Making your menu available

I just returned from an 8 day road trip to visit restaurants in the Southeast part of the United States and it was interesting to say the least. I don't claim to know it all but there are a few things that should be a norm in the industry:

1. Make your menu available outside. Don't just tape a copy (of a copy, of a copy, of a copy.....) in your front window. Actually let people take copies with you. Your menu gets some mileage on it and you can get more than one (recurring) customer from it.
2. If your open, you need it to be obvious. There had to be dozens of restaurants that we couldn't tell if they were open for business or closed for good. With poor signage and marketing, they'll be closed soon enough.
3. If you have a website, it should be obvious to everyone. Put it on business cards, menus, signage, etc.
4. Be nice to everyone (even salespeople). Everyone is a potential or existing customer. I went in to discuss MenuSearch over lunch in one restaurant and they were so rude, mean and disrespectful, we didn't stay for lunch. Can you afford to lose $30-50 customers because of poor staff?

Please don't think I'm lecturing I'm just trying to tell you what is obvious to the customers that you may or may not see.

Here are a few quick (true) stories from the road:

We went into one restaurant and asked for a takeout menu.

They said they were "out but they could find us on their website".

We said "Great! What's your web address?"

The hostess retorted "I don't know", turn around and shouted "Does anyone know what our website is?". Sadly, there wasn't a response.

LESSON(S):

1. Be sure your staff is up to speed. Pull pop-quizzes and "shop" your restaurant via phone, email and secret shoppers.
2. BE SURE IF YOU'VE GOT A WEBSITE, IT WORKS AND ITS UP TO DATE! If you don't call us, we'll help you.
3. MAKE IT EASY FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS - Have takeout menus available and have back up business cards (for when you run out) but be sure you have all of your information on them - INCLUDING THE WEB ADDRESS.
4. If you're out, offer to email it to them. Have an email sign-up sheet and email the menu to them. You may have to send 5 or 6 emails each day but the customer service points are priceless.

I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out but just think about all the ways you can help your customers. Make a list. Talk to your staff. Update your list and then implement it.