Research shows that nearly 80% of restaurant sales – whether a one-store independent or a member of a major chain – come from within the three-mile radius that represents your neighborhood. Are you directing 80% of your marketing efforts toward that critical area? Or even 50%?

The mass marketing myth that the more people you reach, the more business you will attract just does not work for neighborhood businesses like restaurants. The battle for the heart, mind (and pocketbook) of the local patron must be won block-by-block, store- by-store and purchase-by-purchase through what we call neighborhood marketing.

Tip No. 2: Get Flexible, Get Cozy, Get Wealthy!
Guests are no longer willing to sit in dining rooms that are less than half full and deadly quiet. (Ever notice how everyone ends up in the kitchen at parties?) Please your guests with guaranteed cozy dining and your sales will grow as a result.

You cannot control the number of guests who arrive, but you can control how full the room looks and how cozy the guests feel. It takes a willingness to re- organize your seating, the wisdom to change service policies, and the ability to reconfigure the dining areas to match your volume of business. It will not happen with huge open dining rooms, rigid seating policies or by using the dreaded “This Section Closed” sign.

Tip No. 3 Expectations and Guest Satisfaction
Hospitality is a business based on expectations. The more a consumer spends, the greater expectations he or she will have. Meet those expectations and you will succeed; exceed them and you will prosper.

Let’s say you eat out and your meal costs $5.00. What are your expectations? You expect a “no-frills” experience – ready quickly, the food hot or cold enough, probably wrapped in paper and handed over a counter to be eaten with disposable utensils in an environment dominated by plastic.

If these expectations are met, a sort of unspoken contract has been fulfilled between the customer and the restaurant. The value received corresponds with the price charged. The expectations have been met. The guest is satisfied.

Now consider a $20.00 meal. Your expectations will be both different and greater. This time you will probably expect a china plate, a tablecloth, glassware, metal flatware and personal table service. Make sure you are meeting (or exceeding) the customer’s expectations.

Tip No. 4: Pre-Shift Sales Briefing
In full service operations, one opportunity to build volume lies in increasing sales through improved selling skills at the table.  There are virtually hundreds of tactics to assist the waiter or waitress in selling more. But to really make a difference, today’s operator must focus on selling strategies that unfold within the restaurant’s four walls, from the time that a guest crosses the threshold until leaving the building. A realistic goal is to improve communication between management, the kitchen team, and the server/salespeople who are actually talking to the patrons.

The better prepared servers are to explain, promote and merchandise food items – whether the core menu or specials – the more they will sell. Tips will be incrementally higher, add-on sales will build, and extra profit will be banked.

The approach is to create an environment conducive to selling, replete with information and data about what is being served. This can best be accomplished by developing an effective pre-shift sales briefing. Most operators have a short meeting with the wait staff before each meal to relay the specials and describe the fresh or in-Season menu items, so this should be no big deal.

Tip No. 5: Build Sales through Environmental Enhancement
Did you ever think that the position of your entrance, cash register or range could impact your sales? Surprising as it may sound, the layout of your operation may position you for profound success or endless struggle. How does it work?

What we call environmental enhancement derives from the ancient Chinese art of object placement. Over 3,000 years ago, the Chinese discovered how your working environment acts as a mirror of yourself and your life’s circumstances. Challenges such as financial debt, poor morale and difficult staff relations can often be traced directly to the surrounding energy imbalances.

By tracing the flow of energy through the space, an environmental enhancement expert can locate the areas of your environment which correspond to such important issues as finances, relationships, health and career.

When the energy in these physical areas of the environment are obstructed or missing, the environmental enhancement consultant may recommend changes in the position of objects in the room, the correct application of color and much more to eliminate the problem.

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

If you are a restaurateur thinking about ways to increase sales, increasing marketing, making capital expenditures, or otherwise investing in your business and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. Despite the economy, ARF never stopped making business loans to restaurants, and ARF makes restaurant loans up to $1,000,000 per location. If you are looking for a restaurant loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.

Also, most of us agree that the most effective restaurant marketing is local marketing, so the community marketing concept makes perfect since for restaurants. So how do the 80/20 rule and the 4% factor fit in?

The 80/20 rule is the long held belief that 20% of a business’s customers drive 80% or more of its sales. The 4% factor comes into play when you divide that 20% into smaller segments of 20% each – or 4% of your entire customer base. Once identified, you market to your 4% groups with compelling offers that have extremely high conversion rates due to the targeted nature of the offer. Highly targeted offers tend to yield higher conversion rates with lower costs.

How important would it be to you to find out that 4% of your fajita lovers drove 70% of margarita sales? How long would it take you to get a “fajita night” email offer out to those customers?

How do you find out about your customers to determine which are the 20% and tailor offers to segments within that group? Well, do you have a customer database, and if so, what is in it?

If you don’t have a customer database, you should probably stop reading now and work on setting one up. If you do, what is in it and what efforts are you making to enhance the data in it? A name, an email address, and birthdays are a good start. Don’t have email addresses? Start collecting them. As far as a communication tool, an email address is your holy grail. Some ideas on ways to collect them include:

• Fishbowl drops for happy hours
• Raffles and/or door prizes with entry forms including email addresses, favorite menu items, number of visits per month, etc.
• Simple “mailing” lists, and
• VIP Clubs

Once you have begun building out an effective customer database, you can begin to drill into it to identify your top 20% customers. Once you have identified those customers, you can begin to divide that group into smaller sub segments of customers with commonalities that you can address with very targeted offers.

The goal here is to tailor offers to these sub segments with sky high conversion rates. If you can achieve this you will lower your overall marketing costs, increase sales among your best customers, establish yourself as a brand of choice creating even more customer loyalty, and convert many of these customers into brand ambassadors that can lead to even more good customers.

When you compare the potential payoff of 80/20, 4% factor marketing against your typical direct mail or newspaper ad payoff, the benefits become clear. Isn’t it time to bring your marketing into the 21st Century and start harvesting the benefits?

If you are a restaurateur thinking about increasing marketing, making capital expenditures, or otherwise investing in your business and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. Despite the economy, ARF never stopped making business loans to restaurants, and ARF makes restaurant loans up to $1,000,000 per location. If you are looking for a restaurant loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.

Unfortunately, few people tell us how to harness the power of social media.This series of blogs is intended to help you determine the parameters of a social media strategy for your restaurant and to make suggestions on how to implement one.

Let’s start at the beginning: finding out what is already being said about your restaurant and listening to any ongoing conversations. People may already be talking about your establishment in the social media space. These conversations can occur on Yelp, Twitter, blogs, and comments to blogs, among other places.

Yelp
Since most restaurant marketing is local in nature, let’s start with Yelp. If you are not going onto Yelp regularly and searching for your brand name, start today. If you see a negative review, take that feedback to heart and then you have a couple of choices. First, you can reach out to that person, send them a message, invite them back and improve on their experience (have them ask to see the manager or yourself when they come in). You will need to set up a Yelp account to send messages to reviewers, but it is quick, easy, and free. Hopefully, you will get a follow up review that is much more positive.

Your other option is to get the review buried on page 8 or 9, so it’s less likely to be seen. For this you would need to encourage diners that have had great experiences to post a review to Yelp. Train your servers to identify parties that are clearly having a great experience and have the server ask them to post a Yelp review. Chances are, someone at the table regularly uses Yelp. Either way, reading the reviews on Yelp is a great place to start.

Google Alerts
Another way to monitor what is being said about you is to set up a Google Alert for your establishment. It’s easy to do. Go to google.com/alerts, enter your search term – which is most likely your restaurant or brand name – set the alerts to “comprehensive,” set the frequency, and enter your email address. When your search terms are mentioned on the internet (or a Google indexed page on the internet), you will receive an email alert with a link to the conversation. If you haven’t already done this, you should do this in the next few days.

Twitter
The first step is again to set up a Twitter account if you do not have one. Once you log into your Twitter account on the right navigation bar you will find a search box. Input the keywords relevant to your restaurant and hit the search button. At the bottom of the navigation bar you will see a link called “RSS feed for this query.” Click that link and on the ensuing page you will see the current tweets for your particular keyword. In the lower left of the box at the top you will see a link that says “Subscribe to this feed.” Click that link and follow the steps if you want to automate the process.

Backtype
Conversations about your restaurant can occur in many places including social media sites, social network sites, blogs and comments to blogs. That is why you probably want to use something like Backtype. Backtype is a free service that indexes literally millions of conversations from blogs, social networks, and social media sites. You can search Backtype from its website (without setting up an account) or you can create an account and set up email alerts when keywords relevant to your restaurant are mentioned in a conversation. As with all these tools, it is better to automate the process and have the information pushed to you rather than having to manually retrieve it.

Taking these first steps will allow you to see what has been said about your restaurant in the recent past and to begin monitoring what will be said in the future. This is a key first step in harnessing the power of social media on behalf of your restaurant.

If you are a restaurateur thinking about increasing marketing, making capital expenditures, or otherwise investing in your business and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. Despite the economy, ARF never stopped making business loans to restaurants, and ARF makes restaurant loans up to $1,000,000 per location. If you are looking for a restaurant loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.

6. Inappropriate pacing of the meal
Diners don’t like to feel rushed, nor do they want to have to wait too long between courses. Even if the server nails the beginning and end of the meal (getting customers seated quickly, making sure they have a drink, getting them the check as soon as the customer’s ready for it), pacing the meal in between those two endpoints is much trickier.

The cure: Servers should watch their tables and try to estimate when diners will be finished with a course to know when to fire the next one. One server at an upscale restaurant says that four or five minutes before diners are finished with their appetizers, she’ll tell the kitchen to fire the main course. How does the server know? The server watches the tables closely. Paying close attention is key to providing good service in general.

7. Sweeping, wiping, clearing dishes
A number of readers objected to bus boys or servers who sweep the floor while guests are dining, who wipe the table with the same cloth used to wipe the chair, who generally disregard hygiene or noisily drop dirty dishes into bins within diners’ earshot.

The cure: Offending bus boys and servers, clean up your act.

8. Tip games
“Do you need change?” This is a question that irked a number ofdiners. The server who rounds up change from a cash tip in his own favor, or who brings the change in big bills in the effort to land a bigger tip also fared poorly.

The cure: Just bring the change, even if you’re not sure it’s necessary. If some smaller bills are needed for the diner to leave a 20 percent tip, then by all means, include some smaller bills.

9. Untimely dish removal
Diners don’t seem to appreciate it when a server begins removing plates before everyone at the table has finished the course. The person still eating feels rushed, and the person whose plate is cleared before everyone else feels like they ate too fast. On the other hand, some diners are bothered when the servers don’t pre-bus or remove some of the dirty, used plates, bowls, etc. from the table because they clutter the table and are unappetizing-looking. So what to do?

As it turns out, it depends on the type of restaurant and on the specific policy of the management. “Some restaurants allow servers to clear plates before everyone’s done,” explains Susskind, and it’s usually the casual spots. In more upscale establishments, he says, “The standard is you don’t clear till everyone’s done.”

The cure: At one fine dining establishment, a server came up with a smart solution. “Normally I don’t clear plates until everyone has finished,” she said, when one of the diners had finished his soup. “But perhaps you’d like me to take this now?” Problem solved, though it was a mouthful for a busy server.

10. The errant wine pour
A server pours the wine all around the table, overfilling the glasses, and comes up empty before getting to the last guest. “Another bottle?” he asks perkily. It may or may not be an honest mistake, but it’s a mistake nonetheless, and in any case it can leave the diner feeling had. Of course, you have to spring for that second bottle.

The cure: This one’s easy. “You’ve got to do the math,” says Michael Flynn, a wine and beverage director at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. A bottle has 25.4 ounces, “so you do some quick division. You have to make sure you’re pouring the same amount in everyone’s glass, no matter how small that portion may be.” And if it’s just three diners, and you’re on the second round of pours? If someone hasn’t been sipping, don’t top off their glass.

Turns out it’s just like most other points of service. “You have to keep an eye on them,” says Flynn. “It’s actually being involved in service, in serving people as they need it.”

If you are a restaurateur thinking about increasing marketing, making capital expenditures, or otherwise investing in your business and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. Despite the economy, ARF never stopped making business loans to restaurants, and ARF makes restaurant loans up to $1,000,000 per location. If you are looking for a restaurant loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.

Thanks to Leslie Brenner of the Dallas Morning News for many of these server mistakes.

1. Servers with boundary issues
These come in many variations, but include:

• Servers interrupting the diners’ conversation, introducing themselves, chatting, constantly asking if the diners are OK
• Servers that touch diners, by for instance, casually putting their hand on a diner’s shoulder 
• Servers putting their hand or finger too close to the plate or food as the server describes the dish.

The Cure: According to Alex Susskind, professor of food and beverage management at Cornell, The server has to figure out what the guest wants [in terms of interaction with the server], and in any case, “Never interrupt a guest. There’s nothing you have to do as a server that’s more important than a guest’s experience.”

2. The missing waiter
The waiter that fails to materialize. The host or hostess shows you to your seat, and then – nothing. If you’re lucky, you already have a menu. But sometimes you’re left stranded for five or 10 minutes before being greeted. Diners search the room futilely for the AWOL waiter when they’re ready to order, when the steak’s overcooked, when wine glasses are empty and the bottle’s been set out of reach, when more bread is required.

The Cure: This is a management issue. The manager needs to make sure the restaurant is properly staffed, that each server isn’t responsible for too many tables, and the manager needs to be on the floor surveying the scene. If a table needs attention, the manager can make sure the server gets to it.

3. The waiter who doesn’t know how to handle mistakes or problems
The clumsy or inadequate handling of mistakes got under the skin of many diners: servers who don’t know when a problem requires the attention of a manager, servers who don’t apologize for mistakes they’ve made or who don’t ask whether there was a problem when you left most of the food on your plate. “Don’t make me ask for the manager after determining that the black speck in my wife’s wine is moving on its own and is a live insect,” commented one diner.

The Cure: It’s the server’s responsibility to make sure diners are enjoying the experience. Are they pushing the food around their plates? Find out what’s wrong, beyond just asking generically, “How is everything tonight?” And then make it right. Not cooked properly? Take it back to the kitchen. Did the guests suffer crazy-long waits for their food? Comp a dessert or two. Not sure how to handle it? Get the manager.

4. The unduly delayed check
Dinner has gone swimmingly, with great food and wonderful service. But now you can’t get your check. You’ve been there, right? More than a few diners have.

The Cure: “There are two things that management and staff have direct control over that will always help the guest’s experience,” says Susskind. “The beginning of the meal and the end of the meal. You can never get a guest seated too quickly, and you can never get a guest the check and get them closed out quick enough.” Just do it.

5. The hard-sell
Whether it’s a server overselling the side dishes to the point that you wind up with a table full of food you can’t eat, or suggesting a wine that’s twice the price of the one the restaurant has run out of, readers resent the hard-sell. “I never return to a restaurant when, after dinner, I feel like I have been victimized by a huckster,” wrote one diner. Still, part of a server’s job is to sell the restaurant’s dishes and wines. How to find a balance?

The Cure: Servers should suggest side dishes or wines they honestly think will enhance the guests’ meal. Don’t push the side order of roast potatoes if French fries come with the main course. If a diner asks about a $50 bottle of wine, and you have an even better one for $40, suggest that; the diner will appreciate it and may well leave a more generous tip. The corollary is knowing the menu and wine list. If you can describe the way something is cooked and make it sound as good as it probably is, or know the relative bargains on the wine list, that’s a much easier sell.

In our next blog post, we’ll detail annoying server mistakes 6 through 10.

If you are a restaurateur thinking about increasing marketing, making capital expenditures, or otherwise investing in your business and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. Despite the economy, ARF never stopped making business loans to restaurants, and ARF makes restaurant loans up to $1,000,000 per location. If you are looking for a restaurant loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.

Thanks to Leslie Brenner of the Dallas Morning News for many of these server mistakes.

a) Lead Server
b) Server Trainer
c) Seniority

Why this order? For starters, your key people such as your leads and trainers need to be listed first as a sign of respect and responsibility. Then list your servers by seniority.

2. The Busiest Times Require Your Best People – Schedule your strongest people for the busiest times. It’s imperative that you place the right people in the right situations. For instance, if you schedule all new people for your busiest meal period, you may have mayhem and confusion.

3. Everyone should have Opportunities to Make Money – Make sure your new, less senior, staff get at least one money-making shift. If you just take care of your more senior people with the money-making shifts, you will have high turnover and a majority of poorly performing staff, because there is another job across the street that will give them an opportunity to make money.

4. Everyone should know the Day Shift – Have all staff work at least one day shift. Doing this allows you to make sure less senior staff have an opportunity to work money-making shifts. It also allows for a stronger lunch shift, which in turn increases sales and ensures that lunch will go well so that busy business people will come back.

5. The Backward Scheduling Priority – Number your days by scheduling priority and schedule back to the lowest priority. A common mistake a manager makes when scheduling is to start writing a schedule on Monday and finishing on Sunday. We have already talked about pitfalls in utilizing this strategy. From now on, number your days, 1 being the busiest to 7 being the slowest. Then start scheduling backward, from 1 to 7. This will ensure you have your strongest people in your busiest shifts.

6. Give them Personal Time – Schedule two days off in a row whenever possible and avoid split days off. If you split-schedule people’s days off, they never get the day just to relax; they only get to do their to-do lists. Giving them two consecutive days off improves employee morale.

7. Close/Opens, the Quickest Ways to Mediocrity – Stay away from scheduling close/opens. What is a close/open, and why not schedule them? A close/open is when a staff member closes the night before and is scheduled to open the next morning. Sure, this is one way to fill in the manpower gaps, but it your ticket to mediocrity.

8. What to do When You are Over Staffed – If you have more staff available than shifts to fill, give shifts to your full-timers first. Part-timers and/or your weakest staff lose shifts first. If you find yourself in a situation where the seasonality of your business has you with too many servers for the sales you have coming in, take care of your full-timers first. Make sure they continue to have the opportunity to make money, because they are your backbone. Start to trim shifts from your part-timers.

9. Staff Up, Not Down – Always have two more Full Time Equivalents than you need. A Full Time Equivalent is whatever number of people it takes to equal one full-time person. Hourly workers like the ability to change their schedule from one week to the next to take advantage of vacations, events, friend and family in town, and parties, to name a few. With this in mind, even the most perfect manpower plan can be thrown an unexpected curve.

10. A Request is a Request – Remember, scheduling requests are just that - requests. The needs of the business must come first. When staff put in for a day off, you need to find a way to give it to them, while reserving the right to say no. If you say no, they will most likely take the day off anyway and find a job where they can be more flexible.

11. Management is Required – Any schedule changes must be initialed by a manager. Look at hours worked and stay away from over-time. Start by writing your schedule in pencil. When you have your final version ready to be posted, photocopy it and post the photocopy. This way any changes to the schedule will be apparent. Next, make sure all schedule changes are initialed by a manager. When the request is made, go to the schedule and look to see how many hours or shifts the person taking the shift has or will work that week.

12. Post Quickly and Consistently – Have the schedule written and posted by Thursday at 4pm. Have you ever had manager post the schedule on Sunday at close for the next week that starts on Monday? The staff cannot plan their week and the restaurant often finds itself in trouble because staff is late or a no-show due to the lack of notice. Have respect for your employees’ time. Accept scheduling requests until Tuesday night, write the schedule on Wednesday or Thursday, and post it by Thursday at 4pm.

13. Use a Scheduling Key – When filling out a schedule, x-out the days people cannot work, place an R in the days people have requested off, and place a V in the days people have requested off for vacation. Then start scheduling shifts. If you take the time to prepare for the scheduling process, you will eliminate opportunity for errors and will demonstrate to your staff that you CARE, that you have Concern And Respect for Everyone. Following these steps will keep employee morale high and when morale is high, so is productivity.

If you are a restaurateur thinking about increasing marketing, making capital expenditures, or otherwise investing in your business and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. Despite the economy, ARF never stopped making business loans to restaurants, and ARF makes restaurant loans up to $1,000,000 per location. If you are looking for a restaurant loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.

How to spread the word and how often to do it
Once you have decided on the form and substance of your offer, you must determine how to get the word out. With as much as restaurateurs have on their plates, a turnkey program from a local direct mail marketing company or advertising agency may be the best way to go. Most restaurateurs do not have the time necessary to commit to a program like this and run their business.

Repetition is key to results. According to many restaurant consultants, three or four attempts make for a good test. Then you can analyze the results and see if you want to continue. One mistake many proprietors make is sending out a coupon once, not getting the results they hoped and then quitting.

Should you use the internet
We all know internet distribution of coupons has grown exponentially over the last few years. Should you use it? It has pros and cons.

On the plus aide you get potentially greater geographic coverage – a direct mail piece typically reaches a three- to five-mile area – as well as potentially lower incremental cost. A direct mail piece sent out via first-class mail will generally cost 41 cents per piece. Internet offers can be posted on a restaurant’s Web site for virtually no cost, other than development and maintenance expenses.

On the negative side is the risk of over redemption and/or counterfeiting. Fortunately, there are safeguards that some companies that distribute restaurant coupons via the Internet use to minimize the likelihood of either. You can most likely answer this question by considering the other issues above.

Train your staff
Make sure your wait staff is trained on any coupon or discount program. Your frontline workers need to understand the rules and restrictions associated with the coupon or discount, how to process the discount properly so that ROI can be calculated, and encouraged to up-sell appetizers, drinks and desserts to those using a coupon or discount for their meal.

Coupons can create repeat customers
Used properly, and tracked, discounting can be an effective method to create new customers, and turn them into loyal regulars. It’s important to understand, however, if you use coupons/discounts to attract new customers, it’s up to you to keep them coming back. You’ve got to make sure that you and your staff give your customers a first-class experience when they try out your establishment, or you’ll likely never enjoy them as regular, full-price-paying customers.

You may want to read Is Your Restaurant Ready for More Customers (Part 1) and Is Your Restaurant Ready for More Customers (Part 2).

If you are a restaurateur thinking about increasing marketing, making capital expenditures, or otherwise investing in your business and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. Despite the economy, ARF never stopped making business loans to restaurants, and ARF makes restaurant loans up to $1,000,000 per location and starting as low as 11.5%. If you are looking for a restaurant loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.

In Part 1 of this Blog, we look at a few of the issues you may want to consider including knowing your audience, aligning your program with you image, what offer to make and measuring your results.

Know your target audience
Make sure you know who you want to reach and understand how to reach them. Then make sure your message speaks to them in a manner that causes them to act. You can craft a very compelling offer, but if it is targeted to the wrong audience, you will not get the results you desire.

Align your program with your restaurant’s image
Consider your eatery’s brand and image when designing your discount program. For example, a simple, two-color offer on plain paper may be appropriate for a family diner or quick-service restaurant. A more upscale venue, on the other hand, deserves a sleek or elegant-looking offer that aligns with the ambience of the establishment. TIP: An upscale restaurant may want to offer “gift certificates” as opposed to coupons.

Make sure your offer is significant
We have all seen restaurant offers ranging from half price entrees to kids eat free to free appetizers or deserts with purchase. Make sure your offer is compelling. Many restaurant consultants recommend that the offer be worth at least the price of an entrée on the menu, which include “buy one, get one free” or discounts of 50 percent off up to a certain dollar amount. Don’t insult your prospective customers with an inconsequential offer.

Measure and calculate your results
Unlike many other advertising and promotional tactics, coupons offer the crucial advantage of allowing you to track the return on your investment. For instance, if a couple comes in and spends $45, and redeems a coupon for $15, you put $30 into your cash register. That $15 discount – with the national food cost average of 35 percent – cost you about $5. That $5 investment in “free” food brought in a return of $20 (after food costs). Not counting the cost of printing and distributing the coupon that is a 4:1 return. Not bad, but the only way to see that is to track it systematically.

In Part 2 of this Blog, we will look at how to spread the word about your program and how often, whether you should use the internet, and training your staff.

If you are a restaurateur thinking about increasing marketing, making capital expenditures, or otherwise investing in your business and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. Despite the economy, ARF never stopped making business loans to restaurants, and ARF makes restaurant loans up to $1,000,000 per location and starting as low as 11.5%. If you are looking for a restaurant loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.

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Durable goods orders are up
According to the Commerce Department, orders for durable goods – big ticket items, such as appliances, heavy machinery, and aircraft – posted their biggest one month gain in 16 months and has risen 2 of the last 3 months after 6 straight months of declines.

Home sales are up
Sales of new homes were up in April and according to one economist “the new home sales numbers seem to confirm that the market for new single family homes may have hit bottom in January” and be on the way back up, albeit slowly.

Likewise, sales of existing homes, a far larger part of the market, were up almost 3 percent in April.

Jobless claims are down
Not only was the number of people on the unemployment rolls down for the first time in 20 weeks, but the number of new jobless claims also decreased. The decline in the total jobless benefit rolls (this measures all of the people who are claiming jobless benefits regardless of when they began receiving them) was the first drop since January. In addition, Wal-Mart said it expects to hire 22,000 people for new positions this year.

Economists think the recession will end this year
A recent survey of the National Association of Business Economists (NABE) predicts an end to the recession this year. The NABE is an organization dedicated to analyzing economic trends. Specifically, 74% of NABE Economists surveyed believe the recession will end in the 3rd quarter, while another 19% (93% total) think the recession will end by year end.

What does this mean for business owners and restaurateurs in particular? Maybe it’s time to turn that defensive posture around and invest in your business. Coming out of the recession, businesses that are positioned for growth will be better able to absorb the market share left up for grabs by the companies that didn’t survive. Is your business one that is positioned to grab that extra market share?

If you are a restaurateur thinking about increasing marketing, making capital expenditures, or otherwise investing in your business and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. Despite the economy, ARF never stopped making business loans to restaurants, and ARF makes restaurant loans up to $1,000,000 per location. If you are looking for a restaurant loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.

Index of Restaurant Activity up for the 3rd straight month. The National Restaurant Association’s comprehensive index of restaurant activity has risen for three straight months starting in January ‘09. In addition, the Expectations Index, the Association’s survey of restaurant owner’s expectations, rose for the fourth straight month. Also, 44% of restaurant operators plan to make capital expenditures in the next 6 months, the highest level since July ‘08. (Restaurant News Resource, Apr ‘09)

Americans’ leisure travel intentions trend upwards. According to a February TravelHorizon’s survey, the U.S. Traveler Sentiment Index rose in February ‘09 from the last survey taken in October ‘08, indicating an increase in Americans’ willingness to travel for leisure purposes. (Restaurant News Resource, Apr ‘09).

Macroeconomic uncertainty is subsiding. In their paper on economic uncertainty, two Stanford University Economists, propose uncertainty shocks as one of the primary impulses that drives business cycles. They argue that uncertainty causes corporate delay and deferment and as uncertainty subsides, businesses reengage.

Three months ago, these economists may have joined others in predicting a long and painful recession, but now they predict “that the worst has been avoided.” They further claim that economic uncertainty is dropping so rapidly that they believe growth will resume by Mid 2009. (Bloom and Floetotto, The Recession will be over Sooner than You Think, Jan ‘09)

Credit markets appear to be loosening. Dr. Prieur du Plessis, an investment professional with 26+ years experience, concludes that “the credit market tide seems to be turning.” His in-depth look at worldwide credit indicators points to significant warming conditions since the “big chill” last October. (Prieur du Plessis, Credit Crisis Watch: Some Positive Developments, Feb ‘09)

Global commerce indictors on the rise. The Baltic shipping indices are coming to life again. The Baltic Dry Index, a closely watched shipping index and high level indicator of global trends and associated strengths, has almost doubled from its December low. (Mark Perry, Baltic Dry Index, A Leading Economic Indicator, Feb ‘09)

Consumer spending may be ready to thaw. Consumer confidence has surprisingly rebounded. The US, being an economy largely driven by consumer spending, will benefit greatly from an uptick in consumer spending and the resulting rise in retail sales. (CNNMoney.com, Consumer Sentiment in Surprising Rebound, Jan ‘09).

If you are one of the restaurant operators thinking about making capital expenditures and looking for a restaurant loan, try Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC (ARF). ARF has been making short term business loans to restaurants for almost a decade. While the credit markets still may need to loosen, ARF never stopped loaning money to restaurants. If you are looking for a restaurant business loan, ARF is one of the first calls you should make.