The nation’s leading dining rewards program, Rewards Network, has recently announced its participation in Feast Portland, the region’s premier culinary event taking place September 18-21, 2014. Every year the event brings together world-renowned chefs with the region’s finest ingredients to provide a culinary extravaganza, complete with food and drink tastings, hands-on classes, elaborate multi-course meals,
Responding to Customer Feedback: What to Say
After you have taken a deep breath and are ready to respond to customer feedback, what do you say? This is an important question because Rewards Network data shows that customers who receive a response from a restaurant after providing feedback spend 14.4% more and visit 11.7% more often. Simply having a restaurant customer satisfaction
Restaurant Theft – It Happens but It Doesn’t Have to Happen to You
We all know that theft happens in our industry; it happens in any industry, really. And unfortunately there are stats to back up the prevalence of restaurant theft: 75% of employees steal from the workplace at least once, and half will steal repeatedly (U.S. Chamber of Commerce) Internal employee theft is responsible for 75% of inventory
Menu Trend: The Perfect Pair
I’ve been to enough wine tastings, winery tours, and wine pairing events that I think I could pair my own wine with the meals I cook at home (or the meals I grab on my way home from work!). The operative word in that last sentence was “think.” While I think I could pair my
June and July Marketing Ideas for Restaurants
While most people are rejoicing in the return of the sun, some restaurant owners may fear summer bringing a slightly darker cloud as more customers are enjoying the outdoors instead of dining in. However, by using marketing strategies that tie your restaurant to summer events, this exciting season can bring in even more business. Here
Do Customers Really Care About Your Restaurant Rewards?
When is the last time that a restaurant customer went on a national news program to talk about earning their tenth entrée for free? Needless to say, when you think of that way, it doesn’t sound like the most newsworthy event or reward, which may beg the question of whether or not it is the
Top 5 Books that Tell You How to Run a Restaurant
Too busy to read? Never! Grab a cup of coffee and steal a moment for yourself to savor tricks of the trade from some of the best professionals in the industry on how to run a restaurant. Inspiring and enlightening, I think these books are more than worth your time. Restaurant Success by the
An Extra Special Boost on Your Restaurant’s Extra Special Day
Valentine’s Day is nearing, are you prepared? It’s that special day when couples go out of their way to say “I love you.” Are you going out of your way to tell your customers the same? This is a great opportunity to go above and beyond and help your customers make their Valentine’s date one
10 Menu Terms to Avoid (Say This, Not That)
As you ring in the New Year, make a resolution to give your restaurant menu a makeover. Even if the dishes you offer haven’t changed, the language used to describe them could be negatively affecting your business. In my experience editing hundreds of restaurant menus per month, there are 10 terms I’ve often spotted on
The Importance of Customer Loyalty and How to Earn It
There are only four ways to increase restaurant sales. Two of those ways are to increase the number of new customers and then to increase the frequency of visits among those customers. In other words, Loyalty matters. So how does a restaurant earn that customer loyalty? Here are some tips, tools and advice from the
