Notes from Table 12......

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Questions for the day…
What changes are you making as a player on the customer-restaurant team to provide a reasonable, quality dining experience so everyone wins?

How can your in-house advertising provide your customers opportunities to dine economically at your restaurant without going broke?

If your customers happened to watch the Today Show on NBC this past November, they may be taking a closer look at your menu.
Menu engineering and saving money when you go out to eat were topics on the show’s agenda. The basic message was that restaurants use menu engineering to try to coerce you into buying what they want to sell through use of menu engineering techniques, implying that the restaurant was not doing this for the benefit of their customers, but only to benefit themselves.
The second topic, saving money when you go out to eat, suggested a few ways for diners to lessen their bill, such as, order appetizers rather than a whole meal or order a doggie-bag at the beginning or the meal and save half for later.

These topics inspired a disturbing thought….is it Restaurant vs. Customer, or Customer vs. Restaurant?

In today’s scary, New Age Economy, it seems to me the best plan is for Restaurants and Customers to work together for two reasons:
1. Customers do not want their favorite restaurant to go broke. They want to be able keep coming back.
2. Restaurants want their customers to be able to afford to keep coming back so they don’t go broke. Customers and restaurants should have the same goal—don’t let the great dining experience go away without trying a team approach.

Customers and Restaurants need to be on the same team.
A perfect example of the non-team approach happened at a well-known chain the other morning. They had 4 breakfast specials at $6.99 each listed on a sheet stapled over the top over their usual, inexpensive offerings. I finally looked behind this “big breakfast” menu and found my usual $2.99 simple breakfast with three major changes: The price was $3.79, the coffee was not included and the biscuits were smaller.

On the other had, I have recently seen several examples of the new team approach, restaurants helping customers eat more economically without losing the dining experience. Here they are:
1. One of the chains recently changed their menu dramatically. They have a smaller menu that continues to advertise their features with pictures and descriptions but provides more economical options: Fewer selections on the menu help restaurants be cost-effective to keep their prices down.
2. In addition, the same restaurant offers ½ servings for the diner with the smaller appetite and pocketbook. Doggie bags are still available but they realize the customer is not in their restaurant to shop deli-style for later. They are here for the ambience, friendliness and an economical, fun experience.
3. Another restaurant in town offers smaller-portion desserts at a reasonable price to enhance their customer’s experience in an economical way.
4. I recently had breakfast at a restaurant that included coffee with their breakfast entrée specials for the day. Their customers will not be surprised when they get their bill. One price includes all.
5. Drink specials at another restaurant welcomed their customers, a free drink with an entrée order on Tuesdays.
6. A local restaurant recently asked customers to participate in helping to develop their new menu by voting on their 3 favorite entrees that they usually order. The results were collated and included in the planning when fewer items were picked for the menu.

“Bring a friend” day on Tuesdays and or Thursday could be a popular way for customers to be on the team. The customer brings in new business and the restaurant provides a free drink for both. Word-of mouth is the best advertising, and with a free sample provided by the restaurant, is the ultimate example of an unbeatable team working together.
Overall, the psychology of eating out is more about how valuable your customers feel at the end of the experience, providing them with a great incentive to return for another meal.

Submitted from the Diner's Seat at Table 12