell,
- up-sell to your existing customers base,
- make restaurant guests come more often,
- make restaurant guests refer your place to more guests,
- get more of their friends with them
- Marketing makes selling superfluous.
So where and when does restaurant marketing begin.
Its in the restaurant 4 walls.
- A restaurant sells a promise!
- This promise is of an meal experience.
- This experience must have characteristics of emotional connect.
Restaurant four wall marketing looks at marketing from the point of view of the restaurant operator, restaurant owner and restaurant manager as two what they can do to build on the promise and communicate the promise.
The emphasis is what can be done in their circle of influence.
Four wall marketing means what can be done within the four walls. Here are some thoughts
Uniforms
How are the uniforms? What’s is message they communicate? Shabbily turned out staff cannot augur for the brand image and the perceptions the guests can carry about the restaurant.
A restaurant tactic that can be used is to have button buddies which speak of the latest restaurant promotions. They staff are your mobile marketing units.
The 4 Walls A Medium Marketing
Whats on the walls? Sure colour makes a difference. It impacts the overall look and feel of the restaurants. But whats on the wall.
Restaurant Wall of Fame
Guests like to own their restaurants. Advocates speak of the restaurants as their own restaurants. How can you make them own a piece of the restaurant.
The wall of fame is a popular idea where famous guests or regular guests photographs are on the wall.
A coffee shop can allow post it slips where people can scribble and place their affectionate notes about the place.
The art corner can have paintings of kid art of your guests.
The Restaurant Story
A restaurant must have a story. The story gives it heart and soul. The story can be about what made it come about. The story can advocate their promise of using the freshest ingredient. The story of the family who owns the restaurant.
Awards
Greatest place of the awards, certification programs you have attained.
Display Signature Dishes On Walls
What are you famous for?
A wall can be a great place to highlight this. Your famous dessert. Your famous sizzler. Your famous biryani. And why is it so great. Your secret cooking technique which you will take to your grave.
Tell it! Say it! In bold and beautiful.
Upcoming Events & Promotions On Walls
Whats happening
The wall can also be places of messages highlighting the current events. It can be via posters, electronic kiosk, electronic screen.
Events and festivals
These are orchestrated by management to renew their contract with their customers. The programs must be line in the overall sensibility of their guests.
Day Part Events
These refer to special programs like sunset suppers for early dinner , late buffet, or supper theatre, or spa lunch.
Happy Hours
Your bar program may have happy hours. You can use the 4 walls to communicate unique features of your program. Dont’t just depend on your staff to sell the program or worse wait for your guest to ask “do you you have , happy hours?.”
Happy Hours may be communicated using menu, placemats, button buddies, loos. Every touch point can be used to get customer attention.
The Table
Restaurant Placemats as a sales tool
The humble placemats is perhaps the most obvious place to highlight your key messages.
The story, what you are famous for what happening, awards. It can be used to highlight a property you own.
Property refers to special events which are synonymous with you karaoke, sunset suppers, women lunch program.
The Restaurant Loos as a Promotion Space.
This must be handles with care. But your guests are longest undivided attention in this spaces. Whats do you want to tell them.
Restaurant Brochures and Restaurant Flyers
Restaurant is the place where to have brochures for your take away menu, your catering plan.
Flyers
Flyers are unique communicating tool which speak of singular events. Flyers must be used iwth guests who are already there in your restaurants. So hand out flyers of your upcoming events to customers. A customer carrying this flyer at home is more likely to remember your event. Please note its not one thing that makes a difference but a collection of small efforts which have abig impact.
Tents Cards and comment cards
What do your tent card do and what do they sell. A tent card is the single most important tool for silent selling with restaurant 4 walls. Your specials for food, event, music or enrollment in loyalty programs can be facilitated using tent cards. The question to aks is what is your number one priority.
Comment Cards
Comment cards can be a used to facilitate customer feedback and also promote your birthday and anniversary programs. Also, highlight lucky draws.
Packaging
Your take out boxes and home delivery.
Whats do they sell? Do they have the phone number at least!! Give them an extra menu. Highlight your food safety aspects which are unnoticed. Do you have shelf life indicator.
The Menu As A Marketing Tool
Does you menu highlight your awards, your story. Does your menu highlight what you are famous for. Does it tangabalise the taste by attractive photographs. Does it highlight your loyalty programs and your gift cards
Mood & Ambiance Of Restaurant
The physical evidence of the promise is kept by the grooming of staff, cleanliness of your toilets and restaurants, the presentation of the food and the attractiveness of the menu.
Service AS A Medium Of Marketing
The promise is secured by a few service characteristics.
- Like do you repeat the order?
- Do you tell what you are famous for?
- Do you tell the time for service?
- Do meet the guest twice to check on their experience?
- Do you wow your regulars with something special?
- Do you look after kids and their special needs in the form of menu, to baby chairs?
- Are you a kid friendly restaurant?
How do you ensure repeat visit in a restaurant?
Do you have gift cards, a birthday program, a bounce back coupon.
Word Of Mouth
You can jumpstart your word of mouth of marketing by asking your happy satisfied customer for a referral. Your customer inviting their friends on your behalf will be more impactful then any communication carried out by the restaurant. This ofcourse needs to be incentivised and managed and controlled by the restaurant.
Social Media Enrollment
You can passively display your socila media address within restaurant or incentivise your customer to join and comment on Facebook, Instagram. This effort will strenthen your outbound commuication.
4 Walls Marketing Plan
Dont just wing it, you need to think through your 4 wall amrketing plan. Start by making a list of all assets you have. Every touch point in the customers journey. Next make a list of all yourshort term and long terms promotions, events and properties. Map these on various touch points. Finally, train your staff to communicate these programs to your customers. Last thing you need that on further enquiry by a guest, your staff is clueless- Its knows to happen.
Summary
The restaurant four wall marketing program uses everything you can touch, see, smell and experience to develop sales building activities and renew the promise. These are some of things that a you alone can do within the four walls. A restaurant want to build sales and must build great memories. Both these go hand on hand. You sell, cross sell to your existing customers to come more, buy more and get more people with them.
Mango Kurry is a kitchen and restaurant consultant in Mumbai, India. As a restaurant consultant in Mumbai, an audit of your program can be done, opportunities identified and tactics suggested. An annual marketing program can also be made. If you need assistance, do call.
To your success!