if you would like to know the simplest ways now that restrictions are easing to
really get sales firing in your food business
watch this video and we're going to explain our top tips for cost effective
no cost and low cost strategies that really work. Now if you'd like to
know more about starting or growing a cafe restaurant or any food based
business make sure you press the subscribe button and you'll get
notifications every week when we post new video. I am Rowena and I'm a food
consultant from Sydney Australia I've worked with hundreds of cafes and
restaurants and other food based businesses over the years to really
skyrocket their sales and help them grow so if you're interested in knowing and
learning our strategies for success that focus on low-cost and no-cost strategies
stay tuned. Okay fortunately we're starting to see
restrictions ease in our food industry and we're starting to see venues
starting to recommence and operate at close to capacity. In a lot of countries
there are still quite severe restrictions in place but in other
countries we're starting to see them really ease so now is the time you
really need to support that sales function to get those sales firing. After
many months of restricted income but now is not the time to embark on costly
advertising campaigns that may have limited return on investment now is the
time to be nimble you want to implement low cost cost effective strategies will
really support sales and watch that income roll in. So here are our top tips
Okay tip number one and it's the easiest thing you can do - restrict your menu so
when you go into a venue have you ever sat down and you're given a menu and
it's about 10 pages long so you're pouring over the menu trying to work out
what to decide it is overwhelming and it slows down the sales process! So what you
need to do is create a short sharp and concise menu
high profit margin items anyone who knows Food Marketing knows we are big advocates
of the one page menu you might say one page? I'll tell you why
the faster you process customer sales the faster you turn over the tables and
the more income you can make especially those small windows of your peak
lunchtime sales period or peak evening dinner sales period. So let's get
cracking with a limited concise menu. Now here's the thing you really need to
focus on your high profit margins right so what you need to know you need to
know your numbers you need to know items have the best margin and really
stick to those menu items. Okay tip number two is the combo so a lot of
people shy away from the meal deal or whatever you might like to call it it's
about bundling items off your menu beer drinks or food items together to create
a value for money proposition for your customers. Now the reason people shy away
from it is it's normally not done in the correct manner the secret here is you
have to tailor the style of offer to your venue so if you're a high-end venue
you're not going to do some cheesy fast food meal deal it's going to be
something like a glass of sparkling with every main course at lunchtime for a
special price and the way you market it is authentic or true to the values
of your establishment so what you need to do is come up with a whole range of
different meal deals you need to promote the hell out of them and watch them fly
out the window you should do this for every different meal period throughout
the day so you should have meal deal or combination offers for both lunchtime
and dinnertime and also mid-morning or mid-afternoon
for things like coffee and cake. Honestly it's a really underrated strategy but it
really works but you must also know the margin of goods they must make you money.
Okay before we continue what are some of the low-cost and no-cost strategies
you've already use in your establishment what do you find effective? Pop them in
the comments below and let's see what's working for people already ok tip number
three is assessing alternative courses of income. Now it's really interesting
during Corona times people have come up with all manner of different things that
they service offerings they didn't usually provide; it might be takeaway it
might be dine in boxes it might be a range of gourmet pickles and relishes
and jams that you use in your cafe that you are now bottling and selling direct
to customers. So now is the time to think of those different income streams and
continue them while you reap open as long as they're cost-effective. Now
here's a thought what about your venue? Can you use your venue as an additional
source of income are you closed one or more nights a week connect with groups
on platforms such as Meet Up and use your establishment as a venue now you've
got two things you can do you can either charge a small rental fee for groups to
use your site purely as a venue or even better one another negotiate a per head
low cost menu or offering it might be cake for an afternoon catch-up it for a
group it might be drinks and bar snacks for an evening group and then
that gets people excited about your menu they come in contact with your food &
beverage offering. And here's the thing you actually become engaged with all
these people in the community that may not have been to you before the other
strategy is make sure you get their contact details now it might be as
simple as a log in to free Wi-Fi that can be done with an email or even better
through getting them to follow you or one of your social platforms and then
you are growing your database with people that have already come in contact
with your brand they know you and like you and then you can start marketing to
them in the futur.e Okay something really easy and simple to do and it costs no
money at all get engaged with your community now if you don't use socials
it might be simple that something simple like signage on the exterior of your
venue explaining what you're doing moving forward thanking people for their
support and furthermore asking for their support going forward. Now if you use
social media get on your smartphone and prepared short little 30-second videos
and start posting about these troubling times what have you been doing to
survive. Show a few back-of-house scenes of food preparation and meals going out
explain to people moving for what you're planning to do really engage ask them
for their support ask them what they'd like to see you
continue doing if you've been providing new services ask people moving forward
do they want you to continue? Let them know what's going on ramp up your
engagement and ask for local community support and here's the thing make sure
you use tags like shop local or support local businesses to connect
with a far greater local community that extends far beyond the reaches of your
own venue. I think here's a really really simple strategy go online to a site
called Canva it's a graphic design so where for free of cost you can develop
professional-looking vouchers and coupons to use in your cafe restaurant
or food business and here's the thing what you do is people who are new
customers and after a while you know who your regulars are so when you whatever
see a face you haven't seen before approach them with a voucher and
it offers them something that incentivizes them to return. Now here's
the thing again you need to know your numbers what is a high margin low cost
word that you can use to incentivize them to become a repeat customer. Now it
can be as simple as a coffee that's free with any future purchase what you want
them to do is modify their behavior and start becoming a regular you have to
think of the value what we call the lifetime value of a customer if you
average the spend of a regular customer over the course of a couple of years it
extends into the thousands of dollars even if you are a small cafe and your
average transaction be $6 then the cost of a free coffee -
to gain a new customer and to potentially gain a lifetime customer is
worth the cost of the coffee because it could actually generate into thousands
of dollars in revenue! So go on to Canva have a look at their free resources have
a play around look at some offers that you can start making to incentivize
people to return. Make sure you click and download on the link below if you enjoyed this
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post on your video we like to focus on low-cost and no-cost strategies to
really get your food business firing