5 Ways To Boost The Restaurant Business

Convenience

Customer looks at convenience now a days and restaurateurs need to be smarter to please them. About 50 per cent of India's population eats out at least once in every three months and eight times in every month in bustling metros as compared to the US (14 times), Brazil (11 times), Thailand (10 times) and China (9 times)Says a recent data by ASSOCHAM. Customers are sold on convenience and if a customer could get grocery on his doorsteps then it is quite obvious for him to demand food on his couch as well. This convenience trend has many customers who do not want to leave the comfort of their home; they now want restaurants to deliver food to them.

Technology

Absolutely, technology has made a lot of things easier and a lot of things possible. Today, we are capable to talk about the techniques like “3D printed food” which is still in its early stages, or “sous vide” cooking which is already very popular and helps preserve the natural identity of ingredients. Molecular gastronomy started with simple techniques like spherification which has been in practice in food processing industry for quite some time, and there are many more advanced techniques that continue to be borrowed from the food processing industry. “There are cafes that can offer coffee roasted to order, there has been a great leap in beverage industry as well. We witness a new microbrewery open up every month. Technology has been a great facilitator. Also on the payment management front e-wallets have become very common and save a lot of time,” says Chef Ashutosh Kumar, Pastry Chef at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At the same time we as chefs have the responsibility to use technology wisely and not overdo it, so that food stays closer to nature rather than becoming completely artificial, he adds further. At the same time we as chefs have the responsibility to use technology wisely and not overdo it, so that food stays closer to nature rather than becoming completely artificial.

Online Marketing

Online marketing sounds like a generic term but let’s be honest this term is not as simple as it sounds. Digital marketing is not only restrained to SEO search Engine Optimization, it’s a jumble of several technicalities which many of us are not aware of. The modern entrepreneur comprehends the vast impact of digital marketing on any business and how it triggers the mindset of their targeted audience. By putting yourself on online directories will increase your exposure a lot more in your locality. This will help your targeted audience to reach you. “Social media is like a digital hub where majority of our ideal audience hangout, so having a strong social media strategy will help you generate more consumers. Your strategy will include posting of videos, running contests, engaging and inspiring images, it will help your consumers to reach you and they will also promote you through their social media accounts,” says Chetan Kaul, Co- founder at Dudleys.

To Reinvent

There are few trends that stand out and also there is a definite shift of unorganized market to organized one which is good news. It might be steady right now but it is surely going to stay. Therefore the organized sector are up for more consumers but competition is ultra huge in this sector. Restaurateurs need to be bit more smart while placing the menu and deciding the price to maintain an upper hand in the competitive market.

To Maintain Supply Chains

“System for supply chains is extremely bad in India but the restaurateurs and operators need to fix it by creating awareness amongst the farmers, vendors and suppliers. They must ensure the quality by keep checking if the ingredient is being grown from the same farm where it is supplied from. So that way, they have to develop the farmers and producers as well,” says Chef Alok Anand, Executive Chef at JW Marriott, Kolkata. This initiate should be taken and it’s not the long time before it starts.