10 Proven Ways to Build Restaurant Sales and Profits (6 through 10)

Tip No. 6: Start A Late Night Menu
What kind of business are you doing late in the evening?  If you are like most operators, the answer is probably, “Not much.”  How about developing a late night meal segment to turn those wasted hours into increased volume?

A successful example of developing the late night trade comes from Sunset Grill in Nashville, Tennessee. The owner, Randy Rayhurn, implemented a late night menu that has come to exceed lunch as a source of revenue.  Best of all, he has accomplished this without expending a penny in advertising!

His late night menu consists of some lower food cost entrees off his regular menu and any items he wants to run out.  These entrees are offered at half price from 10:00pm until 1:30am during the week and from midnight until 1:30pm on Saturday night.  Desserts, coffees and beverages remain at full price.

His late night sales mix is equally divided between food and beverages.  Because of its structure, the late night menu only runs about four points higher in overall food cost than his regular menu.  A large percentage of Randy’s late night market has become restaurant people looking for a bite to eat in different surroundings when they get off work!

Tip No. 7: Change Your Menu To Spark Customer Traffic
New menu products offer the greatest potential for restaurant traffic increases.  But changing the menu must be handled properly if operators are to realize the full potential for expanding sales and profit.

For example, the dining public in Florida is older, better-educated, more nutrition-conscious and more drawn to convenience than in the past.  These shifts create promising areas for light or nutritious foods, regional taste experiences, foods not easily prepared at home and take-out/delivered foods.  Each can offer an advantage to the operator willing to exploit it.

Here are seven steps that will enable you to multiply the success of new menu items almost exponentially.

1. Consumer Research
2. Product identification
3. Product development
4. Consumer testing
5. Test marketing
6. Analysis
7. Communication/launch

These steps will keep you on the new product path to business expansion.

Tip No. 8: “WOW” Your Sales: The Zork Interview
Have you ever heard of a ZORK? Probably not. A ZORK costs $250,000 and looks a lot like a ball-point pen. It is your job to sell it to a group of executives from the largest companies in the world.  Does that sound like a tough sell?  Perhaps, but if you apply for a job on the service staff at Old San Francisco, be prepared to convince my managers that the ZORK is an invaluable asset, worth every penny.

The reason?  If you can generate enough enthusiasm to sell a ZORK for $250,000, we are confident you will easily make the sale on a $20 bottle of wine or a five- dollar order of Bananas Foster.

The items on your menu are like the imaginary ZORK.  Guests only know what you tell them, so your ability to build sales depends on your servers’ abilities to sell what, to customers, are intangibles.  Demand that our staff “Wow” guests with their description of that bottle of wine or the Bananas Foster flambe.

The ZORK interview reinforces one simple truth: if you love people and are not afraid of an audience, you will be great, whether you are selling Cherries Jubilee… or a ZORK!

Tip No. 9: Wine Sales for Dummies
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to sell more wine in your restaurant!  Good thing, since most of us don’t have too many of those on the service staff, anyway!  But there are not any trade secrets, either. To sell more wine, you just need to do four basic things:

1.  Make sure everyone is comfortable with (and skillful at) opening a bottle.  Buy a $10 bottle corker and a gross of inexpensive, new corks.  Recork your old bottles and require every server to open at least 100 bottles before you turn them loose on your guests.

2.  Assure that your wait staff knows how to pronounce every wine on the list.  Run through the wine list at pre-shift meetings, with each server pronouncing the next wine on the list.  How about a “Trivial Pursuit” challenge for servers where they match food items with the wines on your list?  They should also be able to match wines with appetizers and desserts.  ”Which wines would you suggest with Rack of Lamb?”  ”What entrees go best with Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc?”

3.  Be sure your service staff has tasted the wines you offer.  Since wine is most often consumed with food, have them taste wine with menu items.  For example, try a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay with the salmon special and note how different the food tastes with each wine.  Educate your staff so that they can educate your guests.  The easiest way to encourage suggestions is just to have servers recommend their two favorite whites or their two favorite reds – but first they must find out what their favorites are?

4.  Finally, let your guests know that you sell wine!  Put the wine list on the dinner menu – or at least your 20 most popular wines. Suggest a wine under each food item (entrees, appetizers, desserts).  Pre-set tables with wine glasses and perhaps a full bottle of wine.

If you will make these four simple efforts on a daily, consistent basis, you should grow wine sales by 20-25%. What have you got to lose?

Tip No. 10: Pick A Signature Item and Grow For It!
This is the story of how a simple Chinese Chicken Salad accompanied by freshly baked zucchini bread built a restaurant, a banquet business and became the famous Dianne Salad of Pasadena.  The tale starts in 1978 at the Greenstreet Restaurant in Pasadena, California when Dianne, a friend of the owners, developed a knockout dressing for Chinese Chicken Salad.  When they introduced the salad, everyone at the restaurant fell in love with it and shared their excitement with other guests.

The popularity of this item grew with the ladies at lunch and the businessmen watching their waistlines.  The owners christened their new star the Dianne Salad and added freshly baked zucchini bread to the dining experience.

The press got wind of the salad from Greenstreet’s fans and the subsequent stories increased the salad’s following and reputation.  As a result of the exposure generated by the Dianne Salad, Greenstreet was voted the best lunch restaurant in a popularity poll.

In 1992, the restaurant added a pick-up window so that Dianne Salad addicts could quickly satisfy their habits.  As the convenience grew so did the large orders and soon the Dianne became a party favorite.

So what does all this mean? The Dianne Salad, directly or indirectly, was responsible for approximately 30% of the restaurant’s total sales!  The next goal is to take the Dianne Salad, the secret dressing and the zuccihini bread into retail production.

This shows what can be done with a signature salad.  What is your restaurant famous for? What are you going to do with it?

Excerpted from 50 Proven Ways to Build Restaurant Sales & Profits from Hospitality Masters Press

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