Sharpening your business strategy

2nd April 2009, 12:33pm

Dining out isn't dead, just sharpen up your business strategy, advises global online marketing network, Livebookings.

Eating in is fast becoming the new eating out, as supermarkets up the price attacks on restaurants. Their tempting dine-at-home deals, many for less than £10, are proving a real draw to the budget-conscious diner, who finds appeal in a fixed-cost, premium range menu which still offers an element of food choice.

However, restaurateurs should not lose heart, but rather come back fighting. Global online restaurant reservations and marketing network, Livebookings, recommends that off-peak, price-led and money-off deals are a key step in retaining customer interest, and shouting about them is crucial.

"Our television screens are awash with cookery programmes and the deluge of food related campaigns is doing an extraordinary job of feeding consumer interest in food preparation and product sourcing. We're being told that cooking at home is cheaper and we're under the impression that eating out can see the food bill quickly escalate.

"Proving these theories wrong are the smart-thinking restaurateurs interacting via email with their database of loyal customers, distributing exclusive and tempting discounts and set-price menu deals. We've got the statistics to prove that restaurants who are tailoring their off- and online marketing strategies are successfully capturing the hesitant customer and winning the battle to prop up flagging revenues and retain a loyal following despite the climate," said Renette Youssef, newly-appointed marketing director for Livebookings.

"The first hurdle is enticing customers to come through the door. You can then consider pushing the a la carte menu and up-selling on items such as wine."

Working in partnership with Livebookings' real-time online booking technology, popular pizza restaurant Fire and Stone devised an online auction to kick-start trade at its newest branch at London's Westfield shopping centre.

A web page was created to host details of the auction and a targeted email was sent to 2000 existing customers to let them know over 100 pizzas were available for £1 and over 500 pizzas for £5. In less than an hour of the auction going live, all deals were snapped up, amounting to more than 600 bookings for the first two weeks of business.

E-marketing trumps traditional forms of press advertising by allowing restaurants to publicise their messages speedily and cost-effectively. According to media intelligence company Nielsen Online, the average UK web user spent more than 56 hours surfing the internet in February 2009 and the Office of National Statistics reports that 70% of UK households have internet access – that's nearly 17 million households that regularly access email and surf the net, making e-communication one of the most palpable and cost-effective ways to lure customers into a restaurant.

Web bookings are one of the fastest growing revenue generators in the restaurant industry and those without an easy-to-navigate online booking facility for their customers are missing a trick.

Restaurant group Living Ventures, responsible for the GUSTO Italian grill restaurants and bars, and the Blackhouse Seafood and Steak brand, benefited from a 300% increase in online bookings in just 12 months, after issuing 50% off vouchers to every customer dining in December.

In addition to this, email marketing specialists, Fishbowl, took Living Ventures' existing customer database and created an interactive email to inform and lure regular diners to the online booking facility, powered by Livebookings' real-time reservations technology, where they could activate their exclusive 50% discount.

Living Ventures achieved a measurable direct response to their marketing campaign that allowed them to identify customer engagement triggers and capture valuable consumer data for use in future promotions and brand loyalty initiatives.

"It's vital to know who your customers are," advised Youssef. "Restaurant operators should be looking for ways to learn what their guests' favourite dishes are, how much they spend each month, their names, their birth dates and of course, their email addresses. Offers drive a la carte bookings, as demonstrated by the recent uptake in reservations for this year's Valentine's Day, which has seen a 300% increase on 2008."

UK Restaurants have been hit harder by the recession than any other Hospitality & Leisure (H&L) sector, accounting for 45% of all H&L insolvencies in the quarter before Christmas, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) revealed recently. In addition to a number of expected high-end restaurant failures, those mid-range restaurants that do not focus on either a value for money or a unique dining experience have been disappearing from our streets since last summer. This trend is likely to accelerate.

As 2009 brings fresh challenges, restaurants with the best chance of survival are those reacting to changing market conditions by taking early action and embracing the new raft of cost-effective marketing solutions available to them.

Related Articles:

• 30 Mar 2009 - New marketing director at Livebookings
• 09 Feb 2009 - Livebookings experience online surge
• 07 Mar 2008 - Livebookings secures £6.5m boost by Balderton Capital
• 24 Aug 2007 - Live bookings in real-time restaurants

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