Modern gastronomic marketing: attracting guests for the winter as early as summer

Summer is just around the corner and this is particularly noticeable among restaurateurs: The number of visitors is increasing and so is sales. After more than two years of pandemic, people are now particularly drawn outside. In addition, many companies are reducing the number of days spent working from home, which in turn boosts lunch business. For example, the coming season will probably be the highest-grossing time of the year for numerous restaurants, cafés, bars and hotels. In this blog article, you can find out how you can also use the summer high for lucrative business in winter.

This is how important regular customers are for the catering industry

Many companies depend on a successful peak & high season. More guests and prices adjusted to demand help build up a financial buffer for the quieter mid-season and off-season. Because when the peak season is coming to an end, there are also fewer walking customers. Fortunately, there is someone who is not deterred by this: the regular customer!

As early as 2016, the National Retail Federation the importance of regular customers for restaurants. The study found that up to 70% of revenue is generated by regularly returning guests. Regular customers form the vital basis of every catering establishment.

However, 70% is also the proportion of your guests who are unlikely to visit your restaurant again, even with good service and delicious food. For tourists, for example, a second visit is often out of the question due to the distance from their home country. But even if you ignore such cases, there are still numerous visitors who, with the right know-how, could become regular guests.

Regular customers know what they offer and appreciate service and location. They return to you even outside the peak season and tell friends and relatives about their achievements. In addition, regular customers are more willing to accept price increases — an extremely valuable feature for you in view of rising costs for rent, staff and food. It therefore stands to reason that you should motivate as many guests as possible to visit again. In addition, a study by Harvard shows that just 5% more regular customers can lead to an incredible 125% increase in sales.

Customer loyalty in the digital age

Your guests are more aware than ever of their importance to your company and want to be appreciated for their contribution. Reward your loyal customers with small gifts, and they will thank you with further visits. In the catering sector, free drinks or individualized discounts are particularly suitable for this purpose. This is usually easy to do on site, but what to do once the customer has left?

A good way to give your guests such gifts from afar is newsletters- or voucher-Marketing via email. Loud Statista In 2021, the share of smartphone users in Germany was almost 90%. The trend is rising.

Another statistic shows that a year earlier, 87% of Germans used the Internet to send and receive emails. Newsletters allow you to effectively keep in touch with your visitors.

• approx. 9/ out of 10 guests are potentially suitable for newsletter marketing
• Newsletter marketing allows you to stay in touch with guests during quieter times
• Vouchers sent via e-mail provide incentives for further visits all year round

So that can work, Your guest must expressly agree to be contacted. In the future, you can either ask each individual visitor for permission or simply use the Guest WiFi by Socialwave. This is because when a guest logs on to free Internet access during their stay, they agree to the storage and use of their data. You benefit from this in two ways. First, the availability of free Wi-Fi demonstrably increases customer satisfaction and secondly, the Socialwave system collects valuable contact data every time you log in. Fully automated, warning-proof and GDPR-compliant.

Now that you have your consent, you're ready to go: Inform yourself about news such as holiday specials, events and new dishes, or tell your guests that you would be happy to visit. Are there holiday offers for Christmas and New Year's Eve? Does the new happy hour take place on Wednesdays? Are your famous burgers now also available vegan? Tell your guests! The possibilities are almost endless and used correctly, vouchers and newsletter marketing will successfully get your business through the off-season.

More guests through Google reviews

Searching for “Munich Restaurants” on Google provides an incredible 54,200,000 results. Thankfully, search engines are smart enough to only show the most relevant results. Our request immediately provides three specific suggestions for restaurants in the area, including Ratings in the form of stars and preview image. The reviews shown in particular are of interest to users, because the offer also increases demands. For example, many people prefer restaurants with more than 4.5 out of 5 stars.

You can use this knowledge for yourself by collecting Google reviews with the Socialwave marketing package. Guests can access your company by scanning a QR code or by logging into the Socialwave guest WiFi evaluate. This allows you to receive reviews during peak season and collect customer data at the same time. The system has a special feature here: It automatically recognizes negative reviews and forwards them directly to you without publishing them. As a result, only the number of positive reviews is increasing and you quickly become one of the top-rated restaurants in the area. This attracts new customers, who in turn can turn you into regular customers with vouchers and newsletters.

conclusion

If you want to enjoy a full house even during the cold winter months, it's best to take the initiative now. With Socialwave's WLAN marketing package, collecting customer data has never been easier. Benefit from positive Google reviews and extensive email marketing features. Stay in touch with your guests and increase the number of new visitors and your regular guests at the same time.

Set yourself apart from the competition Give your guests the attention they want so that your restaurant, café, or bistro gets the attention it deserves.

With our WLAN marketing package, your customers/patients/guests advertise for you, are happy and recommend you to others.