Advice to boost cafe / restaurant sales

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lola1979

Registered User
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Hi All

ye may remember I posted a few months ago when I was about to open a cafe / restaurant. Its going well, I mean a lot of people through the door but thing is a lot of them only leave the cost of a cup of coffee!

Just wondering if anyone has advice on boosting sales particularly from 2-5 weekdays and ideas for something different at night time... like theme nights etc... we're thinking simple and casual but different

We have never really marketed the place properly so any ideas for marketing would also be great...

P.S We have a wine licence....

Thanks in advance
 
hi lola1979, best thing to do is get someone outside the cafe with a sheet ticking off the rough age/gender of the people passing, if they are the blue rinse brigade maybe tea and cake offers during that time, if they are gym bunnies how about smoothie offers, if they are builders big dinners or something to that affect. Once you know who's passing the door it'll be easier to figure out how to get them inside and meet their needs and hopefully get them through the door :)
 
My cousin had a small cafe - and has closed it to provide sandwiches to 2 schools near by. I would contact schools near you and tell them what you can provide.

My cousin provides a very simple menu to the schools and orders are taken weekly...

As far as I know you don't need a permit as you will already be workin in a plcae designed for food work...

Good Luck
 
I remember there was a little cafe near Baggot Street that used to have a woman come in on a Tues/Thursday evening and tell fortunes. It was great because you would book a table and she would come round each table. It was a great laugh.

You could target maybe young mothers/office girls etc perfect for a girls night...The place was always busy that night. Plus... a lot of wine was drank. Might be an idea.
 
jesster said:
You could target maybe young mothers/office girls etc perfect for a girls night...
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Are you suggesting that women are more susceptible to this sort of scam? (I'm not saying you are wrong, or that it's a bad idea, I'm just looking for clarification.
 
Purple said:
Are you suggesting that women are more susceptible to this sort of scam? (I'm not saying you are wrong, or that it's a bad idea, I'm just looking for clarification.
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I rented a house for a year next door to a woman who did fortune-telling. Every evening, you'd see several car-loads of people parked outside, patiently waiting their turn to go in and find out what fate had in store for them. For what it's worth, I never once saw a bloke in any of the cars . . .
 
Hi Purple. We used to go to that place every week and it was always full of women (20-30's). I think that women are always looking for something different to do rather than go to a pub it was an ideal entertainment in nice surroundings. All innocent fun.
 
jesster said:
Hi Purple. We used to go to that place every week and it was always full of women (20-30's). I think that women are always looking for something different to do rather than go to a pub it was an ideal entertainment in nice surroundings. All innocent fun.
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That's one way of looking at it. The next time you are there can you hand out a few fliers for me? I sell snake oil on the side... all innocent fun. ;)
 
If you have mothers and young children coming in regularly, make sure you have high chairs - they will come for a meal and a bit of peace, with the child sitting at the table, whereas they may only stop for a coffee with a child in the buggy. We go to the only (more expensive) coffee shop in our town that has high chairs (it also helps that the food and coffee is fab!).
 
I would definately have an Early Bird Menu (which you probably have already)

2-5 is a difficult time depending where you are situated, most people would be still at work. So you are really talking about people who are retired, mums, students.

Theme night would be a good idea, a restaurant near me use to have a salsa dancer in (providing you had the room). You could watch her dance and then she would get you up and teach you the dance (providing you were willing). It was a great girls night out.

You could do a buffet "all you can eat". Maybe get a entertainer in to make balloons for the children and encouage the parents in.

Another idea would be bring your own wine, alot of places are doing it.

What makes me go back to restaurant, would be reasonably priced, service with a smile and child friendly. A few colouring pages goes down a treat.
 
can you tell us or maybe give us a clue as to where it is and I or others might pay it a visit and be able to give you a bit more feedback. I'd love to get in to that area of evaluating places. PM me if you like.
 
For people with kids I always thought having a reasonable kiddie menu is a winner, noone wants to pay out €6 for a kids meal that they'll eat 3 mouthfuls of. Maybe for the afternoon tea time have a glass of milk and a bun/cookie for €1, that kind of thing. Kids love it if they can pick their own bun/cookie (what colour sprinkles..) and if kids are quiet and happy you can guarantee the parents are too.
 
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