3 Innovative Ways to Boost Restaurant Sales

Sometimes, all a restaurant needs to attract new customers and grow their sales is to shake up their menu a bit, add a bar/lounge, or remodel their dining room. These modifications may be modest, or they may be significant overhauls, but they are not likely to alter the character of the business as a whole.

Shake Up Your Restaurant Business Model

This approach may work for some, but others may want to consider branching off and thinking outside of the box to truly grab attention. Aggressive investment and forward thinking is what empowers companies like Amazon, after all. Consider that Amazon started out merely selling books and has now gone on to become one of the world’s biggest providers of web hosting services.

So, think big, and realize that business funding from a financial lending company can help empower your dreams, as you consider these three ambitious branch-off concepts.

1. Go from Fast Casual to Family Dinner Hero

Many fast-casual restaurants like big burrito joints and sandwich shops command a constant stream of clientele, especially for lunch. Yet, when it comes to dinner, few families plan on going out to eat at a fast-casual restaurant as a regular occurrence. The problem is that ordering individual items can be pricey, and families may feel averse to the experience of receiving food through a drive-through or sitting in a relatively small dining room for dinner.

In other words, most fast casual restaurants just do not scream “dinner” to families.

Some companies aim to change that image and make themselves a champion of impromptu dinners in the process. Chick-Fil-A, for instance, is pioneering a concept of family-sized dinners packaged for volume-based savings and served in a portable, ready-to-eat form. Their family dinner options offer new sides like rolls and macaroni and cheese as well as family-sized portions. They also include all the disposable utensils and plates a family needs to eat their meal anywhere, and clean it up quickly.

Catering to families and larger groups in this way may require purchase of new equipment and modifications to your existing kitchen design, but it can also increase the volume of sales and add appeal to a hungry and eager niche.

2. Think High Tech

Many fast food concepts were built in the 70s, and their dining experiences have admittedly changed little since then. In an era of falling sales, some fast food companies are trying to reinvigorate their bottom line by adding a hefty dose of technology to the dining experience.

Subway has embraced this line of thought wholeheartedly, adding self-ordering kiosks and phone charging ports that aim to streamline the experience while giving people more to engage with than just a glass display case.

Restaurants of all business models, including sit-down dining, can adopt increased use of technology for ordering and other functions in a similar way to get people excited about more than just eating.

3. Add a Bit of Suds to the Menu

Many people make dining choices based on whether or not they can get a cold adult beverage alongside their meal. They have come to expect that certain places to serve booze, while other establishments do not. If they are in the mood for a beer with their meal, they eliminate many options right off the bat.

Recognizing this, some of the most unexpected companies are enthusiastically adding beer and other alcoholic items to their menu. Burger King hopes to sell beer in some of their locations, for example, and Taco Bell hopes to expand their number of cantina-style restaurants, which serve margaritas and other adult libations.

Adding beer and other beverages to your location can increase costs and introduce other logistical complications, but it can also draw in more diners, lift sales and encourage people to linger a bit longer than they normally would.

Make Your Dreams a Reality with the Help of a Financial Lending Company

You can make any of these concepts happen for your restaurant and refresh your image with customers by seeking out short-term restaurant financing that offers advantageous terms, like loans and flexible payback arrangements.

You can receive a free, no-obligation quote today in order to start upgrading your restaurant and your reputation, and to make a lasting impression on each customer.