Your Restaurant Needs a Strong Social Media Presence
Your Restaurant Needs a Strong Social Media Presence

Today, businesses are highly aware of the value of social media data, and the importance of communicating with their audiences. Social media has not only proved its ability to produce tangible results but has also demonstrated the capacity to develop strong contact points between brands and their customers and improve customer experience.

Social media is everywhere and is vastly expanding - but what effect do the various social platforms have on a company's brand awareness, engagement, revenue, and sales?

Use it Wisely

You cannot ignore the power of social media within the restaurant industry. In fact, it could easily be said that if you are not online you are more or less trying to communicate with your guests with two tin cans bound with a piece of string. Now being old-school might be cool, that is just a little too out of date.

80% of the people will look at a restaurant online prior to  visiting for the first time. This means it will check out a restaurant website and browse through online reviews.

Vasudevan Cheruvulli, Owner, Pan India Foods say,” Social media is an inevitable part of running a modern business. Whether your business is active on social media or not, you can be sure that your guests are tweeting, posting, and Instagramming about your restaurant online. Billions of people use social media. This is not a fad, and it's not something that can just be used by individuals to communicate. Social media now has an immense presence in conducting business, especially for restaurants.”

Research has it that 75% of people who browse food photos say they have chosen a place to eat based on social media. That means by just simply posting a photo of your food, you could be bringing in your next customer.

From the cost-effectiveness point of view, Virat Kapoor, Owner, The Sammy Sosa says,” The concept of pay per click enables businesses or business owners to actually determine the effectiveness of a campaign which was not possible through other forms of advertisements.”

Stressing it further Vasudevan says,” Today, more people are eating in restaurants than ever before. Diners love to research their options on Google and look at their social media sites before choosing a location.”

Food Products Going Viral

The KFC Double Down is a perfect example of this effect. When chain restaurants rolled out new items in the past, they were confined to a small market and the impact of the item was only local. This meant that a new sandwich could create a local buzz, but not much more.

The Double Down was similarly released in a small market, but the presence of social media caused it to become a national topic. Even though a lot of this publicity was necessary, it still got people talking about the KFC brand. Similar effects have been seen at the chain Hardees.

Because of instances like this, analysts have predicted that companies will make even more outrageous products.

Transparency in Business

Online review sites and social media have transformed restaurant marketing from word-of-mouth to world-of-mouth. In just click of a button, we can share a photo of our favorite dessert with the world. That has power. You need to respect and harness that power in order to build your brand.

Vasudevan shares three unique ways of utilizing social media for the business.

  • Respond to Online Reviews:By addressing negative reviews and showing appreciation for positive ones, the brand can create a transparent and friendly persona online. It should not be afraid to talk about its flaws and make a public attempt to improve upon them.
  • Share Customer- Generated Content: Brands can their customers into valuable brand ambassadors by sharing their comments and photos on the same social media. By acknowledging these posts and encouraging them the Brand can create social proof for itself and hence generate a backlog of social media content.
  • Ask Questions to Engage Followers:Social media is about more than just telling your followers what's happening at your restaurant. It's also about listening to them. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are a great way to create a two-way dialogue with your customers.

Commenting on its use, Vimal Verma, Director, Andaz, says,” It totally depends on your target customer and their behaviours and once it is known then the suitable medium can be used to make it effective and relevant.”

Social media pages are a great way to establish transparency. Guests should always be encouraged to leave reviews and post pictures about their experience at your restaurant.

Social media pages are a great way to establish transparency. Guests should always be encouraged to leave reviews and post pictures about their experience at your restaurant.

Scaling Profits

Everyone likes to share experience and likes the engagement with restaurants. More engagements would lead to more return of customers and more business. All international travellers also look for recommendations from google or tripadvisior or other mediums to see the dining options.

“Correct presence and good reviews give confidence to someone who wants to try for the first time and you can acquire a new customer”, added Verma

 
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How Online Reputation Can Skyrocket Your Restaurant Profits: The Ultimate Guide
How Online Reputation Can Skyrocket Your Restaurant Profits: The Ultimate Guide
 

In today’s world, social media is the game-changer for restaurants aiming to build their reputation. What once was just a place to share food photos has evolved into a powerful marketing engine that can propel restaurants into the spotlight—or sink them with a single bad review. It's not just about pretty pictures anymore; it’s about managing the buzz and ensuring a loyal customer base. And trust us, Instagram reels and influencer shout-outs can either bring floods of customers or tarnish your brand overnight.

Let’s face it: in the age of digital media, every guest’s experience is public property. A single negative comment can do more damage than you can imagine. On the flip side, a glowing review can drive more business than any ad campaign. Reputation is everything, and how you manage it can make or break your restaurant. This is where online reputation management becomes your secret weapon for success.

The Power of Social Media in Shaping Restaurant Reputations
1.    Visibility & Reach:
Social media is a megaphone for your restaurant, letting you amplify your presence and engage with customers worldwide.
2.    Customer Interaction: It’s no longer just a platform for posting updates. It’s a real-time conversation with your patrons, building trust and loyalty.
3.    Influence on Perception: While positive posts can elevate your brand, negative reviews can spread like wildfire. Managing this delicate balance is essential.
 

Pro Tips for Managing Online Reviews
1.    Constant Vigilance: Keep an eye on review sites like Google, Yelp, Zomato, and TripAdvisor—don’t miss a single mention!
2.    Swift Responses: Respond to both good and bad reviews quickly. Show customers you care, and they’ll come back for more.
3.    Encourage Positive Reviews: Prompt happy customers to share their experiences. A flood of positive reviews can bury any negative ones.

Sidney Dcunha, Director of Food and Beverage & Culinary at Sofitel Mumbai BKC, emphasizes, “Effective management ensures that social media becomes an ally in sustaining and growing our restaurant’s reputation. With the rise of digital reservations, online payments, and loyalty programs, safeguarding customer data is a non-negotiable priority.”
 

Tackling Negative Criticism Like A Pro
“We take our guests' privacy and security extremely seriously. We respect our guests' privacy at all times and work to ensure they feel safe in their interactions with us,” says Christina Roach, Director for Radisson Blu Bengaluru Outer Ring Road. While negative reviews can be disheartening, they’re an opportunity to improve your game. Address criticism professionally, and you'll turn an upset guest into a loyal customer.
 

Shahrom Oshtori, Co-founder of Sixteen33, agrees: “Negative feedback can spread quickly, making reputation management crucial. We assess it based on how we respond—whether we take corrective actions or offer a better experience.”
 

How to Maintain Data Privacy and Keep Your Restaurant Secure
1.    Adopt Secure Technologies: Always use encrypted payment gateways and secure reservation systems to protect customer data.
2.    Train Your Staff: Make sure everyone is aware of how to handle sensitive information responsibly.
3.    Be Transparent: Clearly communicate your data handling policies to customers. Compliance with laws like GDPR is a must.

Why Marketing is a Game-Changer for Your Restaurant
1.    Increased Awareness: Partnering with influencers expands your reach to untapped audiences and builds buzz around your brand.
2.    Credibility & Trust: When influencers rave about your restaurant, their followers trust them—and your restaurant reaps the benefits.
3.    Engagement Boost: Influencer posts aren’t just eye-catching—they drive foot traffic and boost sales.
Dharmendra, COO of Gigu Hospitality, explains, “Increased Awareness, Credibility, and all these factors play an important role in developing the business.”

Navigating Influencer Marketing Challenges
1.    Finding the Right Fit: Not all influencers will align with your restaurant's brand. Choose wisely to avoid mismatched messaging.
2.    Measuring ROI: Tracking the direct impact of influencer campaigns on sales and foot traffic can be tricky.
3.    Managing Expectations: Ensure that influencers represent your restaurant in a way that matches your image and values.

Overcoming Influencer Marketing Hurdles
1.    Do Your Research: Pick influencers whose audiences align with your target demographic.
2.    Set Clear Expectations: Outline deliverables and goals upfront to avoid misunderstandings.
3.    Track Success: Use tracking tools and discount codes to measure the ROI of influencer campaigns effectively.

In the digital age, social media and influencer marketing are not just trends—they are crucial tools for building a loyal customer base and driving profits. By actively engaging with your audience and addressing feedback constructively, you can establish a reputation that not only attracts customers but keeps them coming back for more. 

 

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How real consumers have become social media influencers for food businesses
How real consumers have become social media influencers for food businesses
 

Ms Lovelina Joshi, a 38-year-old housewife, never knew her posts on social media like Twitter and Instagram are widely discussed and followed by others until and unless she gushed about a newly-launched herbs and seeds bread, which promises to boost immunity during the unparalleled times of coronavirus pandemic. The moment she posted a picture showcasing how her otherwise fussy eater kids are relishing the bread on the photo-sharing website, she got thousands of comments asking more about the bread on her feed. Not only her account was flooded with comments but also her following increased twice the follower she had within a day…

Also Read: 6 Tips to Create a Killer Social Media Strategy for Your Restaurant

This incident shows how consumers these days are looking for recommendations on social media before purchasing any product. And, unlike the previous times, they don’t look for any suggestions from a celebrity but the ones who are common like you and I. It is seen that real customer endorsement does more to build trust than any amount of content the brand post on their own. Consumers actually appreciate brands that focus more on their utmost needs during this difficult time. A recent study shows 58 percent of consumers are impressed by brands providing a necessary service, and 55 percent say they value brands that have made changes to help consumers.

Everything is purely organic in their page

Gone are the days when paid partnership was the thing. Since social media has evolved and so did its users, people have no fascination over the endorsed pages and campaigns. The likes and comments in the pages of real users are purely organic. They just post about the service they get and how the brand is following all the sanitization steps or how the delivery guy wore masks and uses sanitizer.  Content posted by someone, who has used the service and felt safe influenced decisions of other customers more than anything else. The regular campaigns with actors, celebrities or paid influencers are likely to be ineffective at this time. The best way to build trust under such circumstances is by having customers review your services. It makes the brand more believable and helps overcome the confidence deficit consumers have at this time due to the prevailing fear mindset.

May Interest: Dealing with New Trends of Social Media Marketing

Real consumers have more targeted audience 

More than 50 percent friends and followers of real consumers have more or less the same thought process like him/her. So, when the real consumer posts something then automatically it gets the liking of the similar mindset people, who might buy your product next when they are in need of it. That’s how a company will have a better mileage and success with several real consumers that suit their brand. When you have millions of followers with variety of interests, it might be tricky to create content that appeals to everyone. Real consumers create content on the topics that they’re passionate about. Whether it’s food, fitness or photography, they post something about it until and unless they haven’t felt strongly for it as they are not the regular ones to post on social media. Moreover they are credible users. Remember, how we used to think when a celebrity used to endorse a product, which clearly indicates that they are not the real users. Real consumers treat their followers like their friends, which means they’re honest and engage with them as equals.

 

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Dealing with New Trends of Social Media Marketing
Dealing with New Trends of Social Media Marketing
 

In the business ecosystem it is important to run businesses on partnerships be it restaurants own employee or partnering with a third-party, collaboration is important part of running a restaurant.  With this, the concept of restaurant influencer marketing has emerged as the easier way of attracting and engaging with customers. Many restaurants have started to actively engage with micro influencers such as food bloggers and restaurant reviewers. It is cheaper as compared to the traditional forms of marketing, targets the right customer base, and is high on results. Here are key pointers on how social media influencers are playing a very vital role in today’s time when it comes to marketing.

The Changing Face of Marketing:  Marketing a restaurant has changed quite a bit when we talk about pre-social media era and now social media era. It has become little more affordable to move away from conventional advertising. However, going forward partnering or using bloggers gives you that instant reach which initially was missing. “A restaurant really didn’t know how it is going to penetrate with conventional advertising earlier. However, some brands or outlets are positioned in a way where you need to reach out to specific audience that’s where the bloggers come in and really help you out,” said Kushagra Nagrath, Senior VP, Lite Bite Foods.

Product is the Key: One very important thing is that if you want to send a particular message as a product or your restaurant wants to reach to very specific audience. That’s something that social media influencers can really help you with. “As a marketer I would never ever discount what the product is because marketing is just a channel to reach out to people to tell them that the product exists. But at the same time when people start coming into a restaurant, they start tasting the food and they will come back only for food because the ambience you can see once and absorb it but if you have to go back to a place it’s because of the food, the experience, the drinks etc. The way of communicating has evolved much more,” shared Vineet Arora, Head Marketing, First Fiddle Restaurants.

Engaging with Community: “I think today consumers are short on time and they are overwhelmed with the information. So, just me or the brand coming up with a communication is not enough,” pointed Moksh Chopra, CMO, KFC India. People are seeking shortcuts on information if that’s worth a while and that’s where the influencers have kicked in and people have micro passions now. “We engage with them on the forefront. We called it FACE. F is for food; we work with them if we want to launch some new products or want to show people how KFC kitchen operates. We invite influencers to come into our kitchen, walk in, they see the experiences themselves and they discover that how the KFC food, processes are so stringent and rigorous that anything that we hear from a brand perspective is actually false. A is about activation and we do lots of program around consumer passion. So, last month we launched a merchandise range so we did merchandise instead of advertising for the same. We partnered with fashion bloggers to come and talk about it. FACE for us is food, activation, community and engagement,” he added.

 

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How Social Media can Help Build Business
How Social Media can Help Build Business
 

In the 21st century, one can’t deny the power of social media. Social media actually works but it is an irony that many restaurants don’t know how to make most out of it. Spending INR 300 daily on social media could lead to an increment of 300 per cent revenue. “In Chicago, all restaurants have their own food trucks and they do not have standardised technology with navigations and trackers. All they do is to market their product on social media,” avers Avelo Roy,Managing Director at Kolkata Ventures. That is how every major restaurant is making most of the money. The young Indian generation do not like to wait for anything. They want everything instant like a touch on screen and food is at doorsteps and technology has made that possible. There are examples where restaurants have put their money in technology and they are making money today.

Merging Experience with Technology

Restaurant Industry is all about experience and entwining of experience and technology with artificial intelligence can do wonders in this particular sector. It would be a gift to the people exactly what they want. “One of the interesting things with a brand called ‘Panera’ is that their online system is not only about generating revenue but one of the biggest assets is the data that they are earning. People are connecting there via facebook and that is how the data about their likes and dislikes flows,” adds Roy. This kind of technology also provides customer the access to pass his suggestion and advice to the restaurant which in turn helps restaurant to serve them better.

Why not Outsourcing

Those who are not much aware about technology and outsource their social media handle to some other organization or media firm can do that by their own even in a better way. “You as the owner should know the intricacies of social media market because it is incredible to understand your market face to face. It is your business and nobody can understand it better than you. Some big organizations have stopped putting their advertisements on television because now they are putting all their marketing budgets into social media. They are one on one responding to people via social media and it makes a personal connect which you can’t do on television,” says Roy. Social media is all about directly connecting with the customer. It is the best kind of market research where customer can actually tell what they want from a restaurant. Serving a customer according to the restaurant’s menu is an old thing now. Time is changing so as the restaurant industry. Restaurants need to evolve themselves as per customer’s requirements.

Customers do not walk in a restaurant for the menu, every other restaurant has fancy menu today but the thing which matters is the service you offer them. And, social media is an extensive platform to make them understand why they should visit your restaurant. Every business is doing marketing via social media then why should food business left? One just needs to figure out who the customer is and then hit the bull’s eye. Target the audience directly and it doesn’t even cost more than INR 1 on 1 person. It is dense to do business without networking and social media is being monetised now days. Social media is like talking and if you can make your business talk able then it would spread like herpes.

 

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Chinese story to open 10 franchise outlets- Vaibav Kumarvel
Chinese story to open 10 franchise outlets- Vaibav Kumarvel
 

What all different types of cuisines you have kept in your restaurant menu?

The Chinese Story primarily serves Indo-Chinese cuisine, with a few selected favourites from across the Orient including Thai, Vietnamese, Malay and Japanese.

What all services do you provide in your restaurant under casual dining?

At The Chinese Story, we try to pamper our guests as much as possible without intruding on their privacy. Our staffs are alert and trained to anticipate guest needs. We also have TV, free Wi-Fi and ports to charge mobiles and laptops.

Who are your target customers?

Our location puts us in the vicinity of one of Chennai’s biggest IT hubs with over 50,000 employees in a single campus. There are a number of colleges whose students and their families live in the vicinity of the restaurant. We cater to all of them, providing great food at an affordable price with a comfortable ambience. Most of our dishes need a maximum preparation time of 10 minutes and thus it is ideal for office goers, college students and working people in the area looking for a quick lunch.

How do you see social media as a marketing medium?

Social media and online marketing is one of the major marketing mediums we use to interact with our target audience. We are active on Facebook, Instagram and Zomato. We strongly believe that social media is the primary medium to reach and engage our audience. We are in the process of developing an app as well.

What is your expansion plan?

We plan to open 10 franchise outlets, primarily in tier II and III cities. We also have a kiosk model which we are in the process of implementing; this model has a limited menu and unique packaging that can be consumed on the move, perfect for office goers and people on the move. We have tied up with BPCL in this venture and have positioned our kiosks within their outlets. 

 

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How restaurants are engaging with customers today?
How restaurants are engaging with customers today?
 

Restaurateur’s engagement with customers is a need for today. To engage with the customers, restaurants use digital marketing strategies. The latest trend in this industry is table reservation or ordering.

On the same note, Gursimran Singh, Owner of Beer republic states, “Privilege discount cards, discounts to promote special offers, reward loyal customers and apologize for negative experiences, Feedback Surveys, Integrated Emails etc I feel are quite necessary”.

Rise of social platforms

Today many restaurateurs completely focus on social media as this is a place, which can promote any restaurant. People, at this time get connected with the restaurants on social media pages like Facebook, twitter, Instagram and website.

“It is no surprise that we live in an Information age. Therefore using information technology whether it is with mobile or social media, is the way to the future and we welcome it with open arms” shared Prahlad Sukhtankar, Owner of The black sheep bistro.

Also, restaurateurs thinking on an app, if someone "like" the restaurant or tag it on Facebook, will help in grow the restaurant business. It builds awareness and influences the rise in number of visits and amount spent by the customers on the restaurant.

Mobile engagement is like having deeper relationship with the customers. This can be said a type of mobile marketing, an approach which restaurateurs started in the technology business. They even experiment with different mobile functions to grab more guests.

So, “Educating your patron about your product should be the foremost aspect of any management. Nowadays, most people are well travelled, well observant and have a healthy exposure to food/hospitality. It’s important they know what they are being offered” Nishek Jain, Owner, 29.

Building loyalty

Restaurant owners have now started many loyalty programmes. According to a survey, 58 per cent of restaurant diners said they’ve already used digital coupons. Now many restaurants award you for “checking in” at selected restaurants, bars and other sites. Customers see tweets and status updates, and reply to them or add their own messages with their mobile devices.

Moreover, loyal customer’s worth is much more than the regular customers as they do mouth to mouth publicity and recommend to friends and family.

In addition, feedback is also an important aspect from customers to restaurants. This provides useful information about the faults and also a chance to improvise on it. E-mail marketing has also emerged recently, which the restaurants from time to time communicate messages to customers on their emails.

Hence, Jain said, “I feel the management should be able to interact with the patrons and get live feed-back at the macro-level. Certainly, several feedback/review platforms have surfaced in the past few years; however, I strongly believe a diner should get the privilege of interacting directly with management at the location/outlet itself”.

By using this technology, restaurateurs have an added advantage for the restaurateurs as it is good to develop a healthy, loyal and thriving relationship with customers.

 

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Building a lasting impression on customers
Building a lasting impression on customers
 

Opening a restaurant today is not a task but to invite the same customers again at the restaurant is the task. As there is a saying that customer can make or break a restaurant especially after influence of social media.

To improve the customer experience the first and foremost thing which is taken utmost care of is the taste of the food at the outlet because that is the first thing which drive the respective consumers to the an outlet. “We take care that the food is delivered fresh, good taste giving them a wonderful experience of it. The next thing which improve the customer experience is the behaviour of the people of the outlet so we make sure that every person visiting our outlet gets a proper response, greeted well and served well through our people so that it sum up to a nice experience overall” shared Mohit Kumar Bhati, Co-founder at Dumpling Momo.

Getting the employee ready

Restaurant owners now-a-days take initiative to train their employees because it is an important part for the success of a restaurant. “We have our own set of internal manuals through which each n every employee of our concern are trained for the process of customer walk in to the customer walk out at out outlet,” added Bhati.

However, Jayanti Kathale, Founder & Director, Purnabramha Foods said, “I told my staff that you are not only preparing the food and serving the food; you have to understand that the customer has come for some reason as there are three kinds of people who come; some come to enjoy, some come out of expectation or who has no one to share with.

Making a connect

And with revolutionary impact of smartphones and its applications, the technology has given yet another way to stay connected with customers. These apps help the customers to give information related to what bar or restaurant to visit and where it is located. The different modes of social media platforms likes facebook page, twitter handle, instagram posts and even through SMS, calls, mails helps restaurateurs help to connect with the customers. 

Apart from these, restaurateurs ask for the reviews or feedback in there visitors book when the customers leave. This helps to indentify where the problem lies and the next time they don’t get such complains.

Customers are provided with some discount coupon so that they come again to the restaurant. “Not only by money but with love and affection, I take care of my employee and customers.  As we believe connect with their hearts not with their wallets”, said Kathale.

 

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Food Porn: How it has become free advertisement for restaurants?
Food Porn: How it has become free advertisement for restaurants?
 

Today, food on social media has become the latest fad. It has brought new food trends, inspired the new age status symbol of having been there and provided free advertisements to restaurants and food joints.

Good food portrayed through appealing pictures online encourages people to try out new restaurants serving foods and cocktails. And as it is turning out as the best way to promote one brand connecting with the millennials, who rely more on the number of reviews and photos posted online rather than word of mouth. The online visual content is high in demand as it has enticing photos on website across various social media platforms and it has become an essential part of the promotion. And with apps like Instagram and Facebook, people today share their memory online. And these pictures are helping in creating a connection between restaurants and their guests.

According to a recent survey in the UK, only 11 per cent between 18-29 year olds feel that food advertising is aimed at them. Therefore, if the brands want to change that number they have to take a different approach. Edelman advised the brands to connect with these consumers, as they eat with their eyes first and “snackable food images are just as important as the content they accompany.”

The young adults live digitally. They share each activity and they won’t eat a meal till they capture it and upload the image of the meal on the Web, sharing it with their friends on social pages.

“Millennials understand technology, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other such platforms like foodpanda which is able to marry all these things. And the food that is being consumed by these advertisements is where a combination is needed to strike the right balance. So it is going to be a more hybrid model and is very exciting,” pointed Dheeraj Gupta, MD, Jumbo King Food Pvt Ltd.

Nature of Market

The power of social food is spreading to marketing. With this, restaurants have started displaying their menu on these social pages inviting people to spread their brand for free, banking high on growth. And as the industry is soaring with competition among restaurants, one has to give 100 per cent to be successful.

According to experts, restaurants should have unique marketing ideas and strategies which can improve the business and get attention from ‘hungry eyes’ everywhere. “The Business is growing huge because of the millennial eating habit and taste, which has changed, as they are well travelled and seeking adventurous platter who have more belief on food porn,” shared Zorawar Kalra, MD & Founder, Massive Restaurants Pvt. Ltd.

The trends of casual and family dining are the ones that are feeling the constant pressure from the attack of so-called fast casual chains. Casual dining restaurants usually serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and the restaurant staffs provide full service. The food usually takes longer to prepare and serve, compared to fast casual chains and the restaurant does not offer a drive-through ordering facility.

“Everyone wants to share things online and the young generation wants the content for their page,” said Vikrant Batra, Owner, Cafe Delhi Heights.

There are a lot of people addicted to pulling out their cell phones to take snapshots of the creative food like greasy burgers, frothy mochas and picturesque cupcakes they eat, while out in the town. Vaibhav Kumaravel, Partner, The Chinese Story shared, “The news spreads on social media so fast that you can probably become the star of the night.”

Now there are many restaurants that started promoting at an official Instagram menu also, but other joints have also embraced the photo-sharing network. The idea of using the hashtag is actually for observing how many people pulled out their mobile phones once their plates hit the table. Even the well-known chefs and popular restaurants are enthusiastically interacting with their customers on social networking sites and making it memorable.

 

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Entrepreneurs & Educated Consumers will Disrupt the Future of Eating out
Entrepreneurs & Educated Consumers will Disrupt the Future of Eating out
 

Grabbing patrons at your restaurants is quite tricky in today’s time as the consumers are no longer concerned merely satisfying their hunger but they are actually visiting your restaurant to find that emotional connect. This connect encourages them to visit your restaurant again and again.

Triggering emotions at ‘Restaurants’

In the last two years, the industry witnessed so much discussion about innovation, tapping the regular customers, because they are the one who is bringing the money back. But, beyond all these will push the restaurant into growth mode is that ‘emotional connect’ which one need to introduce into the brand.

“India has come on the world food map. The kind of customers we receive at our outlet are much more mature than it was a few years back. They try something new every time they visit a restaurant,” pointed out Priyank Sukhija, Owner, Lazeez Afaaire Group.

Sharing the same thought, Zorawar Kalra, MD & Founder, Massive Restaurants Pvt. Ltd., shared, “I don’t believe in the brand loyalty because if a person will stick to the same cuisine, there will be no room for other brands to grow. And experimentation and innovation is what we have in our DNA.”

As the brand grows, the customer experiences newness. Add things which the customers can connect with them, the taste of the food, the ambience, the music, the aromas and a multiple of all these things which makes him remember why he was here at your restaurant. 

Commenting on the same, Vikrant Batra, Owner, Cafe Delhi Heights pointed, “Today, the customers want content for their social page; they want experience at the restaurants which they can share with their friends.”

Adding further Vaibav Kumaravel, Partner, The Chinese Story, said, “Being new to the business, we are trying to include all the five senses which can connect the customer with our brand. We are trying to give the customer a quality time at our restaurant.”

With changing time, the restaurants need to be out of their pseudo-modernisation mode and amalgamation of traditional cuisine with a modern touch makes it worth gaining business rather than just serving the way it was a few years back.

“As long as the customers support a brand, they will be regular customers,” shared Dheeraj Gupta, MD, Jumboking Foods Pvt Ltd.

Adding on the same lines, Mohit Khattar, CEO & MD, Nature’s Basket commented, “A very critical presentation of your brand is the need of the hour.”

Hence, we can see that with millennial eating at least 5-6 times a week, the eating out trend is really going to bring India on the world food map as creating emotional connections with the guests drive their need to come to you.

 

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Social media, new marketing strategy for fast food chains
Social media, new marketing strategy for fast food chains
 

From announcing location of new outlet, new product launch and introduction of exclusive cuisine, to responding over the never ending complaints of the consumers, the fast food brands are using social media as a never ending gamut for product placement and promotion in India. The trend has not only become the most preferred way of promotion, but it’s actually helping the biggies to reach maximum consumers in minutes.

What’s trending

To get a clear picture of effectiveness and reach of social media in tapping the target consumers, Restaurant India tracked few fast food brands that are dominating the Indian market and are efficiently reaping good returns by using social media as a marketing tool. 

US fast food chain, Burger King, which has opened its first outlet in New Delhi, has received 111,417 likes and 24 visits, much before the brand has even widely targeted the Indian market. The Miami based burger chain has effectively used social media to monitor itself in the fast growing food market in India. Not only this, the burger chain has organised competition on Twitter from where customers can redeem the BK’s coupon to taste the whooper burgers. On the other hand, KFC, which is highly appreciated among chicken lovers for its crisp fried chicken snacks, has 35,702,812 likes and 554,915 visits.

Similarly, choosing the same tricks of global food chains, Indian majors like Salt Water Cafe, owned by Riyaaz Amlani has gained over 7,921 likes while Bangalore based Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), which has changed the coffee drinking segment in India, has over 5,106,405 likes and 782,312 visits on its official Facebook page. Infact, the brand is too regular in updating its Facebook page with pictures and deals that it gets maximum page visit. CCD has also introduced a mobile app to tap tech savvy consumers.

Commenting on the growing trend of social media, Chef Surjan Sing Jolly, Director F&B, JW Marriott, Bangalore says, “Biggest trend in India is all about going social. Restaurants are all driving around social gatherings and connections on Facebook and Twitter.”

Way ahead

Social media guide the restaurateurs in defining their promotional goals and working out a strategy that works best for their branding and successful operation. According to The National Restaurant Association’s 2012 Restaurant Industry Forecast, almost one-third of consumers were prepared to follow a restaurant on social media, if special offers were available.

The study also unveiled that social media environment has become cluttered with too many different platforms and restaurant owners’ efforts that were frustrated by limited resources and understanding of how to approach social media for their businesses.

Meanwhile, experts also suggest that the restaurant should also keep a track on how the customer is responding to a particular post and comment. They were of the opinion that as a brand, the food majors need to keep a record whether a customer has tagged the brand somewhere, clicked a photo of the food being served to him and promoted the same on the social platform.

Shobita Kadan, who heads marketing at Impresario says, “My team who sits at the outlet knows more about the customers and we authorise them to reply to the feedback that comes online. The relationship here becomes direct and we get a lot of useful information as well.”

The restaurateurs should also emphasise on finding out a tool to validate and monitor the kind of people writing reviews online about the brand for making it constructive and creating business out of it.

So, if you are using social media to build the business, it is all about listening and responding to your customers. According to the researches and experts comments, we can say that major fast food brands are reaping good profits and consumer attention by using social media. Listening to what consumers want and trying their best to give them quality service, have made them customers’ favourite and most preferred choice, when planning to eat out.

Thereby, if you are using Facebook to promote your restaurant, post new launches and videos on your fan page and enjoy the smart brand positioning in the market.

 

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How brands are promoting themselves this festive season?
How brands are promoting themselves this festive season?
 

Restaurants in India have adopted various methods to place themselves in the highly competitive market in the country.  As a restaurant, using Facebook, Twitter and other social media platform are about strategic timing, personality and presenting offers. Offers are restaurants’ products and services. To give customers a delight of the same, these restaurants are bombarding the market with lucrative deals and new product offerings.

The Beer Cafe, which has already became one of the known brands serving world class beer, has introduced Witlinger – India’s first indigenous speciality beer in the market which will be available through its outlet in Delhi-NCR and Maharashtra. The cafe has the first mover advantage in terms of introducing the Pour Your Own Beer (PYOB) concept in the country. On the other hand, Pause Wine, which has pioneered wine drinking in India, has introduced choicest dessert wine varietal and a specialty ‘Indian Nectar’ in India to celebrate the festive season of Christmas and New Year.

Seal the deal

Introducing new products and offerings not only increases one’s clientele, but also help in getting back the lost customers. Benihana, the Japanese restaurant which entered India early this year is bombarding customers with new offers, including the DJ nights and free drive to hold on to the Indian customers.

Commenting on the same, Divyansha, Marketing Head, Benihana, says, “Benihana is an international brand which believes in innovating the concept of dining in. We keep coming up with engaging promotions for our customers. The customers will keep coming to us because our motto is providing them ‘Eat-a-tainment.”

“Beer drinking in India is changing drastically. Consumers are trying different flavours and style of beers. Kaama’s focus has always been beers and we are overwhelmed with the outstanding response Witlinger has received. To serve the same to Indian masses, we have introduced it in India,” shares Anuj Kushwah, Managing Director, KaamaImpex, which hosted the launch of India’s first specialty beer along with The Beer Cafe.

Sharing the same insight, Rajesh Patil, Chairman and MD, Rendez-vous Wines India Pvt Ltd, says, “We hope to strike a sweet chord with Indian wine lovers over a bottle of ‘Indian Nectar’. This nimbly sweet wine with hints of fruit flavours is sure to appeal the Indian palate. And what could have been a more opportune time than the festive season to gift our wine lovers a reason to relax and rejoice with a specialty that will spread joy and sweetness in every celebration.”

Spreading the ‘word’

Unlike the other F&B promotions, where print and television is involved, restaurants like Benihana, The Beer Cafe and Farzi Cafe are now using direct marketing at store level. Benihana and other food joints are also marketing through their PR agencies by sending information to all media houses.

On the other hand, major wine makers like Pause Wine and The Beer Cafe are using social media platform to sell their products.

Budget for the seasonal deals differs from the regular budgets that restaurants keep for their promotional activities. According to the experts, the budgets imposed on these deals are half of the normal budgets required to promote a restaurants. At the same time, restaurants are expecting half of the profits this festive season, somewhere around 6 per cent as compared to their regular 12 per cent benefit.

To conclude, there is a huge opportunity for the locals in the city to avail these benefits and hangout at their favourite food joints to enjoy the season of delight.

 

Pic Courtesy: Wordpress.com

 

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Junk food brands using Facebook to target young people
Junk food brands using Facebook to target young people
 

Junk food brands are engaging with young Facebook users to promote unhealthy foods which can contribute to obesity and lifestyle diseases, a new study has found, says a PTI report.

Researchers at the University of Sydney have shed light on the digital marketing strategies of energy dense, nutrient-poor food (EDNP) brands to teens and young adults who are using Facebook.

"Our findings show that unhealthy food and beverage marketing is prolific and seamlessly integrated within online social networks," said lead author Dr Becky Freeman, from the University of Sydney's School of Public Health.

"Adolescents and young adults are engaging with brands like Dominos, Slurpee and Skittles on Facebook on a near-daily basis."

"Given the exponential growth in use of social media websites such as Facebook among young people, there is a need to understand the techniques and reach of this kind of marketing on these sites."

"Soft drinks and energy drink brand pages are hugely popular on Facebook, reflecting the high consumption of these products among adolescents and young adults," Freeman said.

The study used a sample of top-ranked Facebook pages of food manufacturers, food brands, retailers and restaurants.

The resulting analysis reviewed 27 food and beverage brand Facebook pages on the basis of their marketing techniques, follower engagement and marketing reach of messages posted by the pages.

"Young Facebook users willingly spread marketing messages on behalf of food and beverage corporations with seemingly little incentive or reward required," Freeman said.

"Any activity that users engage with on brand pages can appear in the news feed of their friends, so marketing messages quickly amplify across social networks. This kind of consumer involvement and engagement is unique to social media communication," Freeman said.

"The Facebook pages in our study were not simply low-budget fan pages, all were professionally moderated and appeared to be administered by either the company brand owner or an advertising agency," said Freeman.

"In terms of health policy, much of the current work to limit exposure to EDNP advertising is focused on restricting advertisements during children's television programmes and viewing hours.

"Our study shows that this narrow focus is likely to miss large amount of online advertising aimed at adolescents.

"As a minimal first step, increased monitoring of how EDNP food and beverages are marketed on social media is essential," Freeman said.

Researchers said the study focused on Australian Facebook users, but the findings have international relevance given that many of the pages in the study were for global brands. 

 

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Managing Consumer Feedback on Social Media
Managing Consumer Feedback on Social Media
 

Over the years, social media has overcome as the largest marketplace for the restaurant industry. Restaurant brands today are more convenient advertising themselves through social connect as they can connect to larger masses on this ground.

Social media guide the restaurateurs in defining their social media goals and working out a strategy that would work best for their set up. But what seems difficult for the restaurateurs is managing consumers on the social platform.

“Being a restaurateur, we need to accept all kind of feedback and reply to it timely. It’s the part of the ecosystem. We can’t get applauds all the time. Our first and basic mantra is to answer it and not to react but proact. Social media is something you cannot ignore”, says, Rahul Singh, Owner, The Beer Cafe.

According to The National Restaurant Association’s 2012 Restaurant Industry Forecast, almost one-third of consumers were prepared to follow a restaurant on social media if special offers were available. The study also found that social media environment has become cluttered with too many different platforms and restaurant owners’ efforts were frustrated by limited resources and understanding of how to approach social media for their businesses.

Experts in the sector believe that, there are about 244 million people who are online customers and India is the 2nd largest internet user country. The research also shows that 75 percent of the internet users are below 35 years of age and 86 percent of people spend time on social media

Shuchir Suri, whose three passions include Food, People and Technology, exactly in the order, believes that brands could actually leverage on negative reviews by handling them well and creating goodwill amongst the readers. “If a restaurant gets negative feedback again and again, there is something wrong with the product”, he emphasised. Adding on to the techniques to adapt for online posts, he said, “When you share a post and a photograph on Friday, there are 60 percent chances that you get more likes than on a Monday. For instagram, if you have a post with more than 250 words, 180 percent chance that you’ll get more likes.” He also suggested that user generated content is better than restaurateurs creating them and one must leverage on that as it is free of cost.

Many a times people share negative reviews to get free meals and it becomes very difficult to manage it experts believes. However, one has to address it. Like at Impresario Entertainment owned by Riyaaz Amlani, they have a policy where within 24 hrs, they respond to every single comment that is made online. And they take negative reviews to understand what went wrong with the customer’s experience.”

On responding to who should reply to the online feedback, Shobita Kadan, President, Marketing, Impresario, says, “that this business of being personal with the customer should be taken online as well. My team who sits at the outlet knows more and we authorise them to reply to that feedback. The relationship here becomes direct and we get a lot of useful information as well.”

Saurabh Sengupta, Country Head, Zomato India who himself has built the sales team in various cities and made Zomato one of the leading influencers in the industry comment by adding that, “We work on the technical angle to handle consumer feedback to track down fake and the genuine profiles. We took inspiration from twitter which brought this beautiful concept of followers. If you do not write interesting stuff, you will not have followers. And that’s what you can’t buy. You can’t buy social reputation.”

Commenting on tracking ROI through Social media, Saurabh said we need to focus on the social ROI here. “We need to keep a track of whether the consumer has tagged us somewhere, clicked a picture through instagram for building him as promoters out there”.

Hence, Social Media cannot give you a tangible return. It is for creating a personal connect. You might have thousands of likes on your page but it does not mean you will have thousands entering your restaurant on a day to day basis. Social media is a way to communicate and when you will sound like a sales person on it, no one will like it, believes experts.

 

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10 Tips to Avoid Social Media Disasters
10 Tips to Avoid Social Media Disasters
 

Social media is here to stay whether you like it or not. For businesses, social media sites provide the opportunity to engage, listen to customers and without using it as a medium to just advertise themselves.

Social media is about embracing your market – the good and the bad. It not only acts as a key to the growth for your restaurant business, but can also damage your restaurant’s brand. There have been many blunders as far as public relations and social media is concerned for promoting restaurants, as this has brought about enormous waste of restaurant’s time.

Here are some tips on how one can avoid a social media disaster.

1.       One needs to plan for the worst while expecting the best. A professional and responsible manager should be in charge of all communication on various sites and this person should be very well versed on the many risks of social media.

2.       All employees should go through social media training and be taught how to respond to negative comments posted on the social media.

3.       Employees should be guided to engage in debates positively and have a conversation, rather than preach or try to control the controversies.

4.       One has only 140 characters to express on Twitter and it gets hard to combine humour and sensitivity into the marketing message. Be careful, as sometimes the tone of your message doesn’t get through on Twitter.

5.       Never try ill conceived ideas to make a video go viral on the web. Spoof generally never works in good wonders. And try not to have multiple accounts as it shifts focus.

6.       Social media is about developing relationships and not spamming them. Apologise when you do something wrong. Use it as an opportunity to engage in conversations with those who are offended.

7.       Identify and nurture social media influencers within your target audience. Try test campaigns before they are launched.

8.       Invest in real-time social media monitoring tools that track conversations and posts about your brand.

9.       Failing to deal badly with negative online reputation can blow up in your face. Find ways to convert negative publicity into a positive one. Respond to potentially negative posts in a positive way and let the poster also know what the company is doing to fix the problem.

10.    Failing to deal with customer complaints can lead to frustrated customers taking their cause to the social media, where they often find sympathetic readers/viewers. Social media posts can go viral real quick! Brand reputation can be damaged in just few hours. So work on it...

A hit on a restaurant, for something like an anti-social media campaign, can become costly. There are a few reasons why such disasters happen – lack of corporate social media policies, lack of real-time monitoring, not responding to customer concerns, employees not trained in company policies, lack of professional social media managers, too much focus on self-promotion (lack of relationship building) and lack of due diligence before launching social campaigns. Give a thought to the reasons as that can help you build a strong PR for your restaurant.

 

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