So, my family owns a restaurent, and we need to try to make it better,Its a buffet, chinese cuisine, and about £10 per head. We need ideas to start bring people back in, eg, "themed nights".and differnet style "lunch boxes" adding more variety to them, making the customer more intersted in buying themAny other ideas to help boost the business back up?(things like open kitchen, but thats very difficult to do)The restaurent isnt huge, so space is restricted,Seats about 50 people maximum thanks!
      Answer1:Karaoke?2 for 1 offers?Special offers on booze?Have a happy hour, like 1/2 price buffet between your quietest hours.Have one day a week where things are cheaper?
      Answer2:Use the food: never use anything other than fresh ingredients, NEVER use sauces made yesterday, make sure the food tastes good. If you provide good food, people will come; if you provide the same old crap that everyone else serves, then theyll go to any old crap restaurant, and there are plenty of crap restaurants serving Chinese food!
      Answer3:£10 per head isnt bad but not cheap either .. for that price you gotta make a customer feel special ..make sure your food is definately worthy of the price .. not insulting ya or anything just saying it as it is,,why not do an £8 per head ..only one night a week .. itll bring in more customers and then suddenly theyll come different days and wont mind paying the ten poundfriendly staff ... customer always right .. its annoying when they not and trying it on but you gotta grit teeth and act like they right nice theme music .. not too loud not too low smokers part ...most people smoke consider giving them a little part .. few nice chairs .,, chair covers...can buy all that a budget of £40..youll soon earn that back and more make sure fully clean and maybe add some chinese stuff .. like calendar kinda things and candles? make it homey and so relaxing place to eat redo the menu .. give it a once over with your family .. see whats really working and whats not lunch boxes- why not let them chose from 4 different meals? 3 different drinks? and so on ... give the customer more for they money and then soon enough youll rake it in themed nights you cant really do as its chinese cuisine .. all you can do is make it orientated with chinese stuff as i said above if seats are 50 maximum then maybe do open nights but only certain nights ... you may have to make more room somehow but hey think of the customers..more customers more money and also you might bring in more customers hope this helps .. good luck xx
      Answer4:If its buffet style, have the variety of food for customers to help themselves to placed near the front window through which passer-bys can see from the outside. Have the price per head written on the front window as well.
      Answer5:How about a big donut table where the staff cook your dinner right in front of you.Or maybe a conveyer belt, where people just pick off the food that they want.
      Answer6:Work on your take out. The trend in this economy is take out at a decent price. See what the other chinese places are charging in your area. Concentrate on hospital workers. Evening shift workers have a hard time getting lunch. Take menus to your local hospital during the evening shift. Go to every section of the hospital and be sure that the surgery department gets plenty of menus. I like the lunch box ideas for a good price, like 5 or 5.5. Try taking 10 to a business at lunch. If they are already prepared and they can smell it, they may buy it. Have a box of samples and tooth picks to serve it.Watch Gordon Ramseys Kitchen nightmare episodes on youtube or http://www.fancast.com/tv/Kitchen-Nightm...he always has great ideas to boost a restaurant.
      Answer7:50 covers, buffet service. That does not tell me much. What is the menu? Do you vary the menu daily? Do you have specials, and how are the Specials organised (you do specials using up the previous days unsold raw materials, if it is safe to do so -and bang them out cheap, as a loss leader).Are you uncovered tables with benches, or napery with chopsticks and finger bowls?Do you want people to linger, or are you essentially operating a grab it and run outfit?I feel that you should firstly concentrate on your customer focus - what is your market, who do you want to attract.Are you Chinese, or of Chinese ethnicity? People may not trust "Chinese" cookery if the chefs are not obviously Chinese! The public are fickle!Open Kitchen is dodgy with Chinese cuisine - one flare-up in a wok when a customer is close by could lead to a lawsuit for sin ged eyebrows - Ive done Chinese-style cooking and my eyebrows are, to say the least, somewhat moth-eaten.Sort out your customer focus and give us some more details when you ask the question again. Alternatively, call Gordon Ramsay.
      Answer8:Ask.....the.....customers.Theyll tell you want they want. They are the "we."Then theyll see you implemented their idea and this builds relationship. Shows your resturant listens. Builds rapport and relationship from customer to resturant.Imagine. You ask your customers what they think. You even call them saying, "we have chosen YOUR idea!"And I bet many customers will give you ideas, and youll implement quiet a few of them, so youll call nearly all customers and say.."We have chosen YOUR idea and will be running it through this year. We like to thank you with a gift."Celebrate your customers, watch they come to you in droves when you do that. Make them important by engaging them through the....process.