1. Promote Restaurant News. Announce important news about your restaurant, such as hiring of a new chef, or your new bar manager extraordinaire, announcing any fund-raising projects your restaurant participates in, restaurant anniversaries, press releases, etc.
2. Present New Additions to Menu or Wine List. Announce any new courses you’re presenting on you menu or promote seasonal wine values. Regularly, if not daily, post a list of specials on your blog.
3. Promote Upcoming Events. Use your blog to promote special events you hold in your restaurant. It can be guest musicians, such as local performers, Blues vocalists, DJ’s, Flamenco guitar players, Jazz Bands and others. It is common for restaurants to have entertainers on a regular basis, and visibly promoting such special events on your blog is essential to their marketing. If you have upcoming wine tastings, wine classes, wine pairing dinners or foodie events – announce them on your blog. Promote special dinners such as those planned around holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Remind people that your restaurant can host holiday dinners and parties for them, for groups large and small. Announce gift cards to treat someone to dinner.
4. Cooking Ideas, Tips and Recipes. To drive more interest and build readership, regularly post a few recipes on your blog. Your faithful clientele will love you even more for the opportunity to cook something based on your recipe, and you’re likely to attract more guests to your establishment by candidly sharing your cooking tips and recipes. Talk about the background of your food making process, products you use, and stories behind your ingredients. This is already done by many restaurants, and unfortunately, is underutilized by most. Restaurants like Tom Keller’s French Laundry, Per Se and Bouchon or Matsuhisa Restaurant in Aspen have long used this strategy of using stories behind their food, recipes and cooking ideas to create personality for their sites.
5. Showcase Positive Reviews. Many restaurants use their walls to showcase positive reviews from magazines or other media. Why not use your blog to do the same? Keep track of any and all reviews you get in magazines, such as Wine Spectator, Restaurant Wine Magazine, Wine & Spirits Magazine, or local magazines. Use your blog to post mentions of your restaurant in publications such as Michelin Guide, 944 Magazine, Desert Living, MSN.com/Gayot Reviews, Zagat Ratings and many others. Ask your readers to participate in restaurant reviews by sharing their feedback on internet dining review sites, such as Yelp.com, Tripadvisor.com, Urbanspoon.com, Chowhound.com, and also on Facebook.com
6. Post-Event Promotion (post pictures, short videos). Whenever you have an event in your restaurant, whether it is a wine pairing dinner, presentation or live performance – photograph it, video-tape it and post it in your blog. Posting information about such events will let people know that you have a live, functioning business that is full of activities. It also lets customers know what kind of atmosphere you have and what to expect.

Do not be shy about showing off your future and past restaurant events, talking about your restaurant reviews and sharing your insights on food preparation on your blog. Experienced publicists and marketers use exactly these techniques to do marketing or PR for money. Why pay them, if you can do it all yourself?

In addition to posting on your blog, encourage your readers to sign up for e-mail updates or RSS feed on your site.

Keeping a blog for your restaurant is certainly a commitment and requires significant time investment. The real key is to post regularly. But it’s well worth the effort, it gets easier and faster with practice, and the end result of it – free marketing – should serve as the biggest motivator.
Image provided by Free Foto

The phrase “going green” has been thrown around by nearly every marketer and politician in the past few years. It’s probably due for a long vacation. However, it’s important to ask, especially in these turbulent times, will ‘green’ practices increase profitability, attract more customers, and benefit my community?

“Going green” requires that you (0r your business) take active steps to reduce your negative effects on the environment. Simply put, it means: don’t be wasteful.

Reducing waste and stretching out existing supplies takes some time and investment, but, if done right, you can save money. Not only can you save, but “going green” can help you attract more “green conscious” diners and customers. Lastly, you can help reduce local waste.

FREE GOING GREEN TIPS:

1. Watch the Waste: Observe what your bussers carry back… into the kitchen and cut down on ingredients your diners don’t always eat. Make sure you kitchen is only producing the amount of food your customers/diners need.

2. Real Rags for Riches: Scrap disposable napkins and paper towels for reusable dish rags and napkins.

3. Recruit a Volunteer: Find a ‘green’ staff member to enforce recycling polices and think of new ones.

4. Save Oil: Don’t toss old oil. Find firms in your area that will buy and transport your old oil and give them a call.

5. Donate Waste: Local farmers may want your waste for compost. They’ll truck it away for you and you can get the pleasure of helping the community.

6. On Tap…Only: Push draft beer and fountain soda to cut down on bottle/can waste.

7. Donate Food: Give excess food to local charities that are focused on feeding the community.

8. Set a Routine: Make sure everyone in your kitchen keeps certain equipment off at certain times so your establishment can cut down on wasteful electricity use.

GOING GREEN TIPS THAT REQUIRE AN INVESTMENT:

1. Buy the Right Equipment: Invest in energy saving kitchen equipment. You’ll save money in the long run. Gator Chef experts can help you find the most energy efficient equipment for your needs.

2. Got a Light?: Invest in energy efficient fluorescent bulbs and save on your energy bill.

3. Green Cleaners: Buy ‘green’ cleaners that don’t contain harsh chemicals. They will cost a little more, but you don’t have to worry about the environmental repercussions.

4. Buy Recycled Products: Again, they may cost a little more, but your clients/customers may be charmed by the gesture and keep coming back.

5. Water Flow: Buy water taps that regulate the amount of water use. It’ll save you money in the long run.

MOST IMPORTANTLY:

Advertise / Word of Mouth: Inform your customers of your “green” policies by placing a message on your menu or sign. You can also tell the online community about your efforts through Twitter, your restaurant’s blog, or even on restaurant review sites.

“Going Green” isn’t just a political campaign or a marketing tool. Ultimately, it’s a money saving movement. A philosophy that, regardless of political principles, can save you money and help you win over more customers.