How to Increase Lunch Business

Increase your lunch business by offering more services and expanding your advertising methods. People typically spend most of their lunch break doing activities other than eating. They simply do not have a lot of time to eat and may choose a quick snack instead. Decrease the time it takes for customers to receive their lunch. Offer other incentives, such as discounts or free lunches.

Things You'll Need

• Telephone
• Fax machine
• Computer and printer

Instructions

Offer More

1. Offer quick and easy foods for the busy professional or student, such as salads, fruits, soups and boxed lunches.

2. Serve popular foods, such as hamburgers, wraps and lunch-meat sandwiches. Consider offering cold sandwiches that are already prepared for an easy alternative.

3. Guarantee that the customer's meal will be ready within a certain amount of time. Advertise that if it's not ready, the food is free.

4. Advertise a discount on certain days or between certain hours. Place your ads on the windows and in local papers and coupon books.

5. Offer an all-you-can-eat-buffet. Serve something as simple as a salad buffet offering various fruits, meats and vegetables.

Marketing and Advertising

1. Call the office manager at local businesses and ask if you can fax over a lunch menu for employees; include your fax number for orders. Offer to deliver or have the meals ready for pickup. Offer a minimum order amount to make it cost-effective. Include coupons with every order.

2. Get a sign made at a printing shop advertising a lunch discount. Hire a sign spinner to display the sign to potential customers driving by during lunch. Place the sign spinner in a busy intersection near your place of business.

3. Contact a local printer or office supply store and design a small lunch advertisement on sticky notes. For example, if the customer brings in the sticky note they receive a 20 percent discount. Hire someone to place the sticky notes on windows of cars in nearby parking lots.

4. Contact a local radio station and offer a free lunch giveaway to the first person who calls in. Get free publicity and more potential customers.

References

• National Restaurant Association