3 ways to boost restaurant revenue and engage customers with dining room closed
Published March 23, 2020
Even if your dining room is closed—whether by choice or government mandate—there are ways to help drive revenue and connect with your customers. Here are three ideas to help that go beyond a market leading restaurant pos system.
1. Offer pre-prepped, make-at-home meal kits
Keep your restaurant running while delighting your customers with pre-prepped, recipe-portioned, ready-to-create versions of your dishes. Include printed, step-by-step directions from the chef (you can protect your secret ingredients by pre-mixing spice blends). You can offer a single meal or weekly menu options if your operations allow, reallocating your front of house staff to help prepare, package or deliver the kits.
Bonus engagement: Consider adding a story about the meal’s origin or inspiration. Tying your recipe to a region and adding a “Discovery Challenge” question (“This meal uses fresh basil. Where in the world is the largest production of basil?”) could create a fun educational experience at home.
2. Use social media in new ways
Have some new recipe ideas? Prepare, plate and photograph the dishes, and create a poll on your social channels asking your customers to weigh in on what they think is the best one. This gives your customers the opportunity to engage and also creates anticipation for when you can reopen in the future.
How to launch a poll on Facebook>>
Bonus engagement: When you announce the winning dish, include an offer, such as free delivery or a discount on future orders.
3. Offer gift card deals
Consider offering gift card promotions, such as buy $50 and get $10 free, or buy $100 and get $20 free. This can help you drive future revenue while building loyalty.
Bonus engagement: Offer your customers the option to donate their “bonus” gift card to a neighborhood organization in need. This can also create the opportunity to earn new and future customers too.
Count on NCR
We're committed to helping restaurants of all sizes navigate the many challenges of the coronavirus outbreak. For more information on off-premise optimization, take out and delivery options—please contact NCR.
Our restaurant solutions experts are in the trenches with our customers, working hard to help provide guidance, solutions and recommendations.
You can find us at NCR.com/restaurants, have us call you back, call us in the U.S. at 1-800-CALL-NCR or call outside of the U.S. at 1-937-445-1936.
