Operations

Elevate indoor dining to boost on-premise sales

Welcoming diners back with an inviting atmosphere is key for customer satisfaction.
Big Ass Fans

As restaurants across the country work hard to bounce back from the last two years of shuttered dining rooms, capacity limits and relying on takeout and delivery business, operators are looking at a variety of strategies to set themselves up for future success. Elevating the indoor dining experience is crucial right now in order to get customers through the door—and there are a number of ways to do so. Here are a few tips for making the dine-in experience one customers love.

Ensure order accuracy

According to Technomic’s 2021 Consumers in Year Zero report, 92% of consumers state that order accuracy is important or very important when selecting a restaurant to dine at. With factors going beyond mere preferences to include specialized diet accommodations, it makes sense that customer satisfaction hinges on whether their order is correct. Receiving the wrong side dish, for instance, can be much more than an inconvenience for a diner with food allergies. As such, operators should work hard with back-of-house and waitstaff to ensure order accuracy every time. Whether that means switching ticket systems or implementing a new process to double- or triple-check orders before they are brought to tables will vary from restaurant to restaurant, but the bottom line is: Order accuracy means satisfied customers.

Innovate menu offerings

Restaurant guests like having new reasons to visit their favorite spots—and menu innovation is the easiest way for operators to draw them in. Limited time offerings, for instance, happy hour deals and new menu offerings are all great ways to keep customers enticed. Consider offering a signature dessert, a game-day deal or a new dish available for just a few weeks or months. By creating new and exciting reasons for consumers to come in for a visit, operators can help set themselves up for success.

Upgrade the atmosphere

A comfortable dining room, above all, is key for helping encourage in-person visits. If the room is too hot or too cold, or if the air is stagnant and cooking smells are lingering, it can be off-putting. Luckily, there’s a solution that ensures guests are comfortable and can boost employee morale, too, all while lowering energy bills. Big Ass Fans provides restaurants with the air circulation needed to keep dining rooms comfortable, and the company’s products have been proven to significantly increase indoor air quality as well—something that’s been top of mind, to say the least, over the past few years. Large-span fans not only look sleek in restaurants, but when it comes to keeping the air comfortable and cool, they’re unmatched in efficiency.

Given the other struggles restaurants have been facing as of late, it’s never been more important to keep diners happy so they keep coming back. To learn more about how Big Ass Fans can elevate the indoor dining experience, visit www.bigassfans.com/commercial.

This post is sponsored by Big Ass Fans

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Despite their complaints, customers keep flocking to Chipotle

The Bottom Line: The chain continued to be a juggernaut last quarter, with strong sales and traffic growth, despite frequent social media complaints about shrinkflation or other challenges.

Operations

Hitting resistance elsewhere, ghost kitchens and virtual concepts find a happy home in family dining

Reality Check: Old-guard chains are finding the alternative operations to be persistently effective side hustles.

Financing

The Tijuana Flats bankruptcy highlights the dangers of menu miscues

The Bottom Line: The fast-casual chain’s problems following new menu debuts in 2021 and 2022 show that adding new items isn’t always the right idea.

Trending