As a restaurant owner, improving customer experience is a top priority. You want your guests to not only have an amazing first visit but the desire to keep returning for more. We at Butterball® Farms don’t claim to be experts in running a restaurant, but we do know a thing or two about delivering excellent customer experience. Take a look at the list below to see how you can improve the experience of your restaurant, as well as how we might help you reach your goals.
1. Keep Things Fresh with New Menu Items
Have you ever been a “regular” at a restaurant? The feeling of walking in and being greeted like an old friend is an incredible one. It makes you feel like you have some stake in the business and like you are truly a valued guest. The downside? You can get incredibly bored eating the same meals time after time. That is why, as a restaurant owner, it is a great idea to keep things fresh by adding a few new items to your menu every couple of months. Your regulars and return visitors will enjoy the service and atmosphere they have always loved while feasting on a new and exciting meal. Adding these new items will contribute to your guests having a different experience every time they are in your restaurant, and hopefully, keep them coming back for more. After all, why go take a risk going to the new place down the street when you can try a brand new dish at your favorite restaurant?
How we can help:
Here at Butterball® Farms, we develop custom butter flavors for restaurants across the country. We can work with you to develop a flavor profile that is completely unique to your brand and form a flavor that can be used in a new dish for your menu.
2. Spend Time on the Presentation of Your Dishes
Most chefs will tell you that presentation is just as important to a meal as taste. Why? To quote private chef Sean Bone, “The way the food looks on the plate is what tempts our eyes and makes you want to taste it.” It might seem like presentation only applies to extremely high-brow establishments, but this holds true for all eateries from fast food chains to five-star restaurants. For your restaurant, maybe it doesn’t take the form of a perfectly drizzled chocolate ganache, but it could take the form of a giant onion ring tower, an oversized soft pretzel, or pizza served in the shape of a cone. Regardless of where you fit on this spectrum, putting some time into the presentation of your dishes can have a huge impact on your customers. It can enhance the experience of your meals, help you further communicate your branding, and give your customers just one more reason to walk in the door.
How we can help:
You don’t have to change your whole system to improve the way you present your dishes. In fact, sometimes it’s the smallest changes that have a huge impact. We offer specially shaped and designed butters that will stand out to your customers, and we can also emboss our butters with a logo or design of your choosing. Your customers will be truly wowed when something as simple as a bread roll comes topped with a classy butter serving that features the logo of your restaurant.
3. Introduce a Flavor They Can’t Get Anywhere Else
Many brands have used this tactic to improve their customers’ experience and differentiate themselves from the competition. In fact, a few have used it as the core message of their marketing campaigns. For example, Kentucky Fried Chicken and their “11 herbs and spices” and Bush’s Baked Beans and their “secret family recipe.” When you introduce flavor guests can’t get anywhere else, you make their experience at your restaurant a unique one. Think of some of your favorite restaurants. I would bet that at least one of them offers a flavor or dish that is entirely unique.
For me, it’s a burger joint that serves an incredible cheese sauce with their fries. The sauce is a huge part of my positive restaurant experience and is often the reason I choose to go there in the first place. It has become such an integral part of the restaurant’s identity that I can’t imagine eating there without it. So, if you want to enhance the experience your restaurant has to offer, consider developing a “special” flavor that will become known for. It’s sure to improve their experience and might even spread awareness of your restaurant.
How we can help:
As stated in number 1, we work with restaurants to deliver custom butter flavors that are entirely unique. Whether you are interested in creating a sauce, blend, base, or just want to introduce a custom butter to serve with bread, we can help.
4. Introduce a Loyalty Program or Other Benefit for Return Customers
A loyalty program is an easy way to make your customers feel special and ensure that they come back to cash in on their investment. They incentivize return visits, make customers feel like a part of something bigger than themselves, and can have a huge impact on your brand. Just check out these loyalty program statistics! But even if a loyalty program isn’t right for your restaurant, there are still things you can do to improve its overall experience.
- Introduce a game or engaging activity: Games and activities give customers something to be excited about besides just the food on your menu. They give your customers another way to engage with your brand and are just one more reason customers will think of your restaurant over someone else’s.Examples: Do you serve breakfast? Call one of your meals the “Breakfast in Bed” and make it 50% off for anyone who comes in wearing pajamas. Serve sandwiches? Name one the “Queen of Clubs” and give anyone who can draw the queen of clubs out of a deck of 52 cards the sandwich for free.
- Establish a “special day”: Every year on National Pancake Day, IHOP gives away free pancakes. College kids from around the country come flocking through their doors at the promise of a free meal. Think about your restaurant and consider what “special day” you could introduce to improve the experience of your restaurant.Examples: Fry Friday: Every Friday, give away a free fry basket with the purchase of a burger. The Month of Love: During February offer a free appetizer to married couples.
How we can help:
We can’t exactly help you with this one, but we can give you one more example that we utilize ourselves. We offer free samples for all of our products. You can browse our website, find the products you like, and request sample products at absolutely no cost.
