What’s happening out there? Have you looked lately? Or is your arcane idea of a restaurant sticking out like a sore thumb? No wonder your business has been on a steady decline the last couple of years.
Don’t kid yourself. The fact that you’ve raised your prices a couple of times does not necessarily mean your sales have gone up.
Pokémon
Have you noticed that yelp has added a PokeStop filter to their site? You can now find out if a restaurant is wheelchair accessible, offers military discounts, or perhaps is near a place where you can pick up a Pokeball.
Not what I had in mind
Now obviously (or maybe not), this is not the kind of relevance I am urging. I hope your restaurant survival is not dependent upon the latest embarrassing fad to hit the area.
I mean look around and see what customers want. It is possible to tweak a few things about your restaurant without drifting from your original mission.
Craft cocktails
As a straight bourbon drinker, I have never had a fondness for the artisan cocktail craze. But what do I know? Turns out that what I want, or what you want, is not what it is about. It should always be about what your customers want.
At one time (hopefully), you took a look around, did a little market research, and figured out who your customers were. Your target market. Well, take a look again. Are they the same? Has what they want changed over the time since you opened? Do you need to shift?
Happy Hour?
Is that what you should add? Maybe a late night menu to go with those craft cocktails? Early diner specials? If your target market has changed or shifted, you need to shift a bit with them. Or you can ignore what is happening around you and seriously lessen your chance at survival.
You can see that I am not telling you to completely re-invent yourself. That would, in fact, be foolish. If you still have a customer base, you need to continue to appeal to them. But, how can you do it while still attracting new blood? Attracting new customers while hanging on to your old ones.
Ah, there is the rub
It will take some imagination. Maybe that imagination, or inspiration needs to come from someone other than you. Maybe you have had your head buried in it for so long that perhaps a fresh set of eyes should be put on it.
Hire a consultant
Okay, that was just a shameful plug. Sorry. But do have someone else look at it. Ask your employees. Ask your customers. There must be ways to keep your place interesting. To keep it relevant. That is, if you are still thinking of staying open.
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