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Any restaurant businessman?

turok

New Contributor
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May 8, 2018
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Hey guys!

First of all thank you MJ DeMarco for the awesome book. I have not yet read Unscripted , but I already ordered it. :)

I am 26 year old guy, and I run a restaurant and catering business that my father gave me(started last month on first of August 2018). I am lucky that I got a restaurant from father, but still I have to continue learning and want to be better in my area. I think that most of you are making money online, but before getting my hands online, I should automatize/expand my restaurant/catering business, so I should not be physically there everytime and can have my own free time whenever I want. The restaurant works from monday to friday from 11am to 3pm as a buffet. On buffet time, over 500 customers visit our restaurant, but after 3pm it has been closed before we became on charge. The reason why it is closed is, that the area is a business area full of big companies and no apartments, etc. So it means that they did not know how to attract people after 3pm. I am working on it and thinking about adding a la carte menu after 3pm. Buffet from 11am to 3pm, and a la carte from 3pm to 11pm. The second room which I call an event hall is for big catering and other events(concerts, seminars, conferences, etc.) About 300 people can dine in both rooms. So 600 total. As a concert event over 1000 guests can be invited. We even have our own Professional Brewery equipments, that came with buying the restaurant!!! And they are worth about 500 thousand dollars. So, also an idea to sell our own beer! But need to find a specialist.

Our Restaurant room and event room are 1500 square meters each.
The turnover is okay, but nearly not as good as it should be.

Is there anybody running a similar business model?
How can I brand the restaurant?

It is a unique place in my town and there is little competition for our ROOMS.
We have our inventory equipments, but the main issue is offering our service outside the building.
The competition we have, has over 10 calls a day to events! They also have like 50 workers, from managers to cooks.

So the challenges I have :
1. The big issue in catering side is that, we do not get called to events, that are outside our building!! What should I do? Facebook ads/Google ads :D? (which work well.) Cold calling takes a lot of time, we do not have yet salesmen, and I manage the sales today.
2. Our restaurant room is not as full as it could be. We are basically fully seated from 11am to 3pm, but should continue it until 11pm!! How to attract customers after 3pm. A goal is to attract 1000 customers a day.
3. Do I need Salesmen for catering business?

I hope I was not so confusing, so if anybody is running a similar business, I would be happy to get new insights. Thank you.
 
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Danny Sullivan

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Read Unscripted!
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Jul 2, 2018
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Germany
Hey, welcome @turok,

in my opinion your "fixed times" and the kind of equipment you have is more of an opportunity than it is an obstacle. Why?
Because you don't have customers dripping in and out more or less after a certain time, which opens your restaurant up for different business models.
Why not teach people how to cook in cooking courses? These would attract people into a business area. And since you're delivering more value than just prodiving food, you could charge appropriate prices for it. Even more so if you teach people how to brew beer...

This could start your flywheel.

11pm-3pm = buffet | making hungry business people happy
>3pm = cooking / beer brewing courses
People attending to these cooking / brewing courses might think: This is very cool place and maybe we should come here to eat too.
11pm-5pm = buffet | making hungry business people and more people in general happy.
>5pm = fewer cooking / beer brewing courses because more people come in on opening times (from good reputation).

Just my thoughts. Best of luck!
 

Cruze

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Sep 6, 2016
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Here are ever Thursday 'after work partys' with live dj and good Cocktails. Therme are Every time much visitor... Starts 17 Till 0...maybe an Idea?
 

turok

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
75%
May 8, 2018
4
3
Here are ever Thursday 'after work partys' with live dj and good Cocktails. Therme are Every time much visitor... Starts 17 Till 0...maybe an Idea?
Only on weekends then, but I would prefer from 0 to 5am :D
 

turok

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
75%
May 8, 2018
4
3
Hey, welcome @turok,

in my opinion your "fixed times" and the kind of equipment you have is more of an opportunity than it is an obstacle. Why?
Because you don't have customers dripping in and out more or less after a certain time, which opens your restaurant up for different business models.
Why not teach people how to cook in cooking courses? These would attract people into a business area. And since you're delivering more value than just prodiving food, you could charge appropriate prices for it. Even more so if you teach people how to brew beer...

This could start your flywheel.

11pm-3pm = buffet | making hungry business people happy
>3pm = cooking / beer brewing courses
People attending to these cooking / brewing courses might think: This is very cool place and maybe we should come here to eat too.
11pm-5pm = buffet | making hungry business people and more people in general happy.
>5pm = fewer cooking / beer brewing courses because more people come in on opening times (from good reputation).

Just my thoughts. Best of luck!

Hmm, a good idea actually, it would definitely drive some attention. We can still run our restaurant until 11, but at the same time we also are giving these courses.
 
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