|
Answer from our Guest Expert Kent Capener of Capener ConsultingPAGE 3Ways to Cater to the Community and the CollegeOld and young alike, we all get tired of our own cooking and going out to eat is real treat for most of us, especially college kids. They get tired of dorm food, delivery pizza, fast food burgers and the campus itself. Some of those college kids are going to come from the community. You can attract college students through selective menu choices with an eye to the cost. Offer these selections to everyone in the community, but keep the college kids in mind. To target college students specifically, try creating some "Friday night football"or "finals week feast" specials that cater to student tastebuds and schedules. Make your restaurant not only cozy for the community as a whole, but perhaps reserve a special corner of the restaurant especially to give the kids somewhere to eat and take a break from the day-to-day stresses of school while reading or participating in a study group. Simple and inexpensive offers, such as free drinks with meals with student ID, can really boost business and create repeat customers. Hire and AspireYou can also help build a bridge to the college kids by hiring them to work in your restaurant. Find out from them what's hot and what's not. Get a feel for what's happening on campus and ways your restaurant can chip in to promote your biz. You can also be inclusionary by opening a restaurant that serves food everyone would eat. The trends are here as well, so, I wouldn't recommend anything too out there, like Northern Pakistan Wok Table or even Sushi for a town of 80k, unless you're a suburb of a metro area. One concept that's coming back to stay is the diner with outside car side service (in warmer climes). Try to think of similar sort of options you could provide that are unique to your area and community. continued
Small Business Tax Center • Idea Cafe Home • Sign Up • Biz Grant Center • CyberSchmooz •Coffee Talk with Experts • People in Biz Profiles • Starting Your Biz • Biz Planning • Running Your Biz • FREE Trade Publications • Marketing • Financing Your Biz • Human Resources • Legal & Biz Forms • Managing Your Biz • eCommerce • You and Your Biz • Gen X • Work@Home • The Fridge • De-Stress • Send an Award • Send an eGreeting • Yoga @ Your Desk • Web Guide • Idea Cafe in the News • About Idea Cafe • Advertise on Idea Cafe • Contact Us • Privacy Policy • Site Map • Small Biz News Copyright 1995-2024, Idea Cafe Inc. Downloads are for personal use only, not for resale to others, and may not be reprinted in any form without written permission from Idea Cafe Inc. DISCLAIMER: We hope whatever you find on this site is helpful, but be cautioned that it may not apply to your own situation, or be totally current at any given time. Idea Cafe Inc. and all of its current and past experts, sponsors, advertisers, agents, contractors and advisors disclaim all warranties with regard to anything found anywhere on this family of websites, quoted from, or sent from Idea Cafe. and its related sites, publications and companies. We also take no responsibility for comments published by others on these pages. TRADEMARKS: The following are Registered Trademarks or Servicemarks of DevStart, Inc.: Idea Cafe®, Online Coffee Break®, The Small Business Gathering Place®, Take out Info®, Biz Bar & Grill®, Complaint-O-Meter®, A Fun Approach to Serious Business, CyberSchmooz, and BizCafe.
|
Meet the Idea Cafe Experts For more business advice, check Coffee Talk Answers
Got biz questions of your own brewing? Go post 'em in Idea Cafe's CyberSchmooz.
|