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MY BUSINESS

You Can Do It (26/02/2011)




Specials are great if you want to draw your customer in but you need to be putting your hat on if you want to capitalise on this new business

Firstly the special offers a bottomless cup of coffee which is great for me the customer but not so great for you. I normally have 2 cups of coffee which in many cases cost more than the breakfast itself. The deal is already so good that by changing it to a cup of coffee in my opinion would have made no difference. The customer would have come in and had a cup of coffee with breakfast and possibly ordered a second cup. This cup could be the difference between making money on the meal or not.

So you have the person in you store - what now...

I have yet to meet the owner! The waiters are very efficient but they have no personality and no pulling power. Apart from the fact that it is a really good value for money breakfast why would I come back again? You need someone there that the customer relates to, someone to make him feel special and I promise you the customer will be back.

The real point of a special is to get the person into your store/restaurant and impress the hell out of him so that he comes back and that he tells his friends. What is the message you want him to send (A) it is the best value for money breakfast in town OR (B) What a great vibe! What great value for money! They have a band there on Fridays! Fantastic wine selection! You need to get your message across...

While the owner or manager is speaking to the customer he is selling the restaurant. While I was there I noticed a few signs up advertising live entertainment and lunch specials, the manager should be using this time to sell these specials and his restaurant to me. You have an audience - now do your thing! I don't believe a waiter can do the selling - you need to do it - or find someone to do it for you!

My final comment is on space utilisation. Every inch of your floor space needs to be used. If it is not table/chairs for people to sit on then you need to use the space for cooking or selling. I don't know what the rental is but it can only be high so maximise your return on investment.

To the right of the store is a wine section - not sure what it is because it is not integrated into the restaurant and when I went to have a look and browse through the wines - no one came up to speak to me. So not sure what the function of the room is BUT it can be turned into something useful - something that generates money.

Thats all for now
Francois Heyns

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