RESTAURANTS, YOU NEED TO DO MORE THAN JUST SERVE GOOD FOOD!!!!
By Rich Unger
From the Palms, to the Outback, from Sam Selzer to Lone Star, steak in back in rare
form!!!!
But food operators such as those specializing in steak to the china grille of NYC and
Sobee. All realize the time to take the tact to the top is also about beverages and
bars and banging out good promotions. Seafood houses like the Charthouse, Red
Lobster, all have expanded their lounge and bar biz to extraordinary new heights.
Even table side Japanese restaurants to Tex Mex and Don Pablo, you have to expand your
food and beverage arena in order to expand your volume and bottom line.
I am bewildered by food operators who refuse to acknowledge or acquiesce in the fact
that nightlife and liquor and music and entertainment and promotions and theme nights all
should be as important to their operation as their chef and servers?
Why would you bust your butt to make sure you put out a great product and not go after
the fringe dollars and the "given" dollars which are all part of the night life
and bar and lounge and liquor segment of the industry? The worst food operator is
the one who bungles and blows every opportunity to present produce and promote great
events and nights. Most restaurateurs are overly concerned with image and impact of
night life, when in fact it should be quite the contraire, they should embrace the idea
and concept of going where none of their competition goes, of grasping dollars and traffic
that is theirs just for the taking.
I mean from political satire nights to movie opening nights, to sports nights, to music
nights, to theme nights, to fad nights, to singles nights, to nights of chance, to nights
of romance, the possibilities are endless and yet over and over i have dozens of owners
and managers calling me asking me "How do we make the move?". "Will
it affect our food business and affect our current patron base?" "How do I
enter this area of the biz and what will it cost me and is it worth it?"
All this negative and over reacting to simply making a major millennium move to capture
a bigger segment of the market!!!! Restaurants have food costs, labor costs, and
general overhead to contend with, but a bottle of liquor gets 28 shots out of it, that is
all cash!!! You can't beat liquor and beer for profit and people. Far too many
food operators simply chose to ignore the potential for profiting from powerful promotions
and they linger.....in slow periods, promotions are the financial life savers that produce
great revenue, in busy periods, promotions are the added bonus of volume and profit to
deeply enhance and define the bottom line.
Again, it's arrogance and ignorance that an operator let's proceed logic!
Operators become complacent and lazy and fail to expand their menus, expand their
offerings, expand their atmosphere, expand their excitement, expand their uniforms, expand
their lighting, expand their entertainment, I don't know how many times i wish i could
advise a restaurant owner on everything he is missing, everything he is lacking,
everything he is not doing, but should be doing that would pack his room.
It is so frustrating to look and project the life line of a food and beverage
operation, and not be able to help, assist and guide them, because they don't want to
spend any money.
Unreal.........................But thankfully those that do retain my services reap the
rewards and the profit.
Let the best in this biz give you his best, which will result in your best!!!!!
Rich Unger, Ph: 941-921-7027, Fx: 941-921-7278 E-mail: RichUnger@promotingnightclubs.com |
