8 January 2025

3 Ways to Create Long-Term Relationships with Your Customers You may have many questions about your daily operations in the food and beverage industry, particularly concerning the restaurant you manage or lead. The primary goal is always to attract more customers and visitors, alongside implementing effective marketing strategies that enhance your restaurant’s reputation and the food and beverages you offer. Increasing the number of visitors to your restaurant at every stage is a strong indicator of your success. This endeavor requires working within a specific daily system, especially considering the fierce competition among different restaurants in the food market and your desire to distinguish your brand through the products you offer. The answer to building long-term relationships with your customers and visitors, including tourists in your area, involves three essential methods: 1- Get to Know Your Guests – Collect Data: The first step to understanding the nature and needs of your guests lies in the process of collecting information and data from them. This knowledge will help you effectively identify their preferences regarding food and drinks, what makes them happiest, and the motivations behind their interest in your restaurant. You can collect data about your guests through several methods that are both straightforward and effective: – Taking Notes: During table reservations or food orders, the staff can take notes related to the guest’s personality, needs, preferences, and tastes. – Feedback Cards: Use paper cards with blank spaces for guests to share their personal opinions. Distribute these cards after each meal or special experience. Encourage guests to leave their reactions on your restaurant’s social media pages or their own accounts. – Engagement: As a dining hall manager or restaurant owner, walk among the guests and ask them questions about the quality of service and food. 2- Make Your Guests Feel Important – Cared For: During the data collection process, you can focus on what distinguishes their experience in your restaurant by using some simple methods, such as: – Speak to younger guests informally, or engage with those of higher social status with grace, while still using proper titles when appropriate. – Remember what guests ate during their last visit and suggest they try it again, or recommend a similar dish that may suit their tastes. – Have the restaurant owner or chef personally visit guests to thank them and inquire about their experience and reactions. 3- Constantly Follow Up with Your Guests – Follow-Up: The relationship between a guest and your restaurant should extend beyond a single tasting experience. Guests typically seek to build a connection with your restaurant and its services, so it’s essential to nurture this desire and exert effort to strengthen it. The importance of continuous follow-up with customers is evident in communication after their experience, whether through sending text messages or emails about the latest products and offers, or making a simple phone call to entice them to visit again. However, be mindful that tastes vary from one guest to another. Avoid sending the same communication content to all your customers. Sending an advertisement for a new dish that contains meat or poultry ingredients may not resonate with a vegetarian guest. The biggest mistake is to repeatedly send the same content without recognizing that this could cause annoyance and widen the gap between you and your guests, rather than fostering closeness. Keywords:Restaurants, relationships, guests, customers.

Three Steps to Help the Restaurant Host Provide the Highest Levels of Service 1-Focus on the Guest:     Focusing your attention and services on the customer or guest is the key that will always ensure you receive the money you expect at the end of your workday. You may feel upset sometimes when you realize you are putting a lot of effort into providing meals, food, and drinks, yet don’t receive the expected return for this service. Therefore, you have to change your mindset and not focus solely on the money you desire. Instead, devote all your effort to making the guest happy with their experience in the restaurant. Additionally, don’t dwell on the number of guests or view each person as a significant material value in themselves. Instead, center your thoughts on the comfort of the guest and how to make them happy; this way, you’ll reap your desired material rewards more quickly. 2-Set a Specific Financial Goal for Yourself:     We do not mean by the previous advice that there should not be a financial goal in your mind as a waiter providing services to guests. Rather, having a financial goal is the motivation behind the patience and passion you show in your interest in visitors. Without this motivation, you may struggle to make your guest happy. So, set a financial goal you must achieve by the end of the month, such as earning 100 units of the currency you work with. Avoid making daily expectations for your earnings, as you may experience difficult days when you earn only 50 or even 70 units, leading to feelings of frustration and resentment. Instead, base your goals on a monthly or even bi-monthly plan. 3- Don’t Burden Yourself Too Much:     The only aspect a restaurant host can control is providing perfect service to the guests. Therefore, don’t feel frustrated or upset when you notice a large group of empty tables; the quality of the food provided by the kitchen may not be sufficient to encourage the customer to return, or the restaurant’s marketing methods may not be effective enough to motivate visitors to come. You may carry the costs of the service, hospitality, and care you provide to customers in the restaurant. Your goal is to impress the guests, thereby reaping expressions of gratitude and thanks. Keywords: Restaurants, Hospitality, Customers, Repeat Visits, High-End Service.