Helping Customers Choose Your Establishment

Customers keen on eating natural foods would be hard-pressed to find one as pure as butter. 

According to Datamonitor surveys, opportunities exist to improve customer confidence in selecting somewhere to eat – largely by helping them feel more informed about your café or restaurant.

Datamonitor found intuitive layouts, clear pricing and nutritional information, and a friendly environment with helpful service are useful in establishing consumer confidence. They also noted the significance of “storytelling” in the marketing of a business.

This storytelling is especially important in a society where millennials make up a significant portion of the restaurant-going public.

As marketing expert Michael Parrish Dudell told MNN, millennials crave information.

"You have to remember, this a generation that was raised on unfettered access - access to ideas, information, knowledge, data, etc."
- Marketing Expert Michael Parrish Dudell.

“At the same time, millennials expect more from the brands they support and in many ways are savvier consumers.

“This has created a perfect storm or, as I like to think of it, a perfect opportunity for businesses of all shapes and size to have more authentic conversations with their audience."

But the work doesn’t end once you’ve convinced a customer to choose your restaurant.

Impressing those consumers as soon as they walk through the door is all-important for both repeat business and attracting new customers through word-of-mouth.

Datamonitor’s surveys found the personal touch was important for consumers in deciding on somewhere to dine.

When asked “Which factor has the most influence on your choice of restaurants,” 35% of those surveyed said “Somewhere I have visited before and know I like,” while 32% relied on a recommendation from friends or family.

Datamonitor concluded that despite an avalanche of restaurant review sites available, traditional word-of-mouth recommendations remained king, with recommendations from peers three times more likely to be a key influence than a favourable online review from a stranger.

“Knowing the reviewer seems essential,” they say.

Therefore, the old adage of creating a good first impression on a customer remains true.

As Datamonitor says: “The foodservice industry is besieged by a number of marketing gimmicks but they are ultimately nowhere near as powerful as making consumers enjoy their first consumption experience once they are through the door.”

Datamonitor Consumer Insight; 10 Trends to watch in Foodservice
MNN