Summer is almost here and it’s time for restaurant owners to begin thinking about how to capitalize on the influx of tourism dollars.  With busy times ahead now is the time to start planning for your events, staffing and marketing needs.

Customer Origin

It is important to research where your vacationers will be coming from.  It’s a good idea to add menu items that are popular in their region to give them a sense of being at home.  For example, if a large portion of your travelers come from New York, consider adding New York style pizza as a seasonal item menu.  While you want to maintain your local flair, offering items that are specific to your customers origin will make them feel comfortable with your establishment and keep them coming back summer after summer.

Summer Marketing

Ramping up your marketing efforts during the summer months is imperative to take advantage of the potential increase in traffic.  Promoting your summer specials and events through social media outlets is a great way to spread the word and increase your customer base.  Most travelers these days rely on online information to choose their eating destinations, having a strong online presence is imperative to drive business these days.  You’ll want to start incorporating your summer promotions in the early to mid spring when people are planning their vacations.

Special Events

Holding special summer time events such as concerts and outdoor barbeques can be a great way to bring in a large amount of revenue in a short time frame.  Contracting and organizing these events can take time and money, but the payoff can be significant.  If someone has a great time at one of your events, they will remember it for years to come.  These events not only bring in a large amount of revenue, they are priceless when it comes to advertising.  You’ll want to make sure you have security in place and activities that will resonate with all ages.  If you can pull off an event to remember, it will become a permanent part of vacationer’s itinerary.

Staffing Needs

With the increase in traffic, you will want to make sure your staff is prepared for anything that could come their way.  Ensuring you have procedures in place for any need a patron may have is essential for customer satisfaction.  You also may want to consider adding temporary staff to help with the busy season.  You want to make sure all of your guests get to see the best of what your restaurant has to offer.  Long lines and people waiting excessive time for service can cause irrevocable damage.

Local Networking

When visitors come in town, they can find themselves easily lost…you should make sure you are there to comfort them with your awesome food and beverages. Working with the local tourist attractions can help boost business. They can keep pamphlets for your restaurant by their counter so when the day trippers are at looking at things about the history of your town, they will see your advertisement and remember that they hadn’t eaten.  The pamphlets that you distribute should include menu items as well as a list of summer events.  Many vacationers rely on information centers to plan their destinations.  Offering coupons and other promotions within these advertisements will provide further incentive for them to visit your establishment.

Raffles

Working with local businesses to cross promote is an age old idea that really works. You can have drawings where the prize is an activity that is a major tourist attraction in the area. Examples might be things like Jet Ski rentals if you are near the water or perhaps passes the community’s local amusement park. These kinds of raffles will need to be promoted heavily to make sure that you will reap the benefits of additional business that can be drawn in for the contest.

Online Reviews

When a potential customer is researching a new restaurant to try they will, 9 times out of 10, search the internet to read reviews about local eateries. Monitor all the sites where your restaurant is listed. You will need to ensure that things like address, phone number, and menu are accurate. Most review sites will also allow you to link to your website, and that is key for internet traffic as well. Keeping your internet reviews positive will help keep your customer base on the rise. You should respond to your reviews as well, especially anything negative. You can offer some kind of compensation or apology that will show those that come across your reviews that you really care about what your customers think.

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