Author: Keely Hungate

There are a lot of factors that can make or break a restaurant: quality of food, atmosphere and ambience, level of service. Because they’re so important, these are areas where restaurant owners spend a good deal of time, energy and resources on a daily basis. 

Now more than ever, restaurant cleanliness should be at the top of that priority list. Granted, it’s not the most fun or exciting aspect of restaurant operations; few people go into the business with a dream of opening “the cleanest restaurant, ever!”. But restaurant sanitation, or lack thereof, can have a direct impact on your restaurant’s success — especially in 2020, where we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic.

Following the initial shutdown, most restaurants have reopened in some capacity, but they’re operating with more stringent sanitation standards. Some have been put in place by their respective cities or states, while others are self-imposed by the restaurant owners themselves for the well-being of their people and patrons. 

If your own cleaning policies and procedures could use some attention, read on for ways to maintain a restaurant that puts the health of your people and patrons first. 

How Maintaining a Clean Restaurant Impacts Your Bottom Line

Even in pre-pandemic times, choosing not to adhere to the cleaning guidelines established by the CDC could cost restaurants their business.

Whether you’re not properly cleaning or maintaining your physical space, sanitizing dishes, storing food, washing hands — there are very real and even dangerous consequences that can result from ignorance or negligence.

The biggest risk you run is harming the health of your employees or customers. But even if no one gets sick, violating the health code can put you in legal hot water. And you also have your reputation at stake. In the hospitality industry, where word of mouth is a key marketing channel, you certainly don’t want to become an establishment that’s known for poor sanitation. 

Of course, the pandemic adds another layer to all of this. The general public is experiencing quarantine fatigue — many people are more than ready to get out of the house — but they’re also fearful of the potential for viral transmission. Demonstrating and communicating a commitment to sanitation and safety can go a long way in making people feel comfortable in your space once again.

It’s not just for the sake of optics, though. We’re still learning about COVID-19, but there’s no doubt that it’s fairly contagious. It behooves restaurant owners to mitigate the spread of the virus so that they can reduce the risk of an outbreak in their establishment. If your team gets sick, not only will you have to operate short-staffed, but you’ll also potentially scare away diners who don’t want to catch the virus themselves.

Your 2020 restaurant cleaning checklist 

COVID has changed the way we look at cleaning procedures. As a restaurant owner, it’s important to be explicit about your sanitation standards, so your staff understands what’s expected of them, and your customers feel safe inside your space. 

Let’s delve further into ways you can ensure proper restaurant cleaning procedures. Consider this your essential 2020 restaurant cleaning list!

Front of house cleaning checklist: pandemic edition

While making sure you’re following all restaurant cleaning procedures throughout your space, there is an added element you need to keep in mind when it comes to your restaurant front of the house cleaning checklist: reassuring your customers they are safe eating in your restaurant. 

This means it’s important for them to see your staff practicing food safety and implementing proper restaurant cleaning procedures, following all recommended best practices from the CDC, EPA, and the FDA. Be prepared to answer questions around your procedures — or consider being proactive and posting signage that helps customers understand the measures you’re taking. 

High touch areas

When it comes to your restaurant front of house cleaning checklist, staff should focus on disinfecting all high-touch areas, including:

• Door knobs, handles and push plates
• Railings
• Light and air control switches
• Faucets
• Non-food countertops
• Guest tables, chairs and benches 
• Restrooms
• Registers
• Counters and bar surface
• Pens
• Check presenters
• Guest pagers

Cleaning and disinfecting should be done as often as possible, not just one or twice a day, but every 30 minutes to an hour. For places where customers sit, this should be done in between guests. 

Keep in mind: there’s a difference between disinfecting and sanitizing. Disinfecting with one of these EPA-approved disinfectants against COVID removes more germs than sanitizing, making it more effective in killing pathogens. But disinfectants are typically not safe around food, so these spaces must be rinsed and dried after the solution has had enough time to properly disinfect, which can take up to a couple of minutes. While sanitizing is easier and faster, it’s just not as effective as disinfecting. 

And don’t neglect your outdoor spaces. Open air and sunshine aren’t quite as conducive to germs, but that doesn’t mean your patio is risk-free. Your staff should adhere to the same cleaning protocols for indoor and outdoor dining.

Low touch areas

Low-touch areas should also be cleaned and well-maintained, but may not require frequent disinfecting. 

• Dust shelves, ceiling fans, artwork, blinds, window sills and baseboards 
• Vacuum and clean upholstered furniture; spot clean or shampoo as necessary
• Sweep and mop hard-surface floors
• Vacuum carpeting, rugs and mats; spot clean stains as quickly as possible
• Clean all air vents and replace filters regularly

Restaurant Cleaning in 2020: Don’t Be Complacent

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we should double down on our restaurant cleaning procedures for the foreseeable future. 

It may require extra time, energy and attention to detail from your staff — so be sure you’re setting clear expectations and keeping your people aligned. If you haven’t already, look into contactless technology that can digitize processes and workflows, so that there are fewer physical interactions and touch points. 

For more restaurant cleaning resources, check out: 

1. COVID-19 Cleaning and Disinfection for Human-Touch Surfaces by the Food Industry Association
2. COVID-19 Cleaning & Sanitizing Guidelines for Restaurants & Food Service
3. The FDA’s Best Practices for Retail Food Stores, Restaurants, and Food Pick-up/Delivery Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2020, if you’re not leveraging social media marketing for your restaurant, you’re missing out on an important tool to promote your business and an excellent way to open up communication with your customers. 

While traditional advertising will always have its place, restaurants that use social media marketing have access to a much less expensive and much more direct way to reach audiences. In other words, there’s no reason not to do it.

With that being said, a lot of restaurants aren’t using social media, or they’re not using it to its fullest potential. If you’re in that boat, read on for the what, why and how of leveraging social media marketing for your restaurant or bar. 

Why is social media relevant to restaurants?

According to QSR Magazine, 89 percent of U.S. diners have at least one social media account, 36 percent of them follow restaurants on social media and 39 percent of them use it to help them decide where to eat when dining out.

That means that, here in 2020, having an online presence is much more than maintaining a website. Sure, your site is a great way to enhance your discoverability, but it doesn’t provide much of an opportunity for interaction. 

And therein lies the key benefit of social media: the right platform(s) will allow people to not only discover your brand, but to engage with it — and assuming you make the experience a positive one, that can be an incredibly effective way to draw in new (loyal) customers.

Another great thing about social media is that it costs nothing to get started. Should you choose to put a spend behind your content (which isn’t a bad idea, especially as you’re trying to grow your following), it doesn’t take a big budget to launch an effective paid social campaign. Plus, targeting your key geographies and demographics is easy on platforms like Facebook or Instagram. And unlike print, television, radio and billboards, you can easily measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.

6 steps to creating a social media marketing plan for your restaurant

Before you start creating social media accounts and randomly posting content, you need a restaurant social media marketing plan. Here are 6 steps to creating and executing the right social media marketing strategy for your restaurant or bar.

1. Choose the right platforms 

Trying to decide which social media platforms to use for your restaurant social media marketing can be overwhelming. There are more than 75 different social media platforms, from Tumblr and WhatsApp to LinkedIn, Snapchat and Pinterest. You don’t need to maintain an account on every single one.

When trying to choose the right platform, consider your ideal customer and where they’re likely spending their time.

Here’s a quick rundown of the top three platforms restaurants tend to use. 

Facebook: While Facebook has started skewing toward a slightly older demographic, most restaurants would be wise to maintain a company page for their restaurant, at the very least. Facebook is a great option for restaurants and bars that may not have the time or resources to get a website up and running. On your company page, you can post hours, address, contact information, links to menus, and of course regular content and updates for your followers. 

If you’ve got a budget to work with (even if it’s small), Facebook ads are a great way for restaurants to geo-target their audience. Facebook ads allow you to advertise to people in specific ZIP codes, so you won’t waste your marketing budget advertising to people who likely won’t be visiting your restaurant. You can use other criteria to target your audience, too — like age or income level. If you use Facebook, make sure you take advantage of Facebook Business, which has a whole range of advertising capabilities. 

Instagram: With more than a billion users, Instagram was created to tell stories through beautiful images. And what better way to promote your food, friendly staff, or hip dining space?

While this is subject to change, Instagram currently seems to offer some common ground in terms of demographics: Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and even Baby Boomers are all active on the platform. Here again, if you’ve got a budget, you can run paid Instagram campaigns in tandem with your Facebook ads.

Twitter: Twitter is less image-focused than Facebook and Instagram, but it’s a go-to choice when it comes to real-time interaction between users. Restaurants that leverage Twitter often use it to address questions and complaints, or to keep their audience updated on their latest specials and deals. 

2. Select a social media manager  

You may be thinking, “I don’t have the time nor the staff to manage this!” And you may be right.

That’s why a lot of restaurants designate a point person to manage their social media marketing. Not only does that ensure that it actually gets done; it also will help to maintain brand consistency and alignment.

Depending on your budget and the scale of your campaign, you may choose to have an existing employee or manager run your social media marketing. Or it may make sense to hire an in-house marketer who can handle social media along with other marketing needs. Some restaurants leverage agencies that do this work day-in and day-out — which makes sense if you’re planning to make a sizable spend or if you want to constantly be testing and optimizing your campaigns. Another lower-cost option is to look for a freelancer or even an intern; college-aged people, for example, tend to be pretty tech-savvy and are more likely to be familiar with multiple social platforms. 

When it comes to choosing the online face of your restaurant, you want the person or agency to check a few boxes:

Communication skills: Your social media point person doesn’t have to be a novelist, but they need to have solid writing skills, and they should be able to present content (text and images) in a way that’s engaging and on-brand. Which brings us to our next point…

Familiarity with your business and brand: This is more than knowing your menu, hours, and policies (although that’s important, too). They should also be able to capture the personality of your restaurant. A fine dining establishment isn’t going to be posting the same content as a dive bar.  

Experience with key platforms: The person running your social media marketing should have, at the very least, personal experience with the platforms you’re using. Ideally, they’ll also have experience running a business page or account. 

Emphasis on data: A key advantage of social media marketing for restaurants is the ability to measure effectiveness. You should expect regular reporting on metrics that show growth in followers and engagement over time.

Accountability: Whoever has the keys to your social media platforms needs to be 100% trustworthy. Make sure everyone is clear on what’s acceptable and what’s not when it comes to posting — because as we all know, what happens on the internet stays on the internet. You don’t want to go viral for the wrong reasons!

3. Create guidelines

Social media is an extension of your restaurant, which means that anything you post online will need to meet and maintain your brand guidelines and image. To ensure your point person is able to do this properly, create specific guidelines that codify the tone, voice and visual elements of your brand. It helps to provide consistency in messaging and extends the personality you want your restaurant to portray. For guidance, here are three great resources:

How to Create Social Media Brand Guidelines

Building Your Restaurant’s Social Media Presence

5 Steps to Create a Social Media Style Guide for Your Brand

4. Implement a social media calendar

Set up a social media calendar to keep you consistent in your posting and plan ahead so you can align your social media posts with upcoming specials and events. Hubspot provides 10 different calendar templates and tools to help you create a well-organized social media calendar. 

5. Leverage automation tools

Save time by taking advantage of automation tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout Social to schedule your posts ahead of time. But social media automation doesn’t stop there. Use chatbots to automatically reply to customers online when you’re not able to. And utilize social listening tools like Hubspot (Hootsuite and Sprout Social also offer this function) to monitor any online interactions with your social media accounts. 

6. Utilize user-generated content

User-generated content, or USG, includes photos, tweets, and other social media posts created by your followers that highlight things like the quality of service, your food and beverages, or other aspects of your restaurant. 

USG is essentially free advertising for you because your patrons are posting about their positive experiences at your establishment. You can then repost that content from your own account, as long as you credit the original author of the post. It’s a great way to connect with your audience and allow them to hear from their peers about why your place is so special. Here’s a great guide on how you can encourage your followers to create USG that you can use for your benefit. 

Bottom line: Creating a social media plan for your restaurant doesn’t have to be time-consuming or expensive. Once you’ve got a plan in place and your accounts are set up, it’s all about being consistent and authentic with your content — and, of course, letting data be your guide. If you’re not seeing the impact you hoped for, reassess and refine your plan as you go.

As a restaurant owner or operator, you know your employees’ financial security depends heavily on their tips. 

According to the National Employment Law Project, the average hourly earnings from tips account for almost 60% of wait staff earnings, and 54% of bartenders’ earnings. On a monthly basis, this amounts to just under $900 a month, which is typically more than what most of the floor staff receives through their hourly wage. 

But too often, restaurants and other service industry providers aren’t instantly tipping out employees — or they think they’re tipping out their employees instantly, but it’s not quite as instant as it seems.

Here’s what every restaurant owner needs to know about instant employee tip payments: what they are, why they matter, and how to choose the best method for your team. 

What does it mean to instantly tip out employees?

Instantly tipping out employees means just that: you’re giving your wait staff, bartenders, and other restaurant employees real-time access to the tips they earned during their shifts. 

There are three primary ways that employers can pay out tips:

1. Payroll tip payout
2. Cash tip payouts
3. Digital tip payouts 

Of those three options, payroll clearly does not fall into the instant tip payment category. Employees who are tipped out on payroll don’t receive any earnings (gratuities or hourly wages) until they receive their paycheck.

Cash and digital tip payments qualify as instant tip payments in theory. But the reality is that employees often still have to wait for their earnings.

Digital tip payouts

In our book, “instant” means your employees get real-time access to their funds using a digital tipping platform. But not every digital tipping platform is created equal.

If you’re counting paycards as “instant,” — well, that’s not exactly the case. Employees who receive tips on paycards can have a hard time actually getting access to their funds. Paycards aren’t accepted at many ATMs or retail locations, and transferring funds to the bank can take days. (On top of that, paycards often come with predatory fees.) 

Cash tip payouts

Even for restaurants that tip out in cash, it’s often just the closers who get their cash tips at the end of their shift. Everyone else has to make a trip back to the restaurant to pick up their cash (or wait until their next shift).

Another important point: paying out cash tips is never really instant on the employer’s side. That’s because (if you’re not automating your cash flow), your managers are essentially playing the role of a bank teller. From bank runs to counting and recounting cash to distribution — not to mention handling inevitable tip disputes — cash takes a whole lot of time.

Bottom line: there’s only one real way to pay out tips instantly, and that’s by completely automating the tip out process.

Why is it important to use an instant employee tip payment platform?

When restaurants choose to use an instant employee tip payment solution, everyone wins. That’s because:

1. Employees want (and deserve) it: With Covid in play, employees need instant access to their earnings now more than ever. The economy is shaky and jobs aren’t as secure as they once were; many restaurants are continuing to cut back shifts. Employees can’t afford to wait for payroll to roll around, or for their paycard funds to transfer to their bank.
2. It saves time: Again, while cash can be instant for employees, it’s never instant for employers. With credit card transactions on the rise, there’s less cash on hand to tip out, so managers are making more bank runs than they already were — and that takes even longer in a pandemic, when many bank branches are closed or open by appointment only. Then there’s the counting, distribution and inevitable tip disputes that eat up hours every week.
3. You’ll cut costs: Saving time means increasing efficiency and reducing labor costs. When employees aren’t waiting around on the clock for their earnings, shift after shift — that adds up. Plus, managers get time back in their week when they’re not running to the bank on a daily basis.
4. You’ll stay competitive: In our gig economy, employees are apt to look elsewhere for employment if they’re not getting paid in real time. 
5. There’s complete transparency: When employees wait days or weeks for earnings, it minimizes visibility and sets the stage for tip disputes.

What are the options for instant tip payments?

To recap: payroll isn’t instant (no surprise there), and paycards can appear to be instant — but they’re not.

That leaves you with two options for instantly tipping out your employees:  

• Cash: It may seem like there’s nothing quite as real-time as handing someone an envelope of cash. But for employers, cash isn’t instant — especially during a pandemic. (And as we’ve discussed previously, there are a whole lot of time and financial costs associated with using cash.) 

• Kickfin: Kickfin is the only way to truly pay out tips in a way that’s instant for both employees and employers. Tips are automatically transferred directly into employees’ bank accounts, the second the shift ends, 24/7/365.

Ready to try us out? Get a Kickfin demo today!

In 2019, four major restaurant chains—Krystal, Moe’s, McAlister’s Deli, and Schlotzky’s—were hacked. Four million of their customers’ credit and debit card information was being bought and sold in an underground cybercrime marketplace, according to an article published by KrebsOnSecurity.  

It’s no wonder The Ascent claims that last year was the worst year in history for identity theft reports, marking an increase for the second year in a row. Data breaches play a huge role in this alarming trend. 

As a restaurant owner, you’re probably familiar with restaurant PCI compliance — and if you find it confusing, you’re not alone. But it’s important that you understand the basics for the sake of your restaurant’s security and your customer’s safety — especially with the increase in digital transactions due to the pandemic. 

What is PCI compliance?

Back in 2004, payment fraud was on the rise. To combat this growing problem, credit card industry leaders such as Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and Visa, along with the Japan Credit Bureau, brainstormed ways to help protect their cardholders against identity fraud. They introduced PCI DSS 1.0 in December of that year, which required all merchants that accept credit cards to comply with this new set of standards. 

Otherwise known as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards Compliance, or PCI Compliance, these standards have been updated over the years to conform to industry trends and emerging technology. PCI compliance protects all businesses that process credit card information and the customers that patronize them from data breaches and identity theft. 

Why does PCI compliance matter for restaurants and bars?

You’re well aware that providing amazing food, an exceptional guest experience, great ambiance, and top-notch service is part of why customers keep coming back to your establishment. But if customers don’t feel safe using their debit or credit cards due to potential theft, then that tarnishes your hard-won reputation as a trusted and reliable restaurant of choice. 

As a restaurant owner, you’re responsible for your customers’ debit and credit card information the moment it’s swiped into your system. PCI compliance ensures that this info is protected at all times. If your restaurant is not in compliance, it could result in high fees from banks, credit card companies, and other merchants. On average, a data breach can cost a business an estimated $3.92 million, according to IBM, which would hurt a large-chain restaurant significantly and force closure, undoubtedly, for owners of smaller chains or neighborhood restaurants and bars. The best thing you can do is to closely follow all restaurant PCI compliance guidelines. 

PCI compliance requirements

There are 12 PCI compliance requirements you need to implement to ensure your restaurant is protected from credit and debit card theft. To stay compliant you should: 

1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data
2. Protect stored cardholder data
3. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters
4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks
5. Use and regularly update anti-virus software on all systems commonly affected by malware
6. Develop and maintain secure systems and applications
7. Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know
8. Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access
9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data
10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
11. Conduct vulnerability scans and penetrations tests
12. Maintain a policy that addresses information security

Making your restaurant PCI compliant

The 12 steps above may seem daunting. To help with this process, reach out to your credit card processors, as they most likely have tools to help you become compliant. But be aware that while credit card processors claim their hardware and software tools are PCI compliant, this doesn’t mean your restaurant will be in the clear. It’s your responsibility to make sure you are maintaining a fully-compliant environment as well as using a compliant processor. 

In the case your credit card processor doesn’t provide the tools you need to become PCI compliant, Level 4 merchants, which is what you most likely fall under, can establish compliance through a self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ). There are a number of different SAQs you can use, so use this guide to help you find the right one for your restaurant. 

After you’ve found the correct SAQ version to use, complete it and then do these steps to establish restaurant PCI compliance: 

1. Complete a vulnerability scan with a PCI Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV), which is an organization with a set of security services and tools to conduct vulnerability scans that validate PCI compliance. Here is a list of approved ASVs. 
2. Submit your SAQ to the bank you use for your restaurant. 

From there, you’ll simply wait to hear back if you’ve been certified PCI compliant, which can take a few weeks. 

Keeping your restaurant PCI compliant is essential to the security of your paying customers and for the reputation of your establishment. If you’re not compliant, or you’re unsure if you’re meeting all of the criteria, do it as soon as you can. The livelihood of your business could depend on it. 

In some ways, marketing your restaurant effectively has never been easier. Here in 2020, with the current digital landscape, the sky’s the limit when it comes to the multitude of tools you’ll find online to get the word out about your dining establishment. 

The problem is, your competition knows this, too. 

As we mentioned in our last blog post, around 30% of restaurants fail the first year and 60% after three years. That means you’ve got to come up with some pretty inventive marketing tactics for your restaurant to compete with the more than 660,000 other eateries in the United States. 

Before we get into how to market your restaurant effectively, let’s talk about the importance of your marketing strategy.

Why Your Restaurant Needs a Marketing Strategy

There’s no limit to the many ways you can effectively market your restaurant. But if you don’t have a marketing plan or strategy, you’ll be wasting valuable time and money guessing at what works and what doesn’t. Here are the seven steps you need to take to create an effective restaurant marketing strategy: 

1. Determine your objective – Assess your current business needs and ask yourself what you’re trying to gain from marketing. Be as specific as possible. Do you want to drive more traffic? Improve your brand image or expand awareness? Become more discoverable online?

    

2. Decide how you’ll measure success – Once you’ve decided what you’re trying to accomplish with marketing, it’s time to set some specific and quantifiable KPIs (key performance indicators) that will help measure success. Although marketing will always involve some amount of trial and error, it’s important to use data to help you understand what’s working and what’s not, so you can course correct along the way.

    

3. Create a marketing budget – Setting your budget before you complete your marketing plan ensures you’ll stay within your limits and keeps you from spending reactively, which can get you into financial trouble. Keep in mind: time is money. Take into consideration your bandwidth to focus on marketing and whether you’ll need to outsource any support.

    

4. Define your audience – Before you start marketing, it’s important to consider who your customers are. Think about the demographics of your current or potential customers. How old are they? What are their interests? What do they do for a living? Where do they spend their time? Knowing who your customers are and who you want to attract will help when it comes to the type of marketing you do and the messaging you use.

    

5. Note your customers’ needs – Consider the problems or needs you’re solving for your customers — and here again, get specific. Sure, if you’re a restaurant, they’re probably hungry. But dig a little deeper: what are they looking for when they walk through your doors? Are they looking for a comfortable place to gather with friends? Do they prioritize fast service and affordability? Make a list to refer to later as you brainstorm marketing messaging.

    

6. Identify your true strengths – Rather than generically marketing your restaurant’s assets, think about what you’re doing that really keeps your customers coming back for more and what makes you stand out from the competition. Ideally, this should align with the needs you identified in Step 5. If you currently own a restaurant, what are the aspects they like about it? Do they enjoy the atmosphere? Is it a great location? What about the service? Are you known for specific items on your menu?

    

7. Bring it all together – Now that you have an idea of what you’re trying to accomplish, who your customers are, and your competitive strengths as an establishment, it’s time to put all of it to use by launching your restaurant marketing campaign.

5 Effective Restaurant Marketing Ideas and Tactics 

You have a restaurant marketing plan; now it’s time to implement it. Here are 5 tactics and tools you should consider using to reach your key audiences: 

1. Tap into social media

This is probably a given. Though there are plenty of social media platforms out there, Instagram is the best for marketing your restaurant, and Facebook comes in a close second. Posting high-quality photos of your dishes and drink offerings is the way to go, along with short videos of your friendly staff and events going on at your eatery. Here’s a great guide to get you started. 

2. Build a website or online store

In 2020, a clean, professional-looking website is a must. A website makes it easy for your current and potential customers to find you. Items to include on your website are high-quality images of your establishment and the food, along with contact info and location, a current and scannable online menu, online ordering capabilities (especially during Covid) and if you really want to get people talking, an online store with cool swag. 

3. Invest in SEO

Building a website is one thing; making sure people actually discover you online is another. 

Let’s say you’re a pizza chain in Philadelphia. If someone performs a Google search for “best pizza in Philly,” you want to make sure you show up at the top of those search results. Take time to research guidelines and best practices as you’re building your site and putting content on it — or consult an expert to help you optimize.

4. Leverage word of mouth

Speaking of people talking, according to Atlanta-based word-of-mouth marketing agency Fizz, 76% of Americans don’t believe ads, 92% say word of mouth is the best source for product ideas and 15% of every conversation includes a branded product or service. Word of mouth is exactly what it sounds like: people talking about your restaurant to other people.

Though it can be done in-person (with the right strategy), it can be done online as well. Think about when you shop on Amazon. How often do you read the reviews for products in which you’re not familiar? Most likely, quite a bit.

A great customer review on Yelp!, social media or even on your own website can increase your traffic exponentially. Because everyone at some point asks for restaurant recommendations, whether they’re travelling or they’re just tired of the same old place in their own town. 

Keep in mind, though, to pull off word-of-mouth marketing you need a strategy. If you want to learn more, Fizz even has a book. 

5. Create a loyalty program

This is a great tactic if you’re trying to build up repeat business. While there are a variety of software platforms that make this easy to do — in fact, your POS or restaurant management software may have a built-in capability — you can also make it as simple as having a punch card. 

How To Measure Success: Restaurant Marketing KPIs 

You’ve got your tactics and strategy; now you need to measure your results. To do this, you’ll need KPIs. Otherwise known as Key Performance Indicators, KPIs are measurable data to help you see how well your restaurant marketing strategy is working. They help you quickly determine which tactics are working and which aren’t so you can revise your strategy as you go along. Go beyond revenue; a few KPIs to keep track of when marketing your restaurant include: 

• Website traffic 
• Social media traffic and interactions
• Customer reviews

For an in-depth look at these and more KPIs, here’s a great guide. 

Effective Restaurant Marketing in 2020: Get Creative

In 2020, there are more marketing channels and tools at your disposal than ever before. But there’s also more competition. That means you’ve got to get creative and let your KPIs be your guide. Remember: stay true to your brand, keep your audience front and center — and get marketing!

When you were first inspired to start your own restaurant, what was the spark that made you want to do it? With around 30% of restaurants failing the first year and 60% after three years, it’s important to have a very clear vision for your business. Aside from operational costs, good staff, and the proper location, one often overlooked aspect of success is a restaurant mission statement. 

Like any business, your restaurant needs a way to communicate why you’re starting your business in the first place. What’s the need that will be fulfilled by your brand? What’s the purpose that will drive customer loyalty? Establishing your restaurant mission statement will communicate exactly why you’ve decided to open your business in the first place. But there’s more to it than that. 

What is a mission statement?

Most businesses have a mission statement. Typically, it’s a sentence or a short paragraph about why the company exists. It’s the beating heart of the institution; not a business plan that explains how the company will make money, but a statement that clearly defines the motivation for why it exists. 

Many people confuse a mission statement with a vision statement, and it’s important to establish the difference between the two. While a vision statement focuses on a company’s future, answering the question, “Where are we going?”, a mission statement answers the question, “Why are we here?” 

Why every restaurant needs a mission statement

Writing your restaurant’s mission statement is an essential part of your brand’s identity. It’s how your investors, employees, customers, and the media identify what your business is all about. 

Your restaurant mission statement may be the first impression new customers will have of your establishment. And it will serve as a constant reminder to your and your employees as to why you started your business. Consider it a rallying cry for your entire restaurant staff to get behind — a unifying factor that will help bring consistency to everyday operations and overall growth. 

It’s also a starting point on which to base your vision statement for where you see your operations years down the road. 

Examples of restaurant mission statements

We all have our own favorite places to eat. Whether it’s a local dive or an established chain, we have our reasons for loving these restaurants — the great food, the friendly and efficient service, the welcoming atmosphere. These eateries are our favorites because their owners have established their purpose, and they strive daily to reinforce it to their customers and staff. 

It doesn’t matter what kind of dining establishment you’re operating—a fast-food chain, a family-owned sit-down restaurant, a deli or a pub or bar—a well-executed restaurant mission statement won’t ensure your business will succeed, but it will provide consistency and purpose that will help establish your brand for the long run. 

There’s a reason these eateries have been around for as long as they have. For a little inspiration, peruse these famous restaurant mission statements: 

Fast food restaurants 

McDonald’s – “McDonald’s brand mission is to be our customers’ favorite place and way to eat.”

Dunkin’ Donuts – “Make and serve the freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well-merchandised stores.”

Arby’s – “To provide an exceptional dining experience that satisfies our guests’ grown-up tastes by being a “Cut-Above” in everything we do.”

Bars, taverns and pubs 

Iron Hill Brewery – “Inspire loyalty in both our guests and in our staff.”

Ninety Nine Restaurant & Pub – “A passion to serve”

The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog – “To bring the Irish bar into the 21st century.”

Cafe and fast casual restaurants

Starbucks: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” 

Chipotle: “Ensuring that better food, prepared from whole, unprocessed ingredients is accessible to everyone.” 

Panera – “Food as it should be. Food should taste good. It should feel good. It should do good things for you and the world around you.”

Family-style restaurants

Medieval Times – “Our valued team is fueled by the passion to provide our guests with genuine hospitality and exciting entertainment. It is our honor and privilege to care for our animals and to be good corporate citizens in our communities.”

Cheesecake Factory – “To create an environment where absolute guest satisfaction is our highest priority.”

P.F. Chang’s – “Celebrate Life. Family. Food.”

Writing your own mission statement

According to Dr. Chris Bart, FCPA, the CEO of Corporate Missions Inc, an international consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations excel in the execution of their strategies, a mission statement consists of three essential ingredients: 

• Key market: the target audience.
• Contribution: the product or service.
• Distinction: what makes the product unique or why the audience should buy it over another.

When writing your own restaurant mission statement, you want it to be short and memorable, with clear objectives. This is not something you want to take lightly. Do some soul searching. Spend time thinking about your core values and why you want to open your restaurant. Here are some questions to think about as you write your restaurant mission statement: 

• Why does my restaurant exist? 
• What does my restaurant do? 
• Who do we serve? 
• What are my restaurant’s goals? 
• What do we believe in? How do we strive to bring those values to life? 
• What makes us different than our competitors? 

A strong mission statement is memorable and inspiring. It’s a way for customers to trust in your brand and to create loyal, trusting employees. Here are six attributes you should keep in mind as you write: 

1. Accurate – Be concise in what your restaurant will do. If your mission statement doesn’t accurately reflect your restaurant, it might be time to revise some of your operational policies. 
2. Attainable – Having high expectations is great. But make sure your goals are realistic, measurable, and achievable. Simply stating to be the best at something is generic and tough to measure. Be as specific as you can in the goals you set for your restaurant. 
3. Actionable – Not only should your goals be specific, but you should mention how you plan to achieve them. 
4. Concise – Nobody is going to remember a mission statement that’s a page long. It needs to be easily digestible and understood. Try to keep it under five sentences. 
5. Honest – Avoid business jargon as it comes across as insincere. Be simple and honest about what you want your restaurant to be. 
6. Unique – Your mission statement should not sound like your competitors. Millions of restaurants exist already. How is yours different than all of the rest? If your mission statement doesn’t reflect the difference your restaurant is going to make, then it’s not doing its job. 

Now that you’re prepared to write your restaurant mission statement, get to writing!