Ken Burgin

Invisible? How to Stop Customers Forgetting Your Restaurant

Unless you’re a major industry icon, or they’ve visited 5 times, most people don’t remember your business name…

True story: 2 people in café, one on the phone. She looks at her friend and asks ‘what’s the name of this place?’…and the friend doesn’t know! Worse, there was nothing inside the café to tell them – no signs, nothing on the table or staff uniforms. Future business lost for sure.

Before you go spending big money on expensive promotion, check that you’ve covered all the small, personal promotional items within your 4 walls. You could double your business if everyone came back at least once!

Increase the number of times your business name is seen:

  • The business name on the wall or menu – make it part of the decoration.
  • Business name on awnings and the front window – if it’s just on the awning, people walking or driving by may not see it.
  • The name on the side and back of your company vehicles – include the website so it’s easy to find you later.
  • Name and contact details on the docket a customer takes away.
  • Business cards for people to keep. Makes sure there’s one with every account.
  • Souvenir menus at the counter, even if it’s just a sample.
  • Auto-response to inquiry emails. It automatically bounces back saying something like:
    Thanks for your inquiry – we will be in touch with you shortly. Don’t forget all our menus are online at wvw.ourwebsite.com’…
  • Business name on staff uniforms – just as important as the staff name.
  • Prominent website address – as big as every other mention of your name. If it’s not logical eg hgc.com instead of HillsideGolfClub.com, fix this – register the easier name as well, and have them both directing to the same website. If you spell the web name with some capitals (like this example), it’s easier to remember and won’t affect search behaviour.
  • Business name used in menu items eg at Café Troppo we had the ‘Troppo Burger’ and ‘Troppo Trifle’ – distinctive and memorable.
  • And of course your website comes up first when we do a Google search – many businesses still don’t have this happen.

Make contact more personal to reinforce the memories:

  • Hand written ‘thank you’ on the docket or account
  • A personal acknowledgement: ‘Thank you Mr Burgin’ – when my credit card is brought back to me, or when my account details are present eg checkout. If Qantas can do it loading 200 people on a plane, so can you!
  • Real faces on the website gallery – happy staff and happy customers, plus busines owners and managers with short biographical details.

Nice place, but where am I?

1 thought on “Invisible? How to Stop Customers Forgetting Your Restaurant”

  1. If you don’t know that you’re at the iconic Three Blue Ducks, then there’s something wrong…. most diners there don’t need to be reminded.

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