Enhancing the Customer Experience While Holding the Bottom Line

In this economic environment, all restaurants are trying to lure more customers – or at least keep customer counts stable – while holding the line on spending. Two ways some restaurant chains are achieving this is with “variety” and “customer service enhancements.”

Variety
The Golden Corral offers more and different menu choices while also watching costs by creating menu items that customers enjoy (often involving proteins) that cost less than items currently on the menu. One example is offering a “pork pot roast” which is cheaper than beef pot roast, but still appeals to the meat lovers who patronize the chain.

The chain also added a pulled pork sandwich as part of a “Beef Lover’s Lunch Special.” Other creative menu items include patty melts, Philly Cheesesteaks, and mini burgers. Each pork food item costs less to make than a comparable beef item would. The Golden Corral is using variety to manage food costs while also enhancing the customer experience.

Customer Service Enhancements
BJ’s Restaurants, based in Huntington Beach is using customer service enhancements to maintain customer counts. Two ways it has done this is by introducing call ahead seating and curbside cashiers. It also introduced new pizzas, lunch specials, and sandwiches.

BJ’s customer service enhancements and new menu items came with a repositioning as a “casual plus” dining destination – somewhere above Applebee’s and below Cheesecake Factory. BJ’s also increased its average facility investment over the last 3 years, but with a flexible design that allowed for multiple footprints.

With all these changes, getting the word out was essential, so BJ’s increased marketing expenditures by a modest 1%. BJ’s believes it has achieved a net positive margin benefit with this increased investment.

Often times, an operator must invest in his or her restaurant to allow the seeds of innovation and change to grow and bear fruit. See Why Smart Operators Invest in their Businesses during a Sluggish Economy. Although it can be a tough time to find a restaurant business loan, a few select lenders are still making restaurant loans. Once such lender is Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been providing short term, restaurant business loans for almost a decade, and we still provide millions of dollars in lines of credit and unsecured small business loans to operators every month.

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