Marketing during the holidays might seem easy: decorate the restaurant, add some snowflakes to your flyers, or recruit Santa for a meet-and-greet. By opting only for the Yuletide standards, though, your restaurant risks getting lost in the same Christmahanukwanzaaka marketing from other businesses – including your competitors! Adding unique ideas like these to your marketing
Do You Trust Your Vendors Too Much?
Watching your business requires diligence in all areas, even with your vendors. According to a report from the University of Florida, 5.96% of shrink can be contributed to vendor theft. I had a hard lesson during my first days as a manager at TGIFriday’s regarding vendor theft. I have never forgotten what my mentor Ken
Rewards Network® Ranks #29 in Built In Chicago’s Top 100 Technology Companies
Rewards Network, the leading provider of card-linked marketing and rewards programs in the dining industry, was ranked #29 in the 2014 Top 100 Digital Companies in Chicago report published this week by Built In Chicago. The annual report, announced by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, ranks the top digital technology companies in Chicago based on workforce.
Three Ways to Increase Customer Spend in Your Restaurant
Once a customer makes the decision to dine at your restaurant, you probably depend on your food, service, cleanliness and overall experience to bring them back. But what are you doing to increase their spend while they are still there? 3 Ways to Increase Customer Spend: 1. Sweeten your dessert sales. Simply asking a customer
Rewards Network® Releases Report: Two Factors that Impact Return Visits to Restaurants
Rewards Network, a dining program that provides consumers with rewards of choice every time they dine at a program restaurant, announced today that they have released a new report, “Two Factors that Impact Return Visits to Your Restaurant – It’s not what you think.” The newly released report uncovers the fact that, despite what most
The Only 4 Ways to Increase Restaurant Sales
This article was originally posted in March, 2013, focusing on the only four ways to increase restaurant sales. A lot has changed in our industry since then as we saw the rise and fall of daily discounts, an ever-changing economy and a surge of new and focused restaurants in all segments. As consumers are dining
Rewards Network® Sponsors Rewarding Events at Feast Portland
The nation’s leading dining rewards program, Rewards Network, has recently announced its participation in Feast Portland, the region’s premier culinary event taking place September 18-21, 2014. Every year the event brings together world-renowned chefs with the region’s finest ingredients to provide a culinary extravaganza, complete with food and drink tastings, hands-on classes, elaborate multi-course meals,
Responding to Customer Feedback: What to Say
After you have taken a deep breath and are ready to respond to customer feedback, what do you say? This is an important question because Rewards Network data shows that customers who receive a response from a restaurant after providing feedback spend 14.4% more and visit 11.7% more often. Simply having a restaurant customer satisfaction
Restaurant Theft – It Happens but It Doesn’t Have to Happen to You
We all know that theft happens in our industry; it happens in any industry, really. And unfortunately there are stats to back up the prevalence of restaurant theft: 75% of employees steal from the workplace at least once, and half will steal repeatedly (U.S. Chamber of Commerce) Internal employee theft is responsible for 75% of inventory
Menu Trend: The Perfect Pair
I’ve been to enough wine tastings, winery tours, and wine pairing events that I think I could pair my own wine with the meals I cook at home (or the meals I grab on my way home from work!). The operative word in that last sentence was “think.” While I think I could pair my
