Every cafes and restaurant out there don’t appreciate anything more than a bit more footfall in their businesses, because it would bring in more revenue. But since the number of cafes is increasing with each passing day, you will have to lift your game to attract more customers.
Firstly, what are the issues that you need to address?
Well, you should start by identifying the challenges you face, if you want to solve them. Traditional business education helps people accomplish this task effectively. But the basics are right here for you –
- We all know that there are already-popular coffee brands in every nooks and corner of every street in every city. That means you would be competing with established brands.
- Apart from these, you would also have small independently run cafes like yours, and the issue here would be that their prices and offerings match with that of yours!
- Also, you might find cafes whose delicacy offerings might be not of the same quality as yours, but when it comes to décor and comfort, your café might be lagging.
Although these problems need your immediate attention, you should not let your hopes down because as the streets are becoming more service-oriented the demand for spots and hubs where one can eat and talk and even work are also booming.
How to increase your customer base?
Read these tips and start with the one which seems the easiest and then take initiatives to follow the next easiest:
- Check your pricing- if you have deliberately set your pricing lower than the market standards then it could send the wrong message to your customers and they might think that your service is substandard.
- Start signing up your customers for a loyalty scheme-if you think that printing professional-looking business cards would reduce your profit margin, then think again! Can’t you go through the hassle of printing matt black business cards with a custom-made ink to stamp to woo your customers? It would not make much of a difference to your profit margin, but it might help you win the hearts of your customers!
- Build your brand awareness on social media-although a brilliant social media strategy calls for the help of experts, you can get to work by at least creating a business page of your café on Facebook, Instagram and even Twitter.
- Take a good look at your layout- often customers prefer to ditch cafes for their odd and outdated décor, even if the food is of superior quality. Your task would be to find which area of your café gets more crowded and which areas get the least use? Depending upon it, you might require reconfiguring your layout.
More and more marketing- there is no alternative to this, and that is why it is recommended to tap your suppliers for marketing materials and the good thing is, most of the materials would cost you negligibly.
Final Words
Running a coffee shop successfully takes business acumen and of course a lot of patience. So keep hustling, keep moving and never stop believing in yourself.
