How Independent Restaurants Can Compete with Large Scale Restaurant Chains
We can see large scale restaurant chains such as MacDonald’s, Dominos, KFC, and Burger King all over the world. When you start a new restaurant, you will have to deal with the competition that comes from these large scale restaurant chains. It is not something easy as you assume. That’s because numerous opportunities are available for you to deal with the competition that you are getting. Here are some of the most effective methods available for you to deal with the competition that you are getting from the large scale restaurant chains.
- Follow the food trends
When you follow the menus of large scale restaurants, you will notice that they don’t change too often. In fact, the big restaurant chains prefer to stick to their menus in the long run. This is a great opportunity available for independent restaurants to gain an advantage. That’s where you should focus on food trends.
You will be able to follow the food trends and figure out popular foods among people out there in the world. After you get to know about food trends, you can think about introducing new dishes to your restaurant based on them. Then you will be able to attract more visitors to your restaurant with ease.
There is a desire among people to experiment with new things. You can also keep this in mind and come up with new dishes. Then you will be able to make your life easy with attracting new customers. When you have something unique offered in your menu, you should promote it as much as you can through your promotional campaigns. You will not be able to spend a lot of money as the large scale restaurants do with their promotions. However, you will still be able to create some buzz out there in the world and get more people to dine in.
- Use technology to engage with people
People prefer to engage with the restaurants that they visit o dine in. You should think about using technology to engage with those people. Then you will be able to develop strong relationships with people who show an interest in dining in at your restaurant. You can easily do this with the help of technology. On the other hand, you can also use technology to improve customer service.
One of the best things about using technology for your business is that it can help your customers to speed up things. For example, you can have an online reservation portal on your website. You can allow the customers to order food, book tables, find venues, and pay for them online. On the other hand, you will also be able to get the same customers to share their experiences as well. Customers will appreciate this convenience that they receive from your restaurant. Hence, you will be able to win more customers, regardless of the competition you face from the big restaurant chains.
- Introduce technology to your table
The restaurant industry is an old-fashioned industry. Therefore, you should think about transforming your restaurant with technology. All your customers have their own smartphones. On those smartphones, your customers will be able to access location-based services in order to search for restaurants in their neighbourhood. You should think about making your restaurant visible t o them.
On the other hand, you can think about implementing appropriate technologies, where your customers will be able to make payments through their mobile devices. Then you will be able to make life further easy for your customers. This will help you to attract more customers to the business in the long run. Hence, you will be able to deliver your services to more customers, regardless of the competition you face from the big restaurant chains.
There are third-party apps, which are allowing people to book restaurants for dining. You should think about signing up with such third-party apps as well. Those third party restaurant booking apps will help you to improve the overall visibility of your restaurant and get more customers to dine in.
Digital payment wallets such as Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Wallet will not just help you to deliver a convenient experience to your customers. They will also help you to gather useful information related to your customers. You can gather information and extract useful insights out of them. You will be able to use the transactional data that you have to launch customer loyalty programs as well.
- Get the most out of your strengths
Even if you are an independent small scale restaurant business, you are having some unique strengths. It is up to you to think about getting the most out of those strengths. While you are getting the most out of technology to ensure the future betterment of your restaurant, you should never ignore traditional virtues. This is where you should focus on customer service. If you can deliver an exceptional service to all the customers of your business, you will be able to position your restaurant at a strong place. Then you can use that to build a strong customer base under your business.
We can see how there’s a demand among people to go ahead and eat local food. You can use this trend to attract more visitors to your restaurant as well. However, you should cater to the other expectations of your customers as well, such as to receive an outstanding customer service. Then you will be able to get the maximum out of your strengths and stay ahead of the competition.
- Keep an eye on your competition
You are not the only independent restaurant in your local area. There are numerous other restaurants in the neighborhood, which will try to do the same and gain advantage on their way. This is the main reason on why you will need to keep an eye on your competition at all times. While you do it, you will be able to understand the new strategies that those restaurants will come up with to deliver a better service to the customers. Then you should redesign the strategies of your business to ensure that you don’t lose competition.
Final words
Now you are aware of the steps to take in order to make your independent business thrive, regardless of the stiff competition that you are getting from other large scale restaurant chains. You just need to focus on these and deliver the best service to your customers, so that you can overcome the competition you have to face effectively.
