Website design By BotEap.comSo you have a good restaurant with good food and service and yet the dining room is not always full. You spend a lot of money on marketing and wonder why it doesn’t work for you.

Website design By BotEap.comWell, let me tell you that there are many other restaurants with good food, good service and a nice atmosphere, so your place might not be as special in the eyes of your customers as you would like it to be.

Website design By BotEap.comPut yourself in the shoes of your customers. Why should they come to your restaurant instead of visiting one of your competitors?

Website design By BotEap.comWell, the truth is, if you stand out from other local options, they probably won’t.

Website design By BotEap.comYou have to think a lot about your place and what makes it special or different from any other restaurant. And believe me, it’s different. No two restaurants are alike (except in the case of franchises, which by definition want to look and operate exactly the same).

Website design By BotEap.comSo what makes your restaurant special or different?

Website design By BotEap.comYou need to articulate the essence of your restaurant, the essence of your offering, so that people know why they should go to your place instead of your competitors. This is called your Unique Selling Proposition (or USP).

Website design By BotEap.comYou must create and advertise a USP that identifies your restaurant and makes it unique.

Website design By BotEap.comSo how can you do that? Don’t worry, I’ll help you. Just follow these three easy steps and you’ll be on your way to creating your own USP:

Website design By BotEap.com1. Make a list of the real benefits or advantages that you currently offer to your customers.

Website design By BotEap.comThink about what is special about your restaurant. Is it your food? Your wine selection? your service? your location? your decorations? Do you offer live music? Do you have a large menu selection? Open kitchen? Etc.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk your customers, your employees and your suppliers what makes your restaurant special or different. Maybe you have a unique recipe that people really appreciate and enjoy, or maybe your chef comes out of the kitchen and greets customers, or you have bilingual servers who can communicate with foreign travelers in their native languages.

Website design By BotEap.comSome aspects that can help you determine your USP are:

Website design By BotEap.como Wide variety of dishes on the menu

Website design By BotEap.como Unique, ethnic foods or menu items.

Website design By BotEap.como Restaurant specially designed to accommodate families (with a play area or toys or entertainment for children, etc.)

Website design By BotEap.como Reasonable prices

Website design By BotEap.como Food quality

Website design By BotEap.como Originality of the dishes

Website design By BotEap.como Impeccable presentation

Website design By BotEap.como Excellent service (good is not good enough: it must be excellent to have an impact!)

Website design By BotEap.como Wide selection of hard-to-find specialty wines or wines

Website design By BotEap.como Wide selection of beers or hard-to-find specialty beers

Website design By BotEap.comor special cocktails

Website design By BotEap.como Open kitchen where people can see/talk to your cooks

Website design By BotEap.como Beautifully decorated place

Website design By BotEap.comor live music

Website design By BotEap.como Candles on the tables

Website design By BotEap.como Fabric bedding

Website design By BotEap.como Original art on the walls

Website design By BotEap.como Any other distinctive advantage it may have or may provide that its competitors do not provide.

Website design By BotEap.com2. Make a second list of benefits or special things that your competitors offer but you don’t.

Website design By BotEap.comFor example, do you have a large venue and your restaurant is small? They offer full bar and you don’t? Do they have a super chef with a reputation you can’t match? Do they have a great location while your place is out of the way?

Website design By BotEap.com3. List the ways you could enhance your competitor’s unique advantages.

Website design By BotEap.comIf their premises are large and yours is small, you can take advantage of this by stating that you offer “A unique experience in a welcoming environment where you will receive very personalized treatment.”

Website design By BotEap.comOr the other way around: if your venue is large, you can say “We have facilities large enough to accommodate your office party or special occasion.”

Website design By BotEap.comOr you can make up for not having a full bar by offering a wide and excellent selection of wines.

Website design By BotEap.comIf you have a great location, say it’s “conveniently located in the center of town, within walking distance of…”

Website design By BotEap.comOr if you’re out of the way, you can always say “our restaurant offers free parking and is well worth the trip as you are sure to have an extraordinary dining experience…”

Website design By BotEap.comYou get the idea right?

Website design By BotEap.comSo write down the top five advantages and/or differentiators that make your place unique. Then combine them into a sentence or short phrase.

Website design By BotEap.comThis will become your USP

Website design By BotEap.comOnce you’ve created your USP, write it down, review it, and edit it multiple times to make it as clear and complete as possible.

Website design By BotEap.comWrite your new USP in a one paragraph statement. You may have trouble expressing it concisely and clearly. It may take a few paragraphs. It’s okay.

Website design By BotEap.comNow you need to edit out all the fluff (trim the fat) and focus on the core message until you have a clear, unique USP that people will immediately recognize and identify with your restaurant. It has to become a memorable phrase.

Website design By BotEap.comShare it with your employees; share it with your customers. Announce it to the world by using it in all your marketing and sales materials…

Website design By BotEap.comRemember, attention spans are getting shorter these days, so your USP needs to be short and memorable.

Website design By BotEap.comIf you follow some of these techniques and create a powerful and memorable UPS, you will be ahead of your competitors who simply advertise their restaurants in the more traditional way.

Website design By BotEap.comPeople respond to short, catchy messages. If you can articulate the essence of your venue in a few precise words and consistently use them to promote your business, you should be able to stand out from the crowd.

Website design By BotEap.comhappy boating,