People are still dining out....

I've heard many people concerned about people not going out to eat anymore - based on the economic news via the media. This is NOT the case.

People are still going out - just not as often. They're being more selective and really researching where they'll be going out to eat.

Ask yourself this: What sets me apart from my competition? How am I trying to reach out to my customers?

Some of you are pulling back on your advertising/marketing budgets and this is not the best way to weather this type of economic change. Do you only advertise when you have a full restaurant?

Work with local advertising/marketing firms and come up with a plan to reach out to the locals that are researching restaurants. Many of them are online:

• 54% of people have replaced the Yellow Pages with the Internet-Kelsey Group.
• According to Digitrends, "52.7% of the online business directory users visit a merchant because of what they saw online,and 87% of the online users depend on the Internet to access local information."
• U.S. Department of Commerce: "Those businesses that use the Internet grew 46% faster than those that didn't."

Do your homework, scrape up a bit of money and try new things.

I want to share one of my latest exchanges with a decision maker in the Tampa area:

Restaurant Owner: "We're not doing anything right now!"

Erik: Why?

Restaurant Owner: "Money is tight."

Erik: I can understand that money is tight but there are some really affordable things you can do to bring people in the door.

Restaurant Owner: "I'm just not going to do anything right now."

At this point, this owner has dug his heels in the sand but the economic fact is that if you "Do nothing" you will "Get nothing".

Here is my philosophy and I shared this with my new client:

I'm not a know-it-all or just selling my product. There are free things you can do - get you menu in front of people (community centers, shopping centers, etc). Offer your customers something that your competition isn't; perhaps it's a discount or a free appetizer.....give the customers a reason to make YOU their choice!