After a long, cold winter, restaurants busy themselves up for a brighter and fresher change of their indoor atmosphere.
It is a change that can help draw in more customers and invigorate your staff physically and in spirit.
Take advantage of the warmer weather – and the cabin fever your guests are feeling.
Capture, set up and deliver an ambience of spring in your restaurant.
Experience is just as vital as food, and a positive, memorable experience is a powerful tool for returning guests.
One of the best tips in marketing is to invoke emotional connections with customers. Capture a typical spring experience and everything that makes it inviting for people. Spring is an excellent time to add some light flowery scents and colours.
So how do you capitalise on that?
- Set flowers on the table regularly to evoke visual and olfactory emotional triggers.
- Let natural sunlight in so customers feel the warm glow of that spring sunshine.
- If possible, incorporate the use of lighter materials and colors of your tablecloths and tablenapkins.
Create and offer a spring menu
Make springtime reflect on your menu. Spring is when gardens return to life, and chefs make the most of farmers’ markets to include fresh ingredients in their menus.
Because the weather is warmer, leave the heavy, hearty soup on the side and instead put lighter salads.
Go for fruit or vegetable smoothies and desserts since they evoke a feeling of freshness that goes with the season.
You don’t necessarily need to do a menu overhaul. Opt to highlight the lighter and leaner options to shift diner perception. Make it easy for your customers to find them. And don’t neglect your menu design!
Run a spring or holiday theme event
Spring is when people are eager to go out and about. Use this to your advantage. Think of offering something more than the typical dining experience.
- Push for brunch offerings.
- If your kitchen can handle a large crowd, offer a craft brew tasting at your bar.
- If possible, maximise your space to include outdoor seating at your restaurant.
- Have live music.
Use social media
Marketing through social media is a great and low-cost solution to stand out from the crowd and reach your customers.
Create specials themed around the warming weather to make up for everyone’s spring excitement. Ensure that you are regularly promoting so that your followers are aware of your promos.
Encourage your followers to interact. Create polls, and challenge your customers to post photos of their budding gardens and springtime farmer market trips.
Set up a pop-up restaurant in spring
If you can, set up a pop-up restaurant in various venues/locations to add to your revenue.
Spring is the best time to set them up because people long for warmer weather and have new culinary experiences. Tourism typically gets a more significant boost during this time, providing a bigger market for you to tap.
RELATED READ: The Appeal of Pop-Up Restaurants
In Summary:
For people who have been cooped up for the long winter, spring is a sweet release that encourages them to spend outdoor activities. Ensure that your restaurant is prepared to take advantage of this increase in outdoor activities. Incorporate the fun of spring to attract more guests and increase your profits.
And if you are looking for skilled chefs based in Perth and Western Australia for your chef staffing needs, give us a call at Anytime Chefs!
We have a roster of professional chefs that are available as short-term hires for :
- peak periods
- events/private parties and celebrations/pizza chefs
- fill in for an emergency or annual leaves
- start-up team for opening venues
Anytime Chefs can also assist you in looking for permanent chef hires by facilitating your recruitment process.
We also offer a Consulting Service to assist you in opening or running the cafe or restaurant of your dreams.
As part of our team, we have polite, professional Kitchen Stewards to assist you in cleaning and organising your kitchens.
That’s it for this week.
As always, professional chefs are on call at Anytime Chefs!
Ciao for now,
Thomas
