Successful Restaurants Know Their Patrons

Do you love to cook? Are you an artist of design when it comes to serving dishes? Do you love to eat fine cuisine as much as you like to prepare it? Have you considered opening your own restaurant? Good for you! Make your dreams come true. The one common theme among successful restaurants is that they know their patrons.

If you’ve decided that opening a restaurant is for you, congratulations on following your dream. But there’s more to it, then just opening your restaurant. You are going to have to keep it filled with clients so that you can show a profit.

Restaurant dining is a popular past time in America. In fact from 1970 to 2004 restaurant sales have grown by over 8.5% so there is certainly potential in owning your own restaurant.

First you’ll need to decide what type of restaurant you want to own. Looking at a bistro? Fast food? Family dining? Fine Cuisine? International Cuisine? Once you decide what market you’ll target then you’ll have to decide on location, décor, and seating.

It’s true people will drive to a good restaurant, however it’s much better if you can locate your restaurant in a location that at least partially targets your patrons. The more convenient your location the more likely guests are to come on a whim. Convenience does sell!

So if you are targeting Indian cuisine putting your restaurant in a Chinese community may not be the smartest idea. Rather locating your restaurant in an area of the city that has a high Indian ethnic population would probably be much better for you.

Or if you are targeting family patrons putting your restaurant in an area that is adult orientated might hinder your business. Often people with out kids are looking for a different atmosphere than what family dining offers. They don’t want to listen to the chatter and squeals of children, so therefore they may bypass your restaurant.

But if you put your restaurant in a family neighborhood chances are your patrons will grow. People with kids like to enjoy a relaxing family evening out too and they look for convenient location and a dining atmosphere that caters to families.

So make sure you know your target market and then locate accordingly. Once you’ve chosen your location you’ll need to consider how you want to lay out your restaurant, how many people it will seat which will be dictated by your square footage and regulations, and how you want to seat people. Will you use benches or chairs? Will your tables be round, rectangular, or square? Will they be composite or wood? The types of tables and chairs you choose as well as the rest of your décor will set the atmosphere and ambiance for your restaurant.

Have you ever noticed that restaurants like the Keg who target a hip market have a modern, hip, atmosphere? They combine various styles of tables and provide privacy. They cater to small and large groups, and they use staff that is upbeat and hip.

The restaurant industry employees over 13 million people making it the largest employer in the private sector. Typically 60% of the workers are female, 50% are under the age of 30, and 70% are single. The food industry is typically a lower income job and in order to keep staff you’ll want to pay them a little better than the competition.

If you pay them well, give them a healthy environment to work in, and some flexibility on schedules, you are more likely to keep your staff. And keeping your staff is very important to your business. More than you might realize. Patrons build a repore with a server and often it is that interaction that has them return again.

The server is the one person that can make or break the dining experience. The food can be excellent but if the server is snotty, rude, makes the patron feel uncomfortable they won’t be back. On the other hand the food can be mediocre but if the server has the patron laughing and relaxing there’s a good chance they’ll be back.

So if you are planning on opening a restaurant remember to do your homework. Choose the right location, the right atmosphere, and remember successful restaurants know their patrons.

Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.