Seeking advice from my parents as I set up this whole consulting business has been extremely helpful. Having mentors who have made a good living can be a very valuable tool. One of the things my mom has shared with me is that she doesn’t do a job unless there are at least three potential revenue streams available to her.

Consulting Clients

I met with some potential consulting clients, who have a pretty good concept for a place they want to open. Without giving anything away (confidentiality and all that), one of my recommendations was to be sure that they think outside the box a bit.

Yes, your idea is sound. Yes, there is a lot of potential there. Yes, you probably will be able to convince a lot of customers to come in to your place, and even come back, but why stop there?

How else can you make $?

My question to you: In what other ways can you make money? I mean besides getting more people to come in and getting them to spend more money when they do come in….? Think about it. There must be some other way.

Bottle your signature salad dressing and sell it at the door. How about that house-made enchilada sauce? Is there a dessert on your menu that you can have a frozen version of that you can sell to you valued customers?

Maybe you have such a cool concept, design, and therefore brand, that you can use to your advantage. Know someone who can print up T-shirts? Baseball caps?

Outside the box

Not only will these things bring in more revenue to your restaurant, it will also help you to promote your business. AND, have your servers help with the promotion of these items. Suggestive selling. If you train those servers right, how hard would it be for them to say to that customer who is raving about your salad dressing that they should pick up a bottle on their way out?

Upsell

Or, better yet, have them ask, “Would you like me to add a bottle of that dressing to your check?

Like I said, it will add revenue, and help you promote your place, but it will also be considered an add-value. Imagine people at home sitting around the dinner table talking about you, and your restaurant. How powerful is that?

And then imagine this: They are eating that salad with your signature salad dressing and saying things like, “It just doesn’t taste the same when we make it.” “We need to eat there more often.”

Whatever you can do

So think about it. It doesn’t have to be your salad dressing. That is just my food metaphor for whatever you can bring to the table (food pun). Come up with one or two or three of those offerings.

Add to your revenue, promote your restaurant in different ways, and add value to those who are in the joint.