Introduction.

With the next aggravation of the crisis, enterprises in the industry are experiencing a shortage of effective demand.
What are restaurateurs trying to do?

1. Reduce prices. At the same time, reducing costs, salaries and, ultimately, quality of service.
2. Repurpose your establishment into a related segment where profitability is higher. For example, turn a cafe into a sports bar or billiards club. Or vice versa.
3. Cut off the insolvent clientele who give small checks and take up seats.
4. Distribute discount cards to everyone, left and right...
The list goes on, but the trend is the same - everyone is trying to change and adapt to economic realities. Those who do not change will sooner or later have to leave the market.

“I don’t care about fat, I wish I was alive”
or how to move from a survival strategy to a thriving strategy.

We hope that reading this article will help you make the necessary changes in your business in a more meaningful, systematic way. For those who are in a state of struggle for survival, the article will help move to the phase of stability. And if you (in your opinion) already have stability, we will help you move on to prosperity.

Who can argue that in the service sector;
The most valuable thing is the client?!

If you think that your trump card is assortment, prices or a “passing point” - read the article (and then re-read it three times) all the more carefully. Because the most valuable thing is clients.

Moreover, not all potential clients are equally valuable. A priority client is important, it is important to learn how to identify a priority client, and create a loyalty program specifically for him. The rest will take care of itself.

In this article we will not dispute the advantages of the “passage place” and other “technical issues”.
We draw your attention to the problem of customer service in the restaurant/entertainment business and the problem of customer loyalty.

Competition for clients has always been, is and will be.
Only the nature of competition is changing.

The time of competition with “pass-through places” and price dumping is over. These resources have exhausted themselves.
With each wave of the crisis, the clientele becomes either less solvent or more selective. Advertising is becoming more and more expensive.
Are you calculating how much advertising costs it costs to attract 1 new client? Do the math, and you will be unpleasantly surprised: because these costs usually exceed the income from the amount of the check left by this new client on their first visit. The point is for this new client to become a regular one, and then the direct and indirect costs of attracting him will pay off many times over. Moreover, we will show several effective methods for attracting and retaining new customers without direct advertising costs. The term “word of mouth” is already stuck in everyone’s teeth. But few people understand how to turn this radio on at full volume and what determines whether this radio will work at all.

Summary:
It is possible to stay in the market and/or take a leading position only with the help of effective, well-structured, controlled customer service and a clear loyalty program.
We warn you: this is delicate, painstaking work. Requiring full involvement owner of the establishment. Otherwise, being left to be developed only by a hired manager, the customer service system will never become effective.

Yes, yes, yes: you will have to spend many hours on calculations, analysis of assortment and competitors, brainstorming, staff briefings, additional software configuration, planning and control, as well as personal communication with guests.
But the economic effect of the customer service system will be noticeable in just a couple of months!

The financial goal of any establishment owner is long-term profitability, isn’t it?

If you are the owner of an establishment, have significant financial reserves, and do not want to painstakingly work on building a service, you can try to go the other way:
- invest money (overpay) for a “pass-through place” or an elite location.
- invest money in stunning interior design and other expensive equipment for the establishment...
in general, try to enter the elite segment, where, as you know, profitability is higher.

But here’s the problem: the elite segment is even more demanding in terms of the quality of customer service.

Therefore, you will still have to put in painstaking work. The times when owners handed over the management of the business to hired managers, and themselves left operational management, have already ended for 3 years. During this time, many owners had to urgently return to the operational management of their companies, most often in “manual mode”. And the vast majority of them realized their incompetence.

This article will just help you, the owners and managers, understand the basics of effective customer service and significantly improve the profitability of the establishment without spending significant money on it, only your own time.

A little psychology...

Each individual segment of the service industry has its own unique characteristics.

Among the customers of our company PRINTIMA (for the production of plastic cards in particular and the development of loyalty programs in general), the vast majority of enterprises belong to the service sector:

Public catering,
- beauty industry,
- medical institutions,
- entertainment industry.

At first glance, it may seem that these are related segments. But the approach to studying and managing clientele commitment in these segments is different.

A little psychology.
It is known that a dog gets used to a person (owner), and a cat gets used to a place.

And if clients of beauty salons or dental services are pronounced “dogs” (they become attached to specific masters and doctors and follow them from firm to firm, or are generally “lured” by cunning specialists into private practice), then clients of the catering and entertainment industry are specific "cats".
Once it gets to your establishment one way or another, the “cat” becomes attached to your establishment (if it liked it) and will visit it for a long time, bringing other clients. This will continue until the “cat” considers that the establishment has “spoiled.” And then she will quietly and imperceptibly leave you forever, and what’s worst is that she will take away a decent number of other clients.

When it comes to customer loyalty, it is important to understand from the very beginning why your customer values ​​your establishment and visits it regularly. And then you can prevent the loss of customers. And if this happened, then you need to be able to find out from the departed client why he made such a decision.

And one more important point:
A loyal cat client will visit the establishment even if his financial situation worsens or if you raise your prices. These visits will just become somewhat less frequent. Or the guest will reduce his average check. But it will come regularly, providing you with a stable income.

The most common reason for losing clients is the client’s subjective opinion: "the establishment has gone bad".
Variations may be different:
System:
- quality of service has deteriorated
- the atmosphere and surroundings of the establishment deteriorated (it turned into a “collective farm”)
- the price/quality ratio of dishes has deteriorated
Non-system:
- the human factor – a conflict between a specific guest and a specific employee...

Determining the most important points of interaction with the client. Kano method (KANO matrix).

How can the owner of an establishment build and control the quality of customer service?
The Kano method allows you to identify and systematize all points in the chain of contact between the client and the establishment.
For example:
- contact with the promoter on the street
- contact with the website
- phone call about table reservation
- contact with security, wardrobe and hostesses
- contact with the waiter
- indirect contact with the kitchen and bar through served dishes and drinks
- contact with the administrator (if it comes to “call the administrator”)
- feedback: mailings and calling clients using questionnaires...

This technique is powerful and capacious; its analysis is beyond the scope of this review article. But its meaning is this: it allows you to determine quality criteria at all possible points of contact between the client and the establishment and control these points. Evaluate the restaurant's performance using them through the eyes of the client. This means anticipating customer expectations and improving the quality of service.
If we know all the contact points and evaluation criteria from the point of view. client - we can not abstractly assume what the client likes or dislikes in the service, but analyze it specifically, in each section.

Example: a client calls to reserve a table for the evening. Put yourself in the client's shoes. The client expects at least good service. In this case - so that the other end picks up the phone no later than the 3rd ring....
His expectations are not only justified (they pick up the phone without delay), but they immediately answer: “Hello, Ivan Ivanovich! It’s been a while since you called us...”.
When an establishment not only meets the client’s expectations, but anticipates/exceeds them, this is the very cherished level of service that generates loyalty.

Institution development strategy.

Since we are talking about the final development of the loyalty program, first of all we emphasize: the loyalty program must have goals, i.e. planned results. A loyalty program is not a spherical horse in a vacuum; it is a very specific, planned, measurable thing, with its own resources, budgets, and results.

Your loyalty program goals should align with your organization's strategic goals.

ATTENTION:
Any commercial enterprise, even the smallest “eatery”, must have a strategy. The strategy includes development plans for quantitative and qualitative changes.
Purely financial goals like “Earn more money” are not strategic. This is mistake. Accordingly, it would be a mistake to define the goal of the loyalty program as follows: “our goal is to earn more money, so we welcome guests with the highest receipts, mainly for alcohol, as priority customers.”… this ends badly. It ends with the degradation of the institution, its transformation into a “collective farm”, and an abundance of drunken, screaming groups. And a corresponding mass exodus of decent guests.

What might be the strategy?
For example:
- we want to develop towards creating a network of establishments.
- we want to differentiate: standardize the current restaurant as middle class and additionally open an elite direction...
- we want to turn the restaurant into a club/disco/karaoke...etc.
- we want to open a delivery department and develop it to 3 times the restaurant’s turnover in six months
- we want to become the best beer restaurant (sushi, Italian...) in the city, in the area.

And, of course, financial goals:
- We want to double our turnover over the next year. Moreover, you can complicate the task and choose not quantitative growth (by increasing the number of seats), but by increasing the average check.
- we want, while maintaining turnover, to reduce marketing and advertising costs by 2 times.

Let's consider a certain position of the establishment:
“Our trump card is a walk-through location and low prices. So what if “disposable” clients leave. We’ll put promoters at the metro, they’ll hand out flyers and we’ll get new clients...”
This is the typical attitude of a short-sighted hired manager, but not the strategic approach of the owner. Right?

Word strategic The approach just sounded was not accidental.

In our practice of manufacturing plastic cards, we encounter two diametrical approaches from our customers to organizing client work:
1) let's urgently order and launch discount cards, and we'll distribute them left and right!
2) so far everything is going “neither shaky nor smooth” for us, there is neither the desire nor the need to “bother” with plastic cards. We know key clients by sight, and we give discounts to them personally.

Both approaches show the absence of a loyalty program, the lack of development strategy and tactics.

Most establishments live “one day at a time”, in a situation of uncertainty of the future, instead of purposefully shaping this desired future.

The most valuable asset is the client. Moreover, the client is a regular one.

But guests come and go, and no one is concerned about studying, accounting for and retaining them.

The goal is to retain priority clients.

Formula for strategic success:
What product range, what customers, what competitive advantages, what reputation will we thrive on?

Let's look at the components of this formula:

1) Range(and also your positioning). Who you are:
- elite establishment;
- an establishment for the middle class;
- a budget institution aimed at students;
- "street eatery"
- "kiosk on wheels" ...

2)clients
What is your client profile? Which clients do you consider priority, and on what grounds?

Let me remind you: we have already defined strategic goals; next, target client groups are determined.

The parameters of the loyalty program directly depend on what goals you define.
Each goal and subgoal imposes certain nuances on the portrait of your potential client in general and your priority client in particular.

Clarity in defining your client and client priority criteria is the key to the development of your establishment. And most often (in the current economic situation), this is the key to survival.

What are the possible criteria for determining priority clients?
- gender and age criteria
- social status
- food and drink preferences
- order price
- the number of people in the company and, accordingly, the average bill per person
- regularity and frequency of visits
- and many other standard criteria, you of course know them.

We want to introduce you to another powerful, but not widely known criterion: broadcastability.

Broadcasting is the ability of a guest (literally: to broadcast) to help attract other customers to your establishment.

As you know, loyalty is when a client is committed to your company and recommends his friends to buy from you.
So, broadcastability is perhaps the most important criterion for assessing a priority client. Which needs to be measured, taken into account and rewarded!

This is something like network marketing, like a financial pyramid. If you implement this approach in the restaurant business, you will get:
- saving advertising budgets . Why spend money on advertising if clients come through word of mouth?
- quality of customer base . As a result of advertising, different clients come to you, including those undesirable from the point of view of your priority criteria, roughly speaking, all kinds of rabble. And through word of mouth, your already “refined” clients bring people like themselves: with a similar social, age, financial status.

But can you imagine an effective network pyramid without motivation?

It’s the same for you: it is necessary to develop tangible and intangible methods of rewarding broadcast clients.

As an identification tool in this system, it is necessary to use numbered plastic cards, and for accounting and accrual of incentives - an accounting system, which may have to be modified.

3) competitive advantages.
There are a lot of misconceptions associated with the term “competitive advantage,” even among professional marketers.

Competitive advantage is mistakenly understood as the main difference, superiority over competitors in technology, consumer properties of a product... etc.

Competitive advantage is the selection criteria of a potential consumer, on the basis of which he makes a choice in favor of the offer of a particular supplier.

Crucially, competitive advantage must be defined from your customer's perspective. Ask your customers why they choose you over your competitors - and you will find out what competitive advantages you have.

Walkable location, walking distance from the metro, low prices - these are just characteristics that may or may not become real competitive advantages.

Example.
Potential client: a group of wealthy students or office plankton.
Tverskaya street. There are a dozen establishments of approximately the same level within walking distance. What determines the choice of potential clients - where exactly to go?

Example: availability of free Wi-Fi. Is this an advantage?
Now imagine the line at McDonald's. There is a catastrophic shortage of seats, in particular due to the fact that many seats are occupied for hours by people sitting on Wi-Fi... Many clients (especially those who came with children - and this is the target audience), I am sure, at such moments they will once again curse the very establishment, and free Wi-Fi in it.

There is a special Bench-Marking technique (evaluating yourself among competitors). The description of this technique is beyond the scope of the introductory article, but the essence of this technique is as follows:
A table is made. The names of several of your closest competitors (5-6 pieces) are written in the columns. In the lines - various characteristics are recorded by which comparisons can be made (prices, assortment, location, benefits, services, services, etc....). Usually 12-15 characteristics.
Next, you need to put yourself in the shoes of a potential client and rate yourself and each competitor for each characteristic.
If you sum up the scores by column, you can see where you stand among your competitors.
And if you analyze the lines, you can see how strong or weak this characteristic is in relation to your competitors.

Next is the most important thing. From all 12-15 rows of the table (comparison criteria), you should select several (3-5), based on which your clients mainly make their choice.
If you have high scores on these lines, this is your competitive advantage. And if you have lower scores in the selected lines, these are your competitive omissions.
The goal is to strengthen strengths and eliminate shortcomings.

4)reputation.

Reputation is a stable characteristic, the opinion of society about your establishment.
Moreover, reputation is formed not only by real clients (who actually visited the establishment). Those potential clients who have not been to your establishment, but have heard something flattering or unflattering from someone, also contribute to your reputation.
Consequently, reputation can not only be maintained, but also purposefully formed!

Practice task for 10 seconds:
Mentally compare the reputation of 3 well-known networks in the same segment:
Rostix-McDonald's-BurgerKing.
Mentally record your emerging reactions: smiles, grins.

What? Do you think that reputation is too high and complex a matter, characteristic only of large players?
Do you have a small private restaurant, and are you sure that reputation does not apply to it?

Reputation is applicable wherever there is communication between potential clients and the process of choosing where to go.
And even if your restaurant is located in a residential area, the only one in its class (monopoly), do not think that a potential client will come to you (simply because there is nowhere else to go) if your reputation is bad. It's an illusion. Potential clients will catch a taxi and drive to the next block, to the establishment whose reputation is more flattering or at least neutral.

Example:
A group of students were discussing where to go to drink beer, someone suggested going to the XXX bar, since it was inexpensive and “it’s not far from here.” And someone immediately objected that in “ХХХ” on Fridays (the darkest day) “all sorts of drunks” and “shit in sweatpants” gather, there are fights and almost shootings. It’s better to catch a car and drive to the next block to a decent place...

Practical exercise:
We have put together a collection of epithets that are used to describe visitors to establishments with a bad reputation, and which appear in figures of speech when discussing the question of “where to go”:
- eatery
- viper
- vomiting
- collective farm
- sharash-montage
- sucks
- field kitchen
- ...
Continue the list as far as you can.
For what? Then to understand something about yourself.
If you manage to significantly expand the list, think about it. Your vocabulary is rich in bad reputational epithets. Where did you get this from? Are these words sometimes heard addressed to your establishment?

Subtleties of service organization elite establishments.
I assume that representatives of establishments that consider themselves to be in the elite segment skipped the previous exercise, believing that the epithets “eatery”, “vomit bar”, etc. are applicable only to budget establishments. Here's an example from my personal experience:

It was about one entertainment club-restaurant, positioned perhaps not as an elite one, but certainly above the standard class.
I remember I ordered bottled beer.

The waitress brought a glass and a bottle of beer, opened it in front of me and poured it into a glass. Everything is as it should be. Fine. What happened next?
I asked to repeat the beer. The waitress nodded and left, but did not take the empty glass. And usually smart waiters make sure that empty dishes do not linger on the table. At that moment I thought, it’s strange, she’ll probably come by a little later and collect the empty dishes from my and other tables... But that was not the case, my expectations were not just not justified (remember the Kano matrix). The waitress came, brought a new bottle of beer and solemnly poured it into the same used = dirty glass. Guess which epithet from the list I have since used to address this establishment when I discourage my friends from going there?

Is this episode just a small touch in the image of the establishment, which arose only due to the unprofessionalism of a particular employee? Maybe. But after following the fate of this institution for a couple of years, I noted its actual degradation. Everything starts with little things, but is subordinated to the general trend.
And the reason is usually one: the lack of participation of the owner in the operational management of the establishment. The owner gets involved only when the exodus of clientele becomes widespread. It is almost impossible to stop. Too late.

Here I want to give an everyday analogy. A car owner takes good care of the car, systematically monitors its technical condition, carries out diagnostics and routine maintenance. What about the careless one? It will only start when the wheels fall off. Diagnostics, configuration, control of systems - all this is applicable to business.

Tangible and intangible privileges of the Loyalty Program.

In our practice of producing plastic cards, customers motivate small circulations by the fact that they are afraid of going broke on discounts. They say, “If we issue numbered discount cards to all customers, we will suffer losses.”

The calculation and fears are, of course, correct. But who said that it is necessary to issue discount (i.e. discount) cards. In addition to floppy cards, there are several more “break-even” types of cards: club, bonus, savings...

We said above that numbered cards, which are important to issue to the widest possible range of customers, are the main identification tool of the loyalty program.

Now let’s look at what types of privileges the loyalty program has, tangible and intangible (break-even). Those. Is it possible to build an effective loyalty program without going broke on discounts?

Dear restaurateurs! What a score. Unlike your retail counterparts.

Let's figure it out. What do retail stores sell? They sell goods; product competition is extremely high. Stores compete fiercely with each other if the product is not exclusive. And discounts for buyers are perhaps the only effective tool for encouraging buyers.

What does a restaurant, cafe, bar, or entertainment club sell?

Practical exercise: Think for 1 minute about the question: what are you selling that customers pay you money for?

Wrong answers:
- We sell food. A person can buy food in a store and cook it at home.
- We are paid money to prepare food, provide selection and service. Like he came, ate and left. Incorrect answer. Prepared food can be purchased at the deli or at the bistro for takeaway.

When clients come to you, they satisfy completely different needs. They pay money for impressions, positive emotions, feelings of self-worth (especially if they have a club card with a significant status).

Some might argue: Perhaps this is true for high-end restaurants. But aren’t fast food chains just stupidly selling ready-made food?
Answer: What then makes the client go to the same Rostix in the warm season? when can you buy shawarma or a hot dog for the same money and have a snack on the street?

Understand: a catering establishment (be it an elite restaurant, fast food, cafe, bar, simple dumpling/cheburek shop or some other type) sells emotions and impressions. This is what people go there for.
Just the level of income and claims may be different. One person goes to the Metropol for impressions, and a poor student goes to McDonald's, and for him this is also a significant event.

Let's remember Soviet times. Going to a restaurant was an event. For most people, going to a restaurant happened once a year, on a wedding anniversary, for example. And they prepared for it, waited for it, saved money.

Even a trip to an ordinary Soviet cafe (with a girl, for example) was also an event with a bright emotional coloring. Despite the fact that the quality of the food was much worse than homemade. And yet, friends and girls were invited to a cafe, instead of being invited to a home lunch/dinner. Because going to a cafe/restaurant is a status thing.

It was like this before, and... nothing has changed.

Yes, now the lifestyle and mentality have become different, people most often have lunch and dinner outside the home, combining food with solving many parallel problems. But don't think that eating out has become a common tradition. As before, visiting a food establishment is an event that has an emotional overtones.
And if a client in your establishment stops receiving his emotions and impressions, then he will leave. To a place where you will again receive emotions and impressions, and not ready-made food.

I will make an important point. In order for the client not to leave, you must not only maintain the quality of the kitchen, service, interior, and entertainment programs. You must work on development and improvements. After all, a client is like a drug addict. The dose should be constantly increased. The amount that was enough to get high yesterday is no longer enough today. So if you are frozen in your development, the client will think about changing establishments in search of new experiences. Well, if you have deteriorated, the client will definitely leave.

Now that we have understood the motives of customer behavior, we can move on to the issue of developing tangible and intangible tools for encouraging customers.

In professional language this is called tangible and intangible privileges of the loyalty program.

Yes, you're in luck. In addition to banal discounts, you have a huge number of other tools. After all, your customers are not buying food at a discount, but paying for an experience!

The development of a system of privileges is based on a number of postulates.

1. The balance of material and intangible privileges is important.

The list of material privileges is quite limited: special prices, discounts, bonuses.

But in the intangible field there is room to expand: information, services, communication, priority booking rights, extension of opening hours, a variety of other benefits that are relevant and significant in the context of your specifics.

When developing intangible benefits to reward loyal customers, it is important to remember:
- customers buy experiences;
- it is important to know your competitive advantages (why your regular customers choose you, why they come to you) and build benefits around these advantages.

2. Benefits must have a perceived high value from the customer's point of view.

Example: a budget student cafe gives a priority customer a 5% discount. This is quite appropriate and significant for the client of such a cafe. Now imagine that one of the restaurants in Courchevel or Dubai has put a 5% discount at the head of its loyalty program...

How many cards should I order?

Very often they call us with a request to calculate the cost of card circulation.
The standard dialogue goes something like this:
- How many cards do you want to order?
- Well, the minimum, 50 - 100 pieces...
- Why is it so small, do you have 5 clients a day?
- No, we have dozens/hundreds of clients, but we will take care of the cards like the apple of our eye and issue them to the very best!
- Why don’t you issue cards to more clients? After all, the cost of producing a card is only 10 rubles, and customers make purchases worth hundreds and thousands of rubles...
- What do you! We can't give discounts to everyone!
- Well, why discounts right away... You can distribute savings cards, where discounts will be tied to subsequent purchases. You won’t immediately lose money on discounts, but you will connect customers using the card...
... pause...
- No, still count the order for 100 pieces. We'll try it first, and if it works, we'll order more.

Practice shows that in 9 out of 10 cases, “it doesn’t work.” And why? Because this company (which is clearly evident from the dialogue) does not have a system for working with customers. And if there is no system, there is no development or growth of the client base.

Another situation:

Call.
- What is the cost of 1 card with a circulation of 5-10 thousand?
- On average 5-6 rubles...
- Great! Pennies! We will be handing out promotional cards to everyone, with a small discount percentage...
- Interesting position... What, just everyone in a row?
- Of course, this will be our competitive advantage! Now all competitors use discount cards, but we will surpass everyone and will issue them not selectively, but to everyone in a row!
- But probably, to everyone in a row - this is not entirely correct. We need to somehow identify priority clients...
- No, we’ll give the cards to everyone, and then we’ll figure it out...

How to determine the minimum required number of cards?

The famous Pareto rule “20/80” states that 20% of efforts bring 80% of the results.
In terms of sales, this means that 20% of customers bring 80% of the profit. Those. Of the entire clientele, you need to highlight the top 20%, working with whom will bring the main long-term financial result.
Each type of business and each specific company may have its own priority criteria, but these criteria must be clearly defined, and a portrait of the priority client must be defined.
You cannot serve 100% of your customers perfectly. Try to serve 20% of your priority customers perfectly, and serve the rest just well.

Now we can answer the question: how many cards should be issued by a company that has thought through a system of relationships with customers.

A plastic card is issued to the client in order to encourage his loyalty and tie the client to the company.
We cannot issue a status card to everyone, because:
- if this is a direct discount, we will go broke on discounts
- if it is a savings or bonus card, we will not go broke on discounts, but by issuing the card to everyone, we thereby reduce the value of our card and reduce the status of its ownership.
A plastic establishment card should be an object of desire, it should be slightly inaccessible, it should have status.

Therefore, we issue plastic cards to priority clients. Which, as we know, is approximately 20% of the total mass of buyers.

In fact, if we produce cards in strictly 20% quantities and issue them to strictly 20% of customers, we will probably miscalculate. Those. We will issue some cards to those who do not need them (we will make a mistake in determining priority). And accordingly, some of those who need it will not receive a card (there are not enough cards).

Therefore, cards need to be prepared with a reserve. Not 20%, but 30% or even 40%.
It doesn’t matter if the card goes to some clients who (yet) do not reach the priority level. The main thing is that all of our 20% priority are guaranteed to receive cards.

How and to whom should cards be issued?

If your establishment has never issued cards before, you have the opportunity to develop your system from scratch, following our recommendations.
If your establishment has previously issued plastic cards, but after reading this article you understand that the system is built incorrectly, we will also propose an algorithm for switching from the old system to the new one.

There must be clear rules for issuing cards: in which case the guest receives the card.

Examples of the most common card issuing scenarios.

1. The waiter, based on priority criteria, invites the appropriate guest to issue a card. Applicable in cases where the institution has clearly developed customer priority criteria, the staff is well instructed and has a “nose” for priority customers. Otherwise, it may turn out that a significant part of really priority clients will not be covered due to the mistakes and shortcomings of careless staff.

So a more reliable way is when the guest himself initiates a request for a card.
But for this, guests must be well informed about the discount system and issuance rules.

2. The rules for issuing cards are posted on the tables. Then the guest, inspired by visiting the establishment and deciding to come here regularly, initiates the process of obtaining a card, fulfilling the necessary conditions for receiving it.

3. A trivial method: the guest buys a discount card. For example, a 5% card for 1000 rubles, and a 10% card for 5000 rubles. Of course, this is an effective method, widely used in online establishments. Thus, a client who is willing to pay money for a card confirms his commitment to the establishment. But on the other hand, it is rather a cold calculation, a kind of method of investing in future savings. Smacks of a simple contract between the establishment and the guest. This has nothing to do with true loyalty.

And, most importantly, handing out cards to clients is not valuable in itself. Subsequent recording of visits, maintaining order history, and analysis for each guest are valuable. Increasing his discount percentage according to clear rules and increasing non-material benefits and privileges (such as preferential table reservations, access to closed events, etc.).
Therefore, the card must at least be simply numbered, or even better, have a magnetic stripe or barcode for automated reading.

Feedback from the client.

Is it worth mentioning that upon receiving the card, the client must fill out a form in which he must indicate his contact phone number and e-mail?
There are a number of tricks when developing a questionnaire form and the process of filling it out to increase the client’s motivation to fill out contact information.

Who needs contact information anyway?
Correct answer: the owner of the establishment.
Because the customer base is the owner’s most important business asset.
It is the owner who must analyze the customer base, purchase history and customer feedback. Especially with those who abruptly stopped visiting. Do this, if not personally, then at least control this process directly and regularly. But we still strongly recommend that owners at least sometimes pick up the phone and personally call their clients.

Conclusion

Here, in a nutshell, our review article is finished.
We are glad if the material helps you in some way. We are sure that some moments were a revelation for you.
You have received a charge of effective vigor and a plan for further work. Which you can do on your own, as best you can. There will certainly be a positive effect.

And to achieve maximum effect:

1) We invite you to attend a 5-hour practical seminar, during which the material will be presented in depth, with practical exercises and discussions.
The cost of participation for 1 person is 4500 rubles. The date of the seminar is Saturday, December 10th. Business center near Akademicheskaya metro station.

2) You can order individual consultation. This is the work of a consultant with the owner and manager of the establishment, elaboration of strategy, competitive analysis, systematization of competitive advantages, structuring of the client base, development of a loyalty program.
Work schedule: 4-5 sessions of 2-3 hours + some amount of remote work on information analysis. Cost from 30 to 70 thousand rubles. Depends on the specifics of a particular project.

Please send applications for participation to

Tsyganok Alexander Yurievich,
business management and development consultant
www.tsyganok.ru

One of the main goals of restaurant marketing is to create and increase restaurant loyalty. According to a study by Harvard scientists, increasing the frequency of visits from loyal guests can increase a company's revenue from 25% to 125%!

Methods of forming and increasing loyalty in a restaurant

Restaurant loyalty programs are strategic restaurant tools that help a restaurant identify and retain its best customers - loyal restaurant guests.


Loyalty programs are widely used in various industries and over the years many people have become tired of them. Loyalty programs often do not show previous returns. Therefore, for a restaurant to benefit from a loyalty program, the restaurant needs to find a completely new approach and new methods for creating and increasing restaurant loyalty.

Methods for forming and increasing loyalty in a restaurant:

1. The secret to building guest loyalty in a restaurant is first and foremost to provide guests with value at a level equal to their expectations. The basic components of a restaurant - the quality of food and service must be ideal. Without quality dishes and good service, it is impossible to win the loyalty of restaurant guests.


Every restaurant employee must undergo appropriate training on how to handle restaurant guests. Training staff in the rules of providing service in a restaurant is an integral part of working with loyal guests of your restaurant.


2. Create positive emotions in restaurant guests every time they visit the restaurant.


3. Reward guests for their loyalty and commitment to the restaurant brand; never take your guests' loyalty for granted.


Loyal guests are rewarded by:


Providing regular guests with free meals or drinks at the expense of the establishment


Invitation to private parties for loyal guests


Providing free parking and free table reservations for loyal restaurant guests


Issue of special loyalty cards with a cumulative system of bonuses and discounts.


Stamp cards are extremely easy to use and require minimal investment on the part of the restaurant. When such a card is completely filled with stamps, guests receive a free dessert, appetizer, drink or souvenir with the restaurant logo (T-shirts, keychains, glasses, caps, etc.).


Loyalty cards with a built-in chip or barcode allow you to automate the process of accumulating bonuses and conduct a detailed analysis of the preferences of restaurant guests.


Special programs like Front Flip offer to fully automate the process of managing a restaurant loyalty program. Members of loyalty programs download applications to their mobile phones, providing all the necessary data. The accounting system for such programs maintains detailed statistics for each account. For example, based on the frequency of visits of loyal restaurant guests, the program automatically identifies guests who have not visited the restaurant for 30, 60 or 90 days. Guests who have not visited the restaurant for 30 days can be sent a virtual gift on behalf of the restaurant (dessert, drink, salad, etc.), which they can exchange for a real one when visiting the restaurant. For loyal guests who have not visited the restaurant for a long time (60-90 or more days), the program sends out profitable offers such as a dish at half price or with a big discount.


- “Happy tables”


To motivate guests, many restaurants use special applications based on QR codes. A special sticker is glued to each table and when scanned, the guest independently determines whether he has won a free dish, drink or any other surprise today at the expense of the restaurant.


Development of strategic partnerships with companies from other industries (hotels, spas, cinemas, clubs, etc.)


For example, TGI Friday's restaurant chain rewards its most active loyal guests with free stays at Radisson's Country Inns and Suites.


The Landry's Seafood restaurant chain offers guests a profitable and understandable loyalty program:


For joining the loyalty club, each member receives a $25 bonus, which is credited to the loyalty card and can be used at any Landry’s Seafood restaurant around the world


On their birthday, each loyalty program participant receives a gift - $25 credited to their loyalty card. The guest can use this bonus throughout the entire month in which he has his birthday.


There are VIP services for loyalty program participants - they have access to special promotions and promotions of the Landry’s Seafood restaurant chain


For all loyal guests of the Landry's Seafood restaurant chain, a custom interface has been created through which they can check in real time the number of loyalty program points they have accumulated.


At Starbucks, Gold Loyalty Card holders have the opportunity to purchase specialty coffee from the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), which is considered one of the rarest coffees in the world.


Starbucks' Treat Receipt program has also been successful in offering limited-time discounts. Guests who purchased drinks in the morning received discounts on chilled drinks the same day after 2:00 p.m.


4. If possible, the staff should know the names of the loyal guests of their restaurant. Tips can be found on credit cards and guest loyalty cards when checking out.


5. Restaurant guests should be aware of what the restaurant is doing for them. It is necessary to regularly keep guests informed of the main events of the restaurant, as well as find an individual approach to regular guests in the process of notifying them.


Social media provides a unique opportunity for restaurants to attract the attention of their loyal guests and potential guests to their loyalty programs.


Benefits of promoting loyalty programs through social media:


The ability to offer various restaurant dishes and drinks and receive feedback from guests in real time. Restaurants post on social media pages desserts, pastries or any other dishes freshly prepared in the restaurant kitchen. In this way, restaurants inform their customers about new products and guests’ favorite dishes that can be tried on the same day.


On social media, every friend and visitor to a restaurant’s page can become its referral and attract new guests.


During a crisis or a decrease in restaurant revenue, social media provides enormous marketing opportunities for a restaurant at minimal cost.


Having a database of loyal restaurant guests allows the restaurant to send SMS messages to guests, reminding them about the restaurant in the most effective way:


The restaurant informs guests via SMS about their favorite dishes, which are available in the restaurant under special conditions.


When a restaurant is idle and desperately needs to fill the restaurant, SMS messaging can quickly attract guests


According to statistics, 91% of all mobile phone users regularly read SMS, so unlike other channels, SMS messaging has the highest probability of reaching the target client.


A restaurant, owning a database of its loyal guests, can send SMS and letters to its loyal guests on their birthday.


On this day, the restaurant congratulates its regular visitors and rewards them with special offers, free dishes (compliments) from the establishment.


A possible option is a gift to a loyal guest in the form of a voucher for a certain amount, which the guest can use within a month after his birthday.


As a rule, if the guest responds to this offer, then his order exceeds the size of the voucher, and the restaurant receives additional profit.


Managing a loyalty program and developing a loyalty strategy for restaurant guests:


To achieve a fairer and more accurate approach to loyalty programs, it is recommended that restaurants segment their loyal guests into 3 main segments:


Loyal guests who visit the restaurant every 30 days


Loyal guests visiting the restaurant every 31-60 days


Loyal guests who visit the restaurant every 61-90 days


Rewarding loyal restaurant guests based on such data provides significantly greater returns.


1. Planning a loyalty program:


Selecting the type of loyalty program: cumulative bonus system, discounts, etc.


Planning the results that the restaurant will achieve during the loyalty program: many restaurants set ambitious goals: to achieve a frequency of restaurant visits of at least 60% of loyal posts once a week.


Determining the duration of the loyalty program


Planning the presentation of the loyalty program to guests, choosing the media through which loyalty program advertising will be carried out


Restaurant loyalty programs promote:


On social media


On the restaurant website


Directly in the restaurant itself, using in-house marketing opportunities



Determining the minimum number of visits after which guests can be considered loyal, for example, 7-8 times.


When is the best time for a restaurant to start running loyalty programs?


First of all, the restaurant needs to prepare for the launch of a loyalty program and create an established system in the restaurant. If a restaurant has problems with service or cuisine, then no loyalty program will save it, but will only aggravate the situation, since guests’ dissatisfaction will only grow.


It is illogical for a new restaurant to launch a loyalty program immediately after opening. A new restaurant must first prepare and get to know its customer segment well. This will take him at least 1-2 years.


Before launching a loyalty program, it is recommended that a restaurant collect initial information about its guests. The restaurant must know the values ​​of its customer segment, frequency of visits, financial capabilities (based on the average bill), etc.


2. Launching a loyalty program


What information does a restaurant need to obtain when activating a loyalty program:


Basic information:


Guest's first and last name


Cell phone number



Birthday date


Average check


Frequency of restaurant visits


Favorite dishes and drinks of the restaurant (dishes that a loyal guest most often orders, which ingredients he usually asks to be excluded from the dishes when ordering, and which ones to add, etc.)


Interests of loyal guests


Factors with which a guest has ever been dissatisfied (dishes whose taste the guests did not like, etc.)


Additional Information:


Names of acquaintances, friends, family members


3. Motivation


4. Monitoring the planned and actual results of the loyalty program, tracking the impact of the loyalty program. Making adjustments if necessary.


Restaurants that are initially aimed at tourists. The introduction of loyalty programs in this case does not make sense, since tourists may never visit the country again or return in a few years


Restrictions on the use of loyalty programs:


Possible risks of restaurant loyalty programs:


Decrease in revenue in case of abuse of discounts that do not bring sufficient return


Loyalty programs can change the purchasing behavior of restaurant guests


Abuse of restaurant staff may result in a shortfall in the restaurant's revenue (staff using discounts for personal interests, misappropriation of gifts and other forms of incentives that were intended for restaurant guests)


Well-planned and managed restaurant loyalty programs increase restaurant revenue through loyal guests, promote restaurant growth, and also ensure the stability of the restaurant business.


If you liked this article, please leave a comment.


Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Similar documents

    The concept of consumer loyalty and the process of managing it. Methods for assessing the effectiveness of a loyalty program. Analysis of the company’s activities to build consumer loyalty in the instant coffee market. Loyalty programs and event budgets.

    course work, added 10/04/2013

    Definition of the concept of "consumer loyalty". Its place and role in modern marketing. Problems of using consumer loyalty in Russia. Methods for assessing consumer loyalty. Creating a loyalty program and evaluating its results.

    course work, added 06/17/2010

    Exploring the concept of consumer loyalty and its implications for business. The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. Description of behavior patterns of clients and consumers. Loyalty programs: discount, bonus programs and prize draws.

    course work, added 06/04/2011

    Theoretical aspects of consumer loyalty: concept and essence, types and types, research methodology. Development of a loyalty program for retail clients of JSC Wholesale and retail company "Khoztorg". Economic evaluation of the program being developed.

    thesis, added 10/18/2011

    Prerequisites for the emergence of loyalty programs and their application in the B2B market, principles of construction. Analysis of the work system of the Stroykomplekt company, JCB direction. Development of a loyalty program project for existing clients and potential clients.

    course work, added 04/24/2015

    Concept and methods for assessing behavioral and perceived consumer loyalty. Methods for implementing retrospective transactional analysis of client consumer activity. Loyalty program for a car service station.

    course work, added 11/22/2012

    The essence of the concept of "loyalty program". The most common retailer mistake. The hidden and obvious value of each client for the company. Customer segment in the loyalty program. The main stages of creative preparation. Three mistakes of loyalty programs.

    All marketing of restaurants and cafes is aimed at turning a guest visiting the establishment for the first time into a “guest”. The consumer realizes his value and his service requirements are increasing, although just yesterday he was ready to stand for hours in the cold for liverwurst.

    Everyone is familiar with the concept of “buy two, get one free” - no one will be surprised by this. What will surprise you is automated marketing programs with a personalized approach.

    The first and fundamental step to a reliable and positive relationship with customers is the choice of automation system. Once you've decided on this, what are the next steps to create an effective loyalty system for your establishment?

    1. Study the supply market

    When choosing an automation system for your restaurant, pay special attention to the system’s support for loyalty programs. For example, the Quick Resto system allows you to create bonus programs, savings accounts, scheduled promotions, also provide guests with discounts and credit bonuses to loyalty cards.

    2. Money doesn’t buy happiness

    Create unique offers with an emotional connection to each guest. For example, Starbucks is famous for its loyalty system, which includes not only the opportunity to receive free coffee, but also offers members the opportunity to try new products that are not yet on the shelf, take advantage of unique and short-term promotions, as well as discounts on their favorite dishes. By building a loyalty system in this way, you can reduce the size of material rewards, increasing profits and without losing customers.

    3. Listen and take heed

    You and your staff must listen to the wishes of the guests of the establishment. Sometimes it's worth just asking what type of reward they would prefer. Invite guests to leave comments and responses on your Facebook or VKontakte pages. You can even ask them to fill out a questionnaire and answer a couple of questions about your loyalty system.

    4. Quality matters

    Getting a few repeat customers through your restaurant's loyalty programs isn't enough. You must constantly maintain this difficult relationship. Factors such as how quickly you can accumulate points or discounts, the variety of programs and ease of use will help you retain or lose your guests.

    5. Mobile applications

    Mobile apps are the kings of marketing. The majority of people surveyed prefer to have a specialized application on their smartphone to accumulate, track and use loyalty programs, rather than carry a pile of cards with them.

    Fortunately, some automation systems have an open development platform (API). This allows restaurants to create their own application and fully integrate it into the system of the entire restaurant. Quick Resto not only has an open platform, but can also take over the development of your application.

    Don't be afraid to be original, and customers will come back to you again and again!

    Convenient and fast

    A convenient mechanism for working with negative balances will save a lot of time

    Inventory Management

    iiko automatically calculates your need for each product based on statistical data. Need to buy meat and vegetables for the week? iiko will instantly analyze how many products you usually spend over the same period and create a ready-made order for each supplier! In this case, factors such as delivery times of goods, expiration dates of products, etc. will be taken into account. You can also “ask” iiko to repeat the last purchase or order as many products as needed up to a specified maximum stock level.

    Smart technological maps

    If negative balances arose due to the fact that a change in the ingredients of a dish was not recorded in a timely manner in the technical map, it does not matter: change the recipe of the dish retroactively, and all balances in warehouses will be instantly recalculated. At the same time, the history of changes to technical maps is saved, and you can always see who made changes and when, and also, if necessary, quickly return to any of the previous versions of the recipe.

    Automatic time tracking

    In iiko, time tracking and payroll calculation are automated. Each employee is issued a personal card, which allows you to record not only the time of arrival and departure, but also take into account, for example, the cost of food for this employee, as well as much more. An automatic staff work schedule is set up, with which the system checks employee attendance data, automatically charging fines for lateness or, conversely, payment for overtime work.

    Convenient recipes

    A technological map in iiko is information about the method and place of preparing a dish, its cost, nutritional value, a description for the menu and much more. Upload photos of dishes into the system - this will help ensure consistent quality of serving, and it will be easier for novice employees to get used to it.

    Accounting for buffet dishes

    iiko can take into account the weight of dishes sold together, but without detailing the composition. It happens like this: the cook, having prepared, say, a salad, weighs it directly in the container and punches it at the kitchen terminal. iiko generates a preparation act, and the products are written off from the warehouse. During the day, the dish on the display case can be replenished by filling out a preparation certificate with an increase in quantity. At the end of the day, the remains of unsold dishes are also weighed and written off through a write-off act (if the dish cannot be stored), or through a preparation act with a reduction in quantity (if the dish is left for the next day). With the help of a processing act, sold dishes are registered in the system as a buffet sold per day. As a result, the number of dishes sold to guests, as well as the remaining food in the warehouse, is always known. Thus, traditional manipulations with “fence sheets” become impossible: accounting of prepared and written off dishes occurs automatically.

    Inventory Management

    iiko allows you to set the minimum and maximum stock levels for each product, tracks expiration dates, and allows you to automatically create an order to suppliers for those products whose stock is running out. Need to buy meat and vegetables for the week? iiko, based on statistical data, will instantly analyze how many products you usually spend over the same period and create a ready-made order for each supplier! You can also “ask” iiko to repeat the last purchase or order as many products as needed up to a specified maximum stock level.

    Control of purchase prices

    In order to prevent errors and abuses when purchasing products, record information in the system about the agreed prices for each supplier. iiko will check each invoice and warn the buyer about discrepancies between purchase prices and the supplier’s price list, and if you make the appropriate settings, the system will block purchases at an inflated price.

    Electronic document management

    iikoDocFlow allows you to carry out the process of purchasing and exchanging documents electronically. You fill out the order form in iiko, and it immediately appears in the supplier’s accounting system, approval is carried out in the same way, and after its approval, iiko automatically generates invoices.

    Schedule planning

    Only through accurate recording of time worked can significant savings be achieved. Is it possible to further optimize salary costs? Can. Let's consider two situations: firstly, “zapara”. What is zapara? This is a situation when a restaurant cannot receive the money that guests have already brought to it. And vice versa - there are days when there are few guests, and several bored waiters are milling around alone in the hall. In both cases you lose money! iiko makes it possible to compare statistical information about revenue by day with the payroll and calculate the required ratio, adjusting the schedule. Ideally, this ratio should not be more than 25%. Such an analysis can be done both for the enterprise as a whole and for individual divisions.

    Constructor of motivational schemes

    Many people love to win and strive to be the best, you just need to create the appropriate environment for them and set clear and achievable goals. In iiko, you can set up internal ranks for employees and link motivational schemes to the achievement of specific measurable results. Every day, when opening a personal shift, the employee will see his current rank, as well as the conditions for achieving the next level. By flexibly manipulating various motivational schemes, you can not only manage sales of certain groups of goods and dishes, but also tap into the passion of your employees to achieve results that previously seemed impossible.

    Employee personal page

    When opening a personal shift, iiko shows each employee his personal report. In it he sees the results of his work - accrued salaries, bonuses, fines and achieved ranks. It is important that the employee receives this information not at the end of the month, but every day, and begins his working day with the desire to earn more than yesterday. In addition, the restaurant news feed is built into the personal report. This can be any official information: messages about motivational programs, sales plans, work schedules, or announcements about employee birthdays. Messages can be created for the entire staff, as well as individually for specific employees or certain positions. Even a novice employee will be immediately involved in the life of the team and none of your endeavors will go unnoticed.

    Automatic registration of medical records

    iiko helps keep staff medical records up to date and avoid problems with inspection authorities. The system automatically tracks the expiration dates of all tests for each employee and promptly notifies them of the need to undergo the next medical examination.

    Cash flow statement

    iiko implements a complete financial accounting framework. The statement of cash flows is useful because it provides financial statement users with a basis for assessing a business's ability to raise and use cash and cash equivalents and demonstrates the company's degree of financial flexibility.

    Control over payments to suppliers

    It will be easy for you to maintain good relationships with suppliers - iiko automatically tracks outstanding deliveries and suggests the due date for each invoice. It works like this: for each supplier in the system, a deferred payment period is set; when posting an invoice, the payment period for the goods received is automatically set and control over the expiration of this period is activated. The system marks the debt status in a special report in different colors.

    Gains and losses report

    Many restaurateurs who use iiko are accustomed to starting their day by viewing their profit and loss report. A profit and loss (P&L) report for a manager is the fastest way to understand how the restaurant is doing and to see in time where intervention is needed, as well as what should be done to earn more. In iiko, this report is available online, so operational control over business indicators makes it possible to quickly respond to changes in the situation and make the right decisions. All business processes in iiko are integrated: the waiter closes the order, at the same moment the products from which the dishes in the order are made are written off from the warehouse, sales data is reflected in the financial module, the waiter receives a percentage of this sale, the guest receives a bonus under the loyalty program , and the manager can see all this data in the corresponding reports. Accordingly, such important indicators as food cost and labor cost can be monitored in real time.

    Plan-actual analysis

    Plan-actual analysis is a comparison of planned values ​​of performance indicators at the current moment with actual ones for the purpose of making management decisions. It allows you not only to see the current financial situation in the company, but also to identify the reason for deviations from the enterprise development plan. For example, you see that profits at a restaurant are decreasing for unknown reasons. Having carried out a plan-fact analysis, you see that your food cost has increased, and this, in turn, was due to an increase in purchase prices. We look at purchases and find abuses! In addition, the ability to quickly control changes in key indicators allows you to create an effective motivational scheme for employees. With the help of iiko, data for plan-fact analysis is now available literally at the click of a button - the deviation results are presented both in absolute values ​​and as percentages.

    Report designer

    In addition to the income statement, you have a balance sheet, cash flow statement and many other pre-configured reports. If you need to print data from the system in a special form unique to your enterprise, the built-in iiko Report Designer will now help you create such a report. With its help, you can create any printed form template you need and then use it whenever you want.