How to Get Your Restaurant Noticed & Attract Customers

Making sure that your restaurant gets noticed and that you attract customers to eat your fine cuisine can sometimes be a challenge.

Creating a buzz around your restaurant is key when trying to attract new foodies, and to help you stand out, we have put together some tips and tricks for you to try out.

When it comes to getting your restaurant noticed throughout your local community, it is worth utilising social media.

Social media can give your restaurant exposure and put you in front of relevant people who may not know about you or your services.

Many diners look to social media for new places to eat and will check social media pages before deciding whether they will go to a restaurant – so it’s important to make sure that you utilise this to the best of your ability.

Instagram has over a billion users, and you will be amazed at how much reach you can get on the platform. Creating engaging content that showcases your food, services, and brand is a great way to attract customers and get the public excited about your brand.

You can achieve this by creating posts in the following ways:

• Posting content to the grid: This content stays on your main feed and will be the first thing that Instagram users look at. It’s important to invest in creating appealing and high-quality images. You can showcase key menu items here that will excite users to eat at your restaurant. These assets can be still images, but they can also be video content in the form of reels.
• Posting story content: If you post content to your story, this will exist for 24 hours before disappearing. You can save a story in a highlight reel at the top of your feed that users can view. Popular choices for stories include behind the scenes footage of the day-to-day happenings at your business.
• You can create a personality for your brand with this type of content and get staff members involved. Curating this part of your brand is a great way to create excitement and buzz around your restaurant that people will want to engage with and come back to.
• Remember that video content you created for your Instagram reel? That can also be utilised on platforms such as TikTok. One of the fastest-growing platforms, TikTok has over 1 billion active users. The chances of going viral on the video focused platform are a lot higher than on other social media platforms due to the algorithm. Make sure that you utilise the content that you created for your Instagram reel on TikTok for a chance to build further awareness of your brand.

Another way to create buzz and excitement around your restaurant is to gift local influencers, often called micro-influencers (people with a medium to a large following on social media), an experience or meal.

This can help boost your following, and by creating a relationship with local influencers, you will be able to constantly connect with their audience and reach. Many people now use Instagram and TikTok for recommendations on places to dine out, so hopping on the back of an influencer’s following can help you attract new relevant business from people who want to try out your cuisine

If you haven’t set up your restaurant on Google My Business, go ahead and do it right now!

Google My Business is a great way to create an online presence for your business on Google and Google Maps.

Through Google My Business, your customers will be able to see where your business is located, contact you via phone, make a reservation and browse your menu.

You can also add your opening times to Google My Business so users can check to see if you are open before they turn up at your door.

One way to attract new customers that haven’t eaten at your restaurant before is to host an event. This can be a local community event where you team up with a local organisation to be the venue for a special event that they may be running.

• Cocktail evening with a guest speaker.
• Cooking evening with your head chef to teach guests how to cook a signature dish from your menu.
• Wine and cheese tasting evening.
• Tasting menu evening with smaller dishes.
• Themed nights for communities (i.e., Local business leaders evening)
• Speed dating singles nights (suited towards restaurants with a bar)

New customers are important but retaining your existing customer base is crucial. Making sure that your customers stick with you and don’t head to your competitors can be difficult in the competitive restaurant industry.

One way to incentivise loyalty is through loyalty programmes such as a stamp-based card. Customers receive a loyalty stamp for every visit they make and are rewarded with a final discount or free item once enough points have been acquired.

Another clever way to gain attention and draw customers into your restaurant is by creating a menu item that is slightly different or looks aesthetically pleasing.

This will draw attention to your menu, and people in the local area will want to come and try it out. You may also get further exposure, as diners will want to share it online. If you decide to utilise this tactic, make sure that you have your social media handles on show for customers to tag you in their pictures.

One way to do this is by adding countertop leaflet holders with your social media handles; alternatively, you could include this information on chalkboards on tables or around your premises.

One of the oldest tricks to attract customers to your restaurant is to run promotions. These can be time-sensitive promotions, such as “Happy Hours” or “Kids Eat Free After 4 pm”, but they can also be extended promotions, such as “NHS discount”.

Having promotional offers will incentivise customers to eat at your restaurant and attract new customers who would not have tried your services at a full price. This is your opportunity to impress diners to ensure they come back again when no promotions are running.

If your restaurant premises are situated on a busy street, it could be worth adding a weather-resistant chalkboard on the street outlining your promotions and services.

The general public can walk by a restaurant every day and not notice what the establishment has to offer. Grabbing the attention of passers-by is a quick win and will draw customers into your restaurant and help you create brand awareness in the local area.

You can provide the best experience and have the best food around, but sometimes you need to create a buzz to attract customers. Now that you have some tips and tricks to follow, why not browse our Business Advice hub, where you will find ways to expand your business and get the most from your customers.