Genius Lunch Ideas
How to create the perfect Lunch or Brunch at your restaurant
With the cold season starting soon, Sunday brunches will be the rage and everyone would love to eat out on a beautiful sunny terrace. But what else can you offer to customers to make your venue stand out from the usual lunch bunch?
Lunchtimes are hard to pull crowds when everyone is in a rush to get a quick meal and get back to the office. With all that in mind, you need to take steps to ensure that you cover every angle. Here are a few tips to that will help you freshen up your lunchtimes while bringing in those much-needed profits.
200 INR in 20 minutes
While some might want to make small banter during lunch, there are those that are time-bound by the office. A quick meal that will take at most 20 minutes is what they prefer. So, as a restaurant owner, you could initiate a menu that caters to this kind of group.
An example is spicing up a few combos for meals of up to 200 Rupees and make sure that they get to the table in under 200 minutes. While your customers wait for their meal, keep them busy with a drink and after they are done surprise them with a dessert.
Add in “Grab and Go”
Grab and Go is ideal for customers that wish to get back to their businesses in the shortest time possible. The low cost involved paired with the fast pick-up is convenient for this group. But how can you elevate your business to such levels? Here are a few tips:
- Make sure you welcome your customers like the kings and queen they are. As they walk in, give them a refreshing cooler drink, with various ready-to-go sandwiches on display alongside bottled drinks and salads of choice.
- Get a food-warmer because a good number of customers prefer their food as warm as they can get. Also, ensure that the warmer’s window faces the customers as they walk in so that they salivate at the pizzas and other foods on display.
- If you cannot afford a warmer or cooler, you need not worry. Get a tv and promote your specials on the screen as the customers wait in line or as they sit to enjoy a meal. Meanwhile, your staff can prepare and package various food items.
Make It Heavy with Brunch
Nowadays, people are skipping breakfast and 30% of customers are making more breakfast purchases past normal breakfast hours. This is according to Technomic, a monster research firm.
Armed with such information, you can invest in heavier meals that incorporate lunches inspired by brunch. Throw in special omelets, toasted bread of different varieties, coffee, chai and juices among others.
Prepare Meal Kits for Office Delivery
Now there is another group of customers that like their lunch at the office. You need to tap into these markets by utilizing technology. How? 73% of restaurant owners admit that technology has improved their business. That report is based on a study conducted by the Toast POS in 2017.
So how can you get your restaurant online?
- Upload a digital menu to a website and the customers can order straight to the chef in the kitchen.
- Partner with various payment companies so that customers can pay their bills online with their preferred payment method.
Once your customers have made and confirmed and their orders, go a step further and deliver the meals right at their desks. You can add a special message that appeals to your customers in the kit.
Pub? No worries
If you’re a pub, brewery or bar, you have a number of options to pull in that lunchtime crowd. You can collaborate with a food truck to give your customers combos of Burgers with small shots of jello or even kheer!
This will open up a new world of customers for you or even start a new business relationship between you and the food truck.
Healthy lunches
You don’t want to offer lunch for the sake of it, you want to keep your customers healthy for long so that they come back. Also, customers today are more conscious of what they ingest than ever before, thanks to the increase in terminal illnesses like cancer or being date-less on Friday night ;)
As a result, you need to get on the latest diet fad and offer your customers keto or paleo inspired lunches. With such a move, you’ll have more customers flocking your restaurant for lunch in no time.
You can also offer healthy but delicious Indian lunches instead of the pale salads common in almost every restaurant.
Marketing Remains Key
If you want your one-time customers to turn into repeat customers, you need to strengthen your marketing techniques. One way to do that is to offer LTOs (Limited Time Offers).
You can change your menu from time to time while offering LTOs to encourage your customers to try out new meals. However, always remember to deliver quality at all times. This strategy will tickle your customers and they will come back for more to take advantage of the offers.
Lunch Doesn’t Have to be Boring!!
Customers are used to entertainment in the evenings, but you can switch things up. Remember your creativity is what pays dividends in the end.
For example, introduce live music as customers enjoy their meals. After a busy morning, some mellow music is bound to cheer up your customers.
Another way is to introduce a live comedy show during lunch. You can do this once a week and increase the frequency depending on the demand. Or get your staff to conduct a trivia quiz about movies or cricket or even food. Studies conducted by Arbitron show that this kind of game can raise your check by around 21%.
Conclusion
These are just a few tips that you can implement to boost sales during lunch hours and stand tall among your competitors. However, you need to keep in mind that fun, convenience and fresh creative ideas are the ideal solutions for your customers.
Sources:
https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/restaurant-specials-ideas-discounts-and-promotions
