A grand restaurant opening is your first chance to create brand awareness and attract media attention. It is an opportunity to introduce the facility, the food, and the concept to potential customers. New restaurants crop up every day, and you might just get lost in the crowd unless you make an impact with a grand opening. In this article, we will walk you through some innovative restaurant opening ideas that the UK restauranteurs can implement to leave an everlasting impression on your customers.
Stellar Restaurant Opening Ideas For Restaurants In The UK
These are some of the restaurant opening ideas that can be implemented.
1. Plan For Your Restaurant Opening Ideas In Advance
Considering that the opening of your restaurant will be your big day, you must plan well in advance. Plan at least a month in advance if nothing less. Prepare a Plan Calendar, where you should outline your plans in full detail. Schedule your calendar well. It should include what you are planning to organize, on which day, the discounts that you will be offering, the special menu, and the special guests you are planning to invite on the main day.
Once you have your planner ready, ensure that you stick to it and focus on the flawless execution of the plan. It is recommended that you get on board an event planner who would take care of your restaurant inauguration for you.
2. Soft Restaurant Opening Ideas That You Must Not Neglect
The soft opening should be the first step on your planner. This is essentially the period when you introduce your restaurant, the menu, the decor, and everything to your family, friends, vendors, and influencers in the community. In turn, they will give you unadulterated opinions about your restaurant and will spread the news of your arrival in the vicinity.
Remember to keep your target audience in mind, and invite a few people from the local press and prominent personalities. Ask for feedback from the guests as it will help you make the necessary changes to further hone your restaurant business. If required, seek the professional advice of a restaurant consultant when launching your restaurant business.
Source: Bloomberg
3. Market Your Restaurant Well
A grand restaurant opening must always be supported by smart marketing. In fact, you must start the marketing campaigns even before you throw open the doors of your restaurant. Although online marketing is the new trend, do not miss out on the huge potential that offline marketing holds for you.
Put up hoardings, distribute flyers and pamphlets in the entire vicinity, and place ads in the local newspapers. You can even put up a small outdoor advertising kiosk for a day or two, in and around the vicinity of your restaurant location, where people can taste some of your starters. If a customer likes the taste of your food, he is likely to visit your restaurant again.
Apart from the offline marketing strategies, create ad campaigns for social media and the web. Begin with putting up pictures and videos of the story behind how your restaurant has established. This will help in creating a lot of anticipation and excitement amongst your customers. Post about the offers and discounts that your restaurant will be providing, post videos where your chefs talk about the specialty dishes, and highlight unique features that make it distinct from your competitors.
4. Host An Opening Event
Some event ideas that you can implement for announcing the grand opening of your restaurant are:
- Deals And Offers to Attract More Customers: Consider offering a free dish, dessert, a free drink, a slice of pizza, or a coupon or voucher to encourage customers to visit again. Your existing customers will spread the news of the discounts that are being offered, and this will introduce your restaurant to a host of new potential customers.
- Menu It Right: Offer a special menu to your guests for your grand opening.
- Reach out to the Media: Reach out to media and influencers who can cover the opening of your restaurant.
Implement these proven restaurant opening ideas in the UK and leave an unforgettable impression on your customers!
