Unfortunately, there’s a dramatic thinning of the herd going on as more and more people opt to eat in as a cheaper way to weather the recession. This decreased patronage is not the only problem currently plaguing the restaurant industry, however. There are more restaurants in existence now than ever before, and with fewer available customers the competition is getting decidedly fierce. Restaurants are struggling to find new and better ways to stand out. One Mexican restaurant in Arizona called Loco Patron is taking the opportunity of its neighbors closing to expand to an amazing degree both in size and offerings. They’ve added more tables both inside and outside, additional menu items, video games to keep little kids happy, and live bands on Friday and Saturday nights to keep the bigger kids happy.
While this is a noble and exciting strategy to attract more customers, most restaurants are sticking with the time-honored marketing cornerstones of quality, service, and reputation. Smart restaurateurs (and the ones who will most likely be sticking around for a while), know that customer satisfaction is the key to gaining repeat patrons, which is the essential ingredient for weathering these hard economic times.
Due to the recession, Americans have become much more risk-averse than even 5 years ago. This doesn’t just manifest in safer investments. Food (as no one knows better than we foodies) is one of the most defining aspects of American life, and restaurants need to adjust to the cautious new American consciousness. People need to be able to count on restaurants to give them what they want and respond directly to their needs.
Many restaurants are reacting predictably and intelligently to this by paying extra attention to providing extra-ordinary customer service. Some areas that are being addressed by industry experts and restaurant managers alike include an experienced hostess, special treatment for regulars, gathering customer comments, expanding the wine list, and offering off-site delivery and pickup services catered to business meetings and other diminishing patron populations.
It seems that no one can help the restaurant industry survive the recession better than we customers, and all we have to do is to do what we do best- complain. What are some of your favorite restaurant gripes? Do you have any deal-breakers whose occurrence would put a restaurant on your permanent “do not patronize” list? Let’s vent a little and help our restaurants by helping them to help us.
As I said, it’s a great time to be a customer.