Long gone are those days when people thought that the only way to increase restaurant sales is by paying for advertisements. Even though it can make your brand be known, it is costly, and there is no guarantee that it will help you succeed. Nowadays, with the help of the internet, social media and modern-day technology, there are more cost-efficient yet effective ways to spice up how you run your restaurant business. Marketing and Promotion shouldn't be costly and make you break the bank. Just create a page on social media or have a good-looking website up. Use these platforms to engage with your customers and reach out to a wider audience so your brand will be known. Also, the one hsould never underestimate the power of the 'Word of Mouth.' In fact, it is one of the most powerful marketing strategies where you let your satisfied customers do the talking and recommend your business to their friends and colleagues. Read our article on Loyverse Town to find out some of the best ways to optimize your restaurant business and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Since a grocerant is a hybrid of the groceries and restaurants, first, you should understand what are the expectations customers have from a restaurant. Restaurant customers are typically won over by great food, ideal ambiance and just overall a remarkable dining experience. This expectation can get quite tricky when incorporated to a grocerant since it is definitely a unique set up. What sets a grocerant apart from a regular restaurant then? Grocerants are mainly product-driven businesses designed to help people save time. Through one-stop shopping, they can get a cooked meal and the necessary groceries to bring home. A beneficial service grocerants provide is ready-to-eat food. In many cases, grocerants provide tables to dine in, too, becoming more similar to an in-store-cafe. In a relaxing environment. grocerants attract customers through a large variety of fresh food and long shelf-life groceries with accessible prices. Nowadays people are looking for more convenient and pleasant ways to fulfill their basic needs for food, and grocerants seem to be the solution for this. In the future, grocerants will emphasize experiential value and social interaction over little grocery shopping. They are turning their businesses into service providers, expanding their portfolios to include fresh food products, hot meals, as well as in-store cooking courses or wine tasting. Please, check my article for details:

My friends in the Philippines have been telling me the other day about the recent rise in the popularity of grocerants, since people nowadays prioritize time efficiency and convenience. I would appreciate if you can share some tips on how to get to started with this business and what are other pros and cons that I should be aware of. Thank you!

The first is to understand the principle and idea behind the coffee shop business. Coffee being the second most consumed liquid next to water, is definitely considered a daily necessity and commodity by most people. That is why the whole concept of running a coffee shop with quality coffee and cozy and relaxing ambiance has a huge place in the market today. People go to coffeeshops to relax with a cup of their preferred beverage, to have meetings and social gatherings or even for work or study. Nevertheless, the coffee shop business is one of the most profitable depending on how unique you are over your competitors. The best place to set up your vision, mission and business plan. Vision: determine what the future of your business looks like, it keep you connected with the values you follow Mission: what are the steps you have to take to make that vision come to reality. Your mission should include your target customers, accessible pricing, competitive products and services, etc. Business plan: is a tool which will help you understand what resources and steps you need to take in order to bring profit. Composing your menu is one of the most important pivotal steps. A quality product is necessary to make a business successful. In the case of a coffee shop, the menu should include a variety of products. Operating a coffee shop requires you to have a systematic and efficient operating system. This also entails you to train your staff well on abiding by it and regularly checking them and seeking points for improvement. Finally, your business’ customer care will be the motivation of your customers to keep coming back to your store. A friendly, polite, and professional service creates a pleasant atmosphere and will help the customers to feel confident in choosing your coffee shop. Using a loyalty system that rewards customers who often come to your cafe is another great idea. Loyal customers are the core of a successful business. They need special care, and you can do this through different discounts and bonuses. Also, check my article:

I would like to get started with a coffee shop business. Where is the best place to start?

Please, check my article on this topic:

If you run a blog related to your business, you can create content based on your actual experience. This blog may become beneficial to the readers, who face similar situations, thinking about running and developing the cafes. At the same time, you can have the other way to attract visitors to your cafe if you post interesting content about dishes, promotions, etc.

Here are some tips and pointers on how to manage your restaurant: 1.Provide comfort to your customers: It is so important that your guest should feel good at your restaurant, whether sitting or standing. The temperature, scent, ambiance, furniture and lighting should all be arranged towards the comfort and ease of your customers to keep them coming back 2. Be special: Being unique to stand out from your competitors gives you a fair advantage over them 3. Become a true leader to your employees: Employees often work at high speeds, in difficult, physically tricky environments. That is why managers, chefs, and shift leaders need to learn to manage and take care of them. Your employees’ well being affects your restaurant’s overall performance. 4. Know the professional details of all areas of the restaurant: Learn to be critical and explore several areas for improvements. Get professional resources or materials, or look for training courses. 5. Restaurant economics: This includes economic literacy, accounting, bookkeeping and finances Check more details in my article:

Here are some suggestions to keep your coffee shop or restaurant business alive and well as the world battle through and adapt with the many changes of the covid-19 pandemic: Reformat yourself to a grocery store: During the pandemic, groceries thrive while coffee shops close. Rearrange your shelves and expand your products to more long-lasting ones that can be picked up as part of the daily necessities of your customers. Start delivery services: This a great service to provide since most people nowadays would only step out of the house for essential purposes. So having your goods delivered to their doorstep is a huge thumbs up. Go online: This is a new channel to sell your products. Why not invest time in developing your website or consider putting your shop up on an online marketplace? Offline advertising: Ask your loyal customers to share about your shop to their friends and neighbors, you’ll be surprised how powerful referrals work as marketing tools for your business. Social responsibility: Offer free services for medical workers, police, rescuers, etc. Doing so, you will expend the excellent image of your business and attract more people to you. More details in my article:

Restaurant management is not an easy task. You have to deal with a variety of functions. How to improve management skills?

There are a lot of franchising systems in fast foods. How to choose the best one? What are their pros and cons?

Hi, I had many situations like this in our coffee shop. I have no problem of giving a meal or a drink (not alcohol) if a person ask me for it. PPl ask for a free food only when they are in real need for it. I dont have a Suspended Coffees system but my regular customers know that i give free food for ones in need of it, and they really freely help with out asking them. Or they leave some extra cash for it or they just ask me what was the cost of the meal and pay for it while paying their on bill.

fascinating statistic. Never thought Russia would have busiest McDonald's!

yes it is always best to show grace and offer them a meal. and i like the offer of leftovers from the end of trade as well. Many places offer "suspended" meals or coffees (there's a worldwide movement called Suspended Coffees, google them ;-)) whereby the restaurant/cafe has a system that enables able customers to pay for their meal and that of another who may be less fortunate than them; those 'suspended' meal/drink/coffee whatever then can either go on a post-it note on a dedicated space in the cafe that when asked, is available for a needy person. There are many options out there for such benevolent options when running a cafe. We have the mind to introduce it at some stage. Good luck!

Give them a meal and tell him to come back at the end of the day so he can take away the waste. Believe me, they will be grateful and will come back and help you. We have 3 homeless people who comes reguraly and they clean the street, help us pack the tables, stuff like that. And our customers sometimes buy coffee or food and ask us to give it to them. If you do good, the world around you will give it back.

As a restaurant manager, what do you do in a situation where a customer walks in and tells you they cannot pay due to hard times but is really in need of a meal? Let me know you would do if you found yourself in such a situation. Thank you for your reply.

Horeca is the name of a foodservice industry sector. It is an abbreviation of the keywords which characterize this industry (Hotels-Restaurants-Café). The word was invented in Holland and is currently widely used in some European countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. Horeca includes all food services like catering, bars, coffee shops, café, restaurants, fast food, and other related industries. But this term does not apply to the food products retail, such as supermarkets. In the UK, there is a similar industry called Catering and hospitality, but it is not an exact equivalent. In the USA, such a term in most cases is called the Restaurant industry. Other names such as Foodservice outlets, Hotel, and catering industry are also used. In Australia, it is called the Restaurant and catering industry or Restaurant sector.

What is the meaning of horeca?

I would like to add that hospitality has altruistic motivation and its purpose is to invest own resources in order to make happy the visitors/ clients. I believe that people who have such motivation can become succesful bussinesmen and help society to become healthier by using principle of giving first rather than receiving profit.

We can say there is three different kind of customers that frequent a coffee shop that can be distinguished by the type of product they are looking to consume: The coffee addicted. This sort of consumer can't live without his or her espresso every morning. The social. In this group we include the consumer who likes coffee and love to socialize with other people, they long to have a nice chat with a friend and, in general, spend time with others. They are not mainly looking to consume a coffee; coffee is just the excuse to meet someone else. And the third type of consumers are the coffee fans, the real coffee lover. He or she is mainly coming for the taste of your coffee and nothing else. For them, coffee itself is an experience. While regular consumers will order a cafe latte, cappuccino, etc. The coffee fan is looking for specialty coffee, prepared in a specific way. They represent the smaller percentage of consumers, let's say they are the 10 % of your audience. But they are the ones who will talk good about you and if they are happy they won't hesitate in promoting you to all their coffee lover network!

What kind of customers visits a coffee shop?

Puzzles!

Fub

For me, hospitality means to care about visitors like about my best friends. People like to go visit somebody at one point or another. If people visit your place, it means that they are your guests. Whether it’s the first time or the twentieth time, they'll always be your ‘guests’. They can also stop visiting your place anytime if there was no hospitality. People choose which place they want to visit based on where they feel most comfortable and cozy. Everybody has their own idea of сomfort and coziness, but most people like a homey atmosphere. Many of us have had the experience of inviting our friends over to our house for a celebration. Often times it could be very stressful, right? We all want to prepare a perfect event so that our guests feel welcomed and have a great time. Similarly, preparing your restaurant for the customers is exactly the same. Treat your visitors like your closest friends and relatives who came over to your house. Pay attention to them accordingly, and they would want to visit you over and over. The same principles also apply in other service businesses and stores, with some minor adjustments to fit their own specific characteristics.

What does hospitality mean to you?