The restaurant business is not good. Rescue plan

I received the most inquiries, that is, "What to do if business is not good recently" and "What to do if it falls badly".

When it comes to bad business, people usually have three ways to help themselves:

First, find a powerful marketing plan. I don't think my marketing is good enough, so my customers didn't come and my business declined. I especially want to find a marketing plan to save it.

Second, change projects or add projects. I feel that my project is not good and doubt my original choice. I either change the items or add items, such as changing the hot pot into cooking, or adding cooking.

Third, innovation, want to be unique.

Give you a screenshot of communicating with your peers. Hair means to let everyone feel more in their shoes.

Last night, I had dinner with a catering colleague. He has been engaged in catering for more than 20 years.

I put this question to him.

I asked him: if business declines, where do you start?

He said:

I think the product factor accounts for 80%, 10% is service, and 10% is environment and marketing.

The decline in business must be due to customers' uncomfortable eating, or the product's taste and quality is out of order, or it feels worthless, or the overall experience is poor.

In the case of unstable operation and decline, I ask us to conduct internal self-inspection. The first thing is to find problems from products, check them one by one, find problems, and upgrade and optimize them.

Then find problems from the inside, including internal management, internal service and customer experience. Business is not good, there must be internal problems.

If competitors take away your customers, you must be unable to keep up with the changes in the market.

We have a saying: practice hard to cope with change.

You see, the opening of all our stores is "slow heating" and we never pursue opening stores, so the customers who stay are the most stable and loyal.

I don't like group buying the most, and I have never done such marketing.

The payback period of our store is within 1 year. What do you want? I think it's the product.

However, products are not static, and old dishes can be cooked into new ones and presented in new forms and new faces.

Business is bad, is it a marketing problem?

Personally, I think:

Marketing has always been icing on the cake, without timely help.

If the business is good, the products and services you provide must match your price and not be lower than customers' expectations. This is the victory of the products.

When your business is good, marketing will show its role: to help you open up sources and drain,

Whether you can retain customers depends not on marketing, but on the products you provide (including dishes, services and environment).

When business is depressed,

If you can't find the internal problems, the better the marketing, the greater the intensity and the more drainage.

The greater the damage to the enterprise.

As we all know, a few years ago, many catering people were pursuing opening.

Even proud of the police maintaining order on the opening day.

However, observing the mature and steady catering brands around them, they do the opposite:

Haidilao, Xibei and Xijiade all open from one third to half, and then open to two thirds, part and part.

Only when the product is stable and the team is mature will it be fully open, especially to control the pace of customers entering the market.

He knows best how to keep customers.

The more contact you have with these enterprises, the more you know.

The bosses of these big enterprises and brands seem to talk about brands every day.

In fact, they are the real productists.

A catering colleague in Guiyang sent me a WeChat:

She has been operating locally for 10 years. Her home cooking and business have been very stable, and most of her customers are repeat customers. Recently, she opened a folk restaurant next to her, and the trial operation had a great influence on her, fearing that the consequences would be more serious after the official opening.

She asked me: How should I do marketing?

I said: it's not a marketing problem, it's that customers want new experiences.

I analyzed it with her and said,

Customers have supported you 10 for years, and they agree with you. However, when faced with new dining forms and new dining experiences, customers' inner needs for new experiences are stimulated, so they choose others.

This is brand aging.

In my opinion, what you have to do is not reinvent the wheel, change projects, or vigorously discount marketing, and try your best to pull customers back.

But how to improve and iterate yourself.

Such as products—

You can't stand still. No matter how many years your product has been sold, you can't sell it as well. You must constantly upgrade the iteration, including taste upgrade, visual presentation and experience.

In terms of product upgrading, I don't advocate changing products or adding products, but I support optimizing products and iterating products.

For example, the form of sales—

For example, there is a single snack bar that has been selling Chinese buns for seven or eight years like you, and the business has been good. It was not until a new Chinese hamburger shop opened across the street that his stable life was broken.

The newly opened shop is characterized by the open file of Chinese hamburger.

Customers can see the scene of stew,

At the scene, you can see the process of the chef kneading noodles and making buns.

You can see how much meat is put in the steamed bread you bought.

But also tell the customer in the most conspicuous place: what brand of flour, meat and oil does he use at home? ...

The first one was served from the kitchen.

With the comparison, the new needs of customers have also been explored and discovered.

Like the dining environment—

Have you noticed that it is cleaner and more comfortable?

Every version of Xibei's decorative storefront has been praised and imitated by peers.

However, they are still upgrading from one version to another.

In fact, it is to actively create new experiences for customers.

So,

I never think there is a problem with your project, nor do I think your marketing is insufficient.

It's that you didn't create enough experience for your customers, and didn't keep up with or even lead their needs.

Furthermore, this upgrade iteration,

We must take the initiative to innovate and revolutionize ourselves from within.

If you wait for your competitors to improve themselves, it will be too late.

Business is not good, change projects or add projects.

I don't think this is desirable.

Unless you open Japanese food in a county-level city,

Or opened a Thai food in a city in Sichuan,

-Do a small project in a small place where people flow is too limited, and you can change it.

But if you choose a popular category and the business is not good, I don't agree to change the project.

The first reason,

Any project has market space, and business is not good. You must not have done it well, or not as well as your competitors.

For example, there is no good noodle restaurant business, and I want to switch to dumplings or mala Tang.

I think, even if it is changed, it is unlikely to be done well.

Because there is nothing wrong with the noodle restaurant itself, but there is something wrong with your management ability. It is the latter that you want to upgrade.

The second reason,

Changing the project requires restarting you and your team.

The other starts from zero,

The cost and price will be higher.

Besides,

Adding items is even more undesirable.

For example, the one who makes steamed seafood above adds stir-fried dishes and Chaoshan beef hotpot.

In the eyes of customers,

You can do everything, but you can't do anything.

On the contrary, you will feel that nothing you do is professional.

About innovation, the colleague who cooks barbecue above,

I want to "innovate" the barbecue sold by the plate into selling by two or grams.

This kind of innovation does not add value to customers, nor does it add a better sense of experience.

On the contrary, it increases the difficulty of its own sales and management.

Innovation is biased.

Innovation,

See if you can add value to the customer experience,

Second, see if we can increase the added value of our products.

Like the same barbecue,

You set up a fresh-cut stall for the chef to cut, and put up a sign of "fresh-cut meat" in front of customers, emphasizing your freshness and increasing the added value of the product;

You found a better source of barbecue ingredients, introduced the dining table in words and served it in a better container, which increased the customer's experience value.

Innovation, if the direction is wrong, no matter how hard you try, it will be futile.

Finally—

Business is good, the reason is the same,

But business is not good, and each has its own reasons.

On the road of starting a business, managing and developing, there are many setbacks and different problems are faced every day.

Many articles today are the experiences and lessons I have interviewed with my catering colleagues for many years.

With my own knowledge and understanding,

Not so good,

But I really hope everyone can walk more smoothly.