The Bloom Intelligence Restaurant Marketing & Customer Intelligence Blog

Your Source for Restaurant Marketing Best Practices

8 Tips for Restaurants, Bars, and Cafes in 2021

  • by: Shannon Harper
  • On: 15, Nov 2020
5 min read

By now, restaurants across the nation are learning to expect the unexpected. COVID-19 has brought changes to consumer habits that are here to stay. This shift makes it more critical than ever to evaluate and review restaurant performance.

If anything, however, 2020 has prepared us for the shifts that are coming.

1. Intelligent staffing

Tracking restaurant traffic (regardless of whether guests log into WiFi or not) has made intelligent staffing a competitive differentiator. Using Bloom Intelligence, restaurants can evaluate traffic trends and staff their locations accordingly. Because of this technology, the chances of accidentally overstaffing are significantly lower.

New call-to-action

2. Seasonal menus

Seasonal menus provide another reason for guests to come back a few times a year for their favorites. According to Technomic, 59% of consumers say they are more likely to buy menu items described as "seasonal." 

 

3. Thoughtful marketing

The margin for marketing error is getting slim. Because of this, it's more important than ever to create strategic and thoughtful marketing campaigns based on careful demographical research. With Bloom Intelligence, food & beverage establishments can track average customer age, sex, postal codes, and more. Then, they can organize changes accordingly based on consumer marketing responses.

content marketing guide for restaurant marketing

4. Track visitor activity

Do you know the average length of time a visitor spends in your location? Do you have visit time goals for efficiency? Are you tracking guest loyalty and churn? If not, 2021 is the year to start. Tracking visitor behavior can allow restaurant management to create revenue and satisfaction-driven key performance indicators. As famous psychologist Abraham Maslow once said, "If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

 

5. Track sales and inventory

Tracking sales and inventory is crucial to understand what supplies come into and out of a restaurant, what's leftover, determine profit margins, and catch downward sales slopes before becoming a larger issue. One statistic has found that up to 10% of food in restaurants goes to waste.

how to save at risk customers at bars restaurants and cafes

6. Increase online reviews

Whether restaurant, coffee shop, and bar owners love reviews or not, they cannot hide from them. But they can bury them, respond to them appropriately, and manage reputations proactively. Using Bloom, industry professionals can send positive-specific reviews to the online review platform of their choice. According to Forrester Consulting, 43% of executives say their sales will increase if they suppress negative reviews.

 

7. Re-evaluate costs vs. return on investment

It's essential to evaluate menu items and other costs annually. Restaurant management should look at their spend, and re-evaluate purchases that do not create a return on investment opportunity.

New call-to-action

8. Update branding

It's more important than ever to stand out amongst the competition. Now is the time to evaluate branding to ensure that it fits into core demographics.

 

9. Consider drive-thru, pickup, and delivery capabilities

Recognizing higher profits, Starbucks recently announced including drive-thrus in all of their new coffee shops. More than half of consumers say that they have changed their shopping habits since Coronavirus. Only 21% of consumers have not made any changes to their visit activity following COVID. Many consumers find convenience in curbside and pickup capabilities that will likely continue after the COVID-19 pandemic crisis is over.

 

In many ways, COVID has pushed the restaurant industry 10-years ahead at lightspeed. Many of the remnants of the pandemic's effect on industry expectations will continue into the new year. While we're not out of the woods yet, this upcoming year will be the perfect opportunity to re-evaluate and plan for the future. 

Schedule a Demo With Bloom

Related Posts

20 min read

7 Ways to Manage Restaurant Data Wisely

Data allows restaurant professionals to reach customers, translating into managerial improvements, increased sales, succ...

Read full article
23 min read

5 Coffee Shop & Cafe Marketing Strategies for 2021

Many leaders in the food & beverage industry breathe a collective sigh of relief as 2020 ends, and 2021 strategizing...

Read full article

Drop us a line!

We would love to hear from you! If you have any questions, comments or ideas about our blog, drop us a line and let us know.

Or call us at 727-877-8181.

Contact Us