Why restaurants should embrace the use of Twitter into their marketing mix

An article in the Charlotte Observer notes that many restaurants are slow to adopt the use of social media in their marketing efforts, but as someone who has just began to understand its capabilities, I wonder why. One of the biggest problems that Craig Utt, a restaurant consultant, noted in the article was restaurants had with social media was because of the time issue. While there is no charge (yet) to use Twitter as a way to communicate to customers, there is a labor charge. Someone has to take the time to complete all of those tweets and blogs.



As a longtime restaurant consultant, I think it's best to have a restaurant manager designate a younger person on the staff who is into social media to manage the campaign. For older restaurant managers, there's a longer learning curve in adding social media tools to your daily marketing mix.

As a source of inspiration, I want to list these restaurants that have effective Twitter sites:

http://twitter.com/BrasseriePavil: Not only does this San Antonio restaurant list specials, it also acknowledges guest and special parties with tweets like: rt @Facelogic Enjoyed brunch @brasseriepavil w/ @catharines@alessiomiceli @midsandhighs. Turned out to be group date instead of girl time.

http://twitter.com/mortons_cle: The Cleveland location of this venerable chain restaurant does an excellent job of promoting specials, the personality of the chef and personalities in the restaurant.

twitter.com/ChurchsChicken: This fast food franchise is using "Its Random Acts of Goodness" to bring in more customers. By combining traditional media, public relations and social media, it could show the trend for other restaurant chains and independent operations.

Consistency or innovation? Restaurant changes need a balance between both....

When someone goes to McDonalds or Starbucks, they know they will get a consistent meal or cup of coffee.   Yet, many smaller restaurant chains have issues with consistency.   

As a restaurant consultant, I have found the biggest issue with these small restaurant chains is that their management doesn't stress it with their training program.   When a new cook or manager comes to work, the restaurant ownership doesn't stress the need for using an approved book of recipes.

It's hard for many owners to tell a professional chef or cook that they should adapt their apporach to preparing meals to the approved menu.  Some owners don't want to make waves with their cooks, but their customers pay the price.   After all, they expect their meal to be the same at every location.

However, restaurant owners shouldn't discourage innovation in their kitchens.  If a new cook has a better way to prepare an item, I would suggest that they test its popularity by adding it as a special menu item for one restaurant.  If customers embrace the change of the new item, then they should consider a change to their standardized book of recipes and food prep.

With unhappy customers griping online, it's smart to really focus on restaurant customer service

     In this tech-oriented age, customer service is more important now than it ever was.

    Restaurant guests have access to reviews over the Internet through aggregate sites and bloggers. That worldwide easy access magnifies so much the harmful potential of any mistake.

    Only about 7 percent of restaurant guests will blog or comment online about their experience. But 45 percent of guests will read those comments. And who is most likely to blog? Those that are angry enough to broadcast their bad experience. 

    Good customer service, especially in fine dining, demands a ninja-like waiter staff.

    When the servers function like a well-tooled invisible hand and guests see what they are looking for before they need ask for it, that is a job well done.

    Most guests remember bad service. If the guest has no memory of the service, the service was impeccable.

    The guest looks up, his drink is filled. His date gets ready to ask for her steak knife and is surprised to notice it is already at her side. Everything is where it needs to be without asking.

    The wait staff must be observant and intuitive. A waiter should also know when it is inappropriate to be personable and engaging.

    If the guests are just sitting at their table and not conversing with each other -- perhaps the atmosphere is a little tense -- that may be a good time to approach and offer some pleasant comment. Break the ice.

    But a party obviously engaged in conversation may perceive any verbal interruption as an annoyance, however slight. The party may be reaching terms on some important deal or wrangling over very personal matters of the heart.

    Wait staff must keep its ears alert so as to avoid being too intrusive.

    Timing is everything.

    Drinks and entrees arrive on time. Guests do not fidget over delays, nor do they feel rushed to leave.

    There are three key factors to a guest's dining experience: the Greet, the Beverages, the after-meal coffee.

    The "Greet" is that first impression, how the guest was received. The Beverages must be refreshed and served according to the guest's instructions.

    And the after-meal coffee is the guest's last experience at the table. The last experience tends to be the one freshest in the guest's mind when he or she leaves the restaurant.

    Unless the main entree was a complete disaster, the guest will not likely dwell on that as much as he or she will on the way the experience ends.

    And speaking of little disasters, wait staff must be empowered to make decisions to remedy them. A smart manager would rather have a guest not pay for something than pay for something that guest did not enjoy and leave the establishment feeling robbed.

    Smart restaurant owners should write off the little losses through your accountant. But, they should make sure wait staff can exercise discretion in handling those write-offs at the point of contact so as to avoid having your restaurant suffer the greater loss of its good reputation.

         

As George Carlin would say about salt: "It's bad for ya...."

Other than the travel, the wait time, the occasional lousy service and paying the bill, one of the more unsettling inconveniences about eating out is eating salt.
There's too much of it, and as the late George Carlin would say, "It's bad for ya."
The Center For Science In The Public Interest awarded Red Lobster a dubious first place for "Saltiest Meal in America." After you have consumed the Admiral's Feast, the Caesar salad, that creamy lobster-topped mashed potato, your cheddar biscuit and that cold glass of lemonade, the sodium count climbs to 7,106 mg.
Brag to your shrink over that binge and he may put you on suicide watch.
Red Lobster is only the worst offender by a pinch. A Chili's plate of buffalo chicken fajitas follows a close second, and there are plenty of other restaurant chains that go extreme on the salt shake.
Children's menus - no surprise here - load up on the stuff. A Burger King chicken tenders entree with buffalo sauce, fries and a milk comes with 1,835 mg. Maybe Burger King's new Star Trek movie tie-in should be, "I'm giving the bird all the sodium chloride she can take, captain!"
Back to Earth, the single best way to avoid high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes is cutting salt intake. It does not do your kidneys any favors, either. But many casual dining and fast-food meals have well over a day's worth of the recommended limits.
High-risk individuals - those with hypertension, adults beyond their mid-40s and African Americans should consume less than 1,500 mg a day.
Other adults should limit intake to 2,300 mg a day. In case you need the visual cue, you are looking at one teaspoon.
Children eight and under hit their max at 1,200 mg a day, and youngsters nine to 18 need to learn to say "Whoa!" right around 1,500 mg. See there? Math class did come in handy.
Back to Reality, most of us swallow twice or more the recommended levels. Then there are those special occasions when we go to Red Lobster or Chili's, or Olive Garden - want 3,380 mg with the chicken parmigiana?
You got it!
What to do? Be inquisitive. Ask the restaurant staff questions about the food. More salt is used with frozen foods, for example, because it takes more to bring the flavor out.
It's safer if you have high blood pressure to choose kitchens that prefer fresh ingredients.
And keep in mind that more eateries are sensitive to consumer concerns. The Subway Veggie Delite with apple slices and a Coke adds up to 500 mg. Imagine that? You could actually have a second meal that day and possibly stay under your sodium ceiling.
It never hurts to request of the cook special instructions.
A cue to chefs that cook sensibly is dishes laden with alternative spices and herbs.
The variety of spices that flavor a dish with little or no salt is considerable. Diabetes America offers plenty of suggestions on what spices go well with meats and veggies, and the list provides an excellent guideline to go by when discussing food preparation with the wait staff.
So, how about passing on the salt and putting dill and paprika on your fish fillet?

(Note:  Restaurant managers who would like for FoodPro Restaurant Consulting to consult on low sodium diets and other ways to make your food fresher while saving money, please contact us.)

How to get your food brokers to provide you with lower prices

As a longtime restaurant manager and now a food consultant, I am amazed at how many restaurant owners accept the status quo from their food vendors. For example, how often have you asked for a deviated price from them?

Let's imagine that your restaurant uses a lot of cheese in its menu. By asking for a deviated price, the food broker forgoes any profit on this major line item. However, they make their profit on other lesser items.

Many food marketing groups such as the Wisconsin Cheese folks provide special incentives to restaurants who promote their food. The key for getting them is to ask all of your food brokers for help in this matter.

Most food brokers are not typically willing to provide these prices to their customers. It takes someone willing to ask them the right questions to get these incentives from most of them. If your vendor is already offering you these "deviated prices," consider yourself fortunate.