Here are 10 quick steps you can take to grow your cafe through improved marketing.
Increase the value of each purchase
1. Offer variations in the sizes of portions available. Some of the most successful franchises offer
small, medium and large portions. Get your staff to recommend increasing the size of the portions a
customer offers.
2. Give a list of your best products as specials. There is little benefit in discounting what you offer
the customer, as it only reduces the profit you make.
3. Offer a broad price range of products and encourage staff to promote all products across the
board. Lower priced small items are easier for the customer to decide to purchase and compliment higher
priced items.
Increase the number of meals/drinks each customer purchases.
4. Encourage your staff to offer products that compliment what the customer is already buying. If
they purchase a coffee, offer a cake or something sweet.
5. Group complimentary products together on the menu. For instance you could list that a good
steak goes well with a good merlot. You could also list combinations of meals, including several separate
items together for one price.
Increase the number of people buying from you.
6. Offer a delivery service to those that might not have time to visit your cafe. You can charge a
little extra for delivery, as it is an exclusive service.
7. Offer free, bite size samples, of your best meal/drink to hungry workers in local businesses.
Make sure you let them know who you are, and where you are from.
8. Offer to cater the next school fete or sporting club function. You could do it for free in exchange
for the chance to talk to new customers. You could charge for the service and donate profits back to the
host.
9. Make sure passing foot traffic know you are there. Place a chalkboard somewhere where
everyone can see it and list your best selling and your lowest priced product on the board. If you can’t
find somewhere, offer to exchange chalkboards with another business that is in a hight profile position.
10. As people leave your cafe, give them a loyalty card. It does not have to give anything away, just
encourage them to come back with friends. You could do the same for staff. Encourage as many people
as you can to talk about your business as word of mouth is the most powerful promotion available.
The last point that goes without saying, is, build your list of customers and keep in contact with them through social networking.