How to Plan an Opening Night for a Restaurant
Opening a restaurant is an expensive endeavor, and your success depends on making a strong first impression in your market. A grand opening event can be a great tool for creating initial excitement and buzz about your restaurant. By focusing on service, food quality, paid and earned marketing and customer retention, you can stage a grand opening event that will leave your customers satisfied and ready to return.
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Things You'll Need
- Press release
- Print advertisements, multiple sizes
- 15- and 30-second radio spots
- Online banner advertisements
- Professionally produced television spot, as appropriate
Instructions
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Consider a soft launch. Any new business will have kinks to work out. You may want to "soft launch" several days before your grand opening to give your cooks and servers the opportunity to work with real customers on a smaller scale. With a soft launch, you open for business with little or no advertising, essentially catering to walk-in traffic. You'll need to decide whether this is a viable strategy for your restaurant.
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Don't launch on a Tuesday. The last thing you want is to aggressively promote a grand opening, only to have customers arrive and see that your restaurant is mostly empty. Early- and mid-week are often slow days for restaurants. Try opening on a Friday or other busy day where you'll increase your chance of success.
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Focus on public relations and advertising. Send press releases to all of the newspaper, radio, television and online news outlets in your market at least two weeks before your grand opening. Follow up with each outlet to ensure they have received the release and to ask whether they plan to cover your opening. A good press release should focus on something unique about your story or on the valuable addition your restaurant will make to the community (perhaps it is the first Indian restaurant in town, for example). For paid advertising, focus on the outlets that have the greatest penetration in your area. Is there a popular newspaper or maybe a radio show that everyone listens to? Also, look for creative alternatives---you may not be able to afford a large ad in the local paper, but there may be a Pennysaver in your market that is more affordable and has greater distribution. Wherever you advertise, focus on the quality of your food, the value and any special offers you are making.
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Put your best dish on special. Most restaurants have at least one dish they prepare better than any other eatery in their market. That dish should be your special on your grand opening night. Provide a discount or other incentive, such as free dessert, to get customers to try it. If your dish is as good as you think, your customers will rave about it to their friends and drive business to your restaurant.
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Offer an incentive for customers to return. Your goal should be to create a loyal group of customers who patronize your restaurant often. As a thank-you gift, give each customer a coupon that carries a discount if they return within a certain period of time, such as 30 days. Encourage your customers to transfer the coupon to their friends, if they wish. That becomes great referral marketing for your restaurant.
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