Economy recession puts customers in a position where they have to set a priority between spending and their expenditures. They tend to reduce their spending and save money for unforeseen activities. This is more prevalent in a country like Nepal where people prioritize saving over spending due to lack of job security, solely being responsible for the whole family and instable economic and political condition.
If I were a manager, I would experiment on the following strategies to sustain my business.
Creative Marketing
When the economy is down, it forces you to spend the money carefully. Nonetheless, challenges give rise to innovation. I would make extensive use of social sites as they are the cheapest form of marketing which offers a wide range of coverage. Besides, people continue to use social media regardless of the political or economic condition. I would collaborate with organizations such as e-sewa which would maximize the visibility of my restaurant, with online food delivery services such as Foodmandu and Bhoklagyo. Besides, I can also partner with organizations in exchange of gift vouchers when people eat at my restaurant and vice versa for the organizations I partner with. I would also look back at my sales in the past to observe the type of demographics that has been recurring, to effectively prepare a marketing strategy targeting them.
Reengineering the product
As people cannot spare money to spend in the restaurants, I would work on lowering the costs of the product to maintain a constant flow of customers. It can happen through bulk purchase of raw materials. I would also hold meeting with my team on what food item is sold more frequently than others. KFC is famous for their chicken, Pizza Hut for their pizzas and Delicious Momos for their momos. The item which is the bestseller of my restaurant could be sold at a slightly lesser price, enticing people to come back for it. Meanwhile, price of side dishes that people order with this item could be increased. Likewise, I would market such items which has more profit margin than the ones with lower profit margins. I would also try to introduce items in my menu, which would cost me less but would fetch me more sales and profit margins.
Catering to customer needs
If people are not ready to eat outside, why not take food to their home? Giving them services as free delivery or partnering with food delivery companies could still work in continuation of sales as it saves people the cost of coming to the restaurant. To add to that, I would go and try to associate my restaurant with offices, and corporate houses around my location to provide lunch services to them to maintain sales and regulate the cash flow. People have to eat lunch regardless. If I am able to provide them lunch at a price they would have to spend anyways, along with the benefits like reward points giving them a free lunch for say, every fifteenth time they use my service, then it would definitely be appealing to them.
Referrals
Referrals are popular these days. Wouldn’t it be great if it fetched you a cup of cappuccino by just referring the restaurant to some of your friends? Getting some blog writers write about the restaurant in their blogs, getting reviews published in the newspapers are some of the things I would focus on. Restaurant reviews are published regularly on “The Himalayan Times” and on a Youtube program sun by M&S v-mag.
Specific timings and local context.
Many restaurants, especially bakeries, offer discounts in the evening or at certain time of the day. I would also introduce this in my restaurant where customers can get the same food at a cheaper price for some time period of the day.
I would also bring in schemes such as special discount for local customers as they would bring in their family and friends to make use of the discount and in turn, my business will keep running.
Events and special food items
I would take time to organize events in my restaurants on a regular basis. Or at least, find people who would organize their events at mine. This would ensure the flow of customers in my restaurant. For instance, stand-up comedy is relatively new in Nepal’s context. If I could get someone to arrange their stand-up show in my place then, I would be supporting a new initiative, creating visibility for my restaurant and also generating some sales.
I would also take regular inputs from my staffs on improvisation of food items. Fusion of local food to that with modern ones would be a good enough risk to undertake. Serving of a new food item on one special day of the week, could attract customers in search of new food items. It also generates some kind of excitement among the customers as they would want to come back each week to try that special dish.
Quality of the food
Most importantly, the quality of the food at my restaurant would never be compromised. There are various ways of cutting down the costs and to increase the sales but compromising on the quality of food is something I would never do. I would work on creating a brand value of my restaurant by maintaining the quality regardless of any recession or economic downfall.
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Economy recession puts customers in a position where they have to set a priority between spending and their expenditures. They tend to reduce their spending and save money for unforeseen activities. This is more prevalent in a country like Nepal where people prioritize saving over spending due to lack of job security, solely being responsible for the whole family and instable economic and political condition.
If I were a manager, I would experiment on the following strategies to sustain my business.
Creative Marketing
When the economy is down, it forces you to spend the money carefully. Nonetheless, challenges give rise to innovation. I would make extensive use of social sites as they are the cheapest form of marketing which offers a wide range of coverage. Besides, people continue to use social media regardless of the political or economic condition. I would collaborate with organizations such as e-sewa which would maximize the visibility of my restaurant, with online food delivery services such as Foodmandu and Bhoklagyo. Besides, I can also partner with organizations in exchange of gift vouchers when people eat at my restaurant and vice versa for the organizations I partner with. I would also look back at my sales in the past to observe the type of demographics that has been recurring, to effectively prepare a marketing strategy targeting them.
Reengineering the product
As people cannot spare money to spend in the restaurants, I would work on lowering the costs of the product to maintain a constant flow of customers. It can happen through bulk purchase of raw materials. I would also hold meeting with my team on what food item is sold more frequently than others. KFC is famous for their chicken, Pizza Hut for their pizzas and Delicious Momos for their momos. The item which is the bestseller of my restaurant could be sold at a slightly lesser price, enticing people to come back for it. Meanwhile, price of side dishes that people order with this item could be increased. Likewise, I would market such items which has more profit margin than the ones with lower profit margins. I would also try to introduce items in my menu, which would cost me less but would fetch me more sales and profit margins.
Catering to customer needs
If people are not ready to eat outside, why not take food to their home? Giving them services as free delivery or partnering with food delivery companies could still work in continuation of sales as it saves people the cost of coming to the restaurant. To add to that, I would go and try to associate my restaurant with offices, and corporate houses around my location to provide lunch services to them to maintain sales and regulate the cash flow. People have to eat lunch regardless. If I am able to provide them lunch at a price they would have to spend anyways, along with the benefits like reward points giving them a free lunch for say, every fifteenth time they use my service, then it would definitely be appealing to them.
Referrals
Referrals are popular these days. Wouldn’t it be great if it fetched you a cup of cappuccino by just referring the restaurant to some of your friends? Getting some blog writers write about the restaurant in their blogs, getting reviews published in the newspapers are some of the things I would focus on. Restaurant reviews are published regularly on “The Himalayan Times” and on a Youtube program sun by M&S v-mag.
Specific timings and local context.
Many restaurants, especially bakeries, offer discounts in the evening or at certain time of the day. I would also introduce this in my restaurant where customers can get the same food at a cheaper price for some time period of the day.
I would also bring in schemes such as special discount for local customers as they would bring in their family and friends to make use of the discount and in turn, my business will keep running.
Events and special food items
I would take time to organize events in my restaurants on a regular basis. Or at least, find people who would organize their events at mine. This would ensure the flow of customers in my restaurant. For instance, stand-up comedy is relatively new in Nepal’s context. If I could get someone to arrange their stand-up show in my place then, I would be supporting a new initiative, creating visibility for my restaurant and also generating some sales.
I would also take regular inputs from my staffs on improvisation of food items. Fusion of local food to that with modern ones would be a good enough risk to undertake. Serving of a new food item on one special day of the week, could attract customers in search of new food items. It also generates some kind of excitement among the customers as they would want to come back each week to try that special dish.
Quality of the food
Most importantly, the quality of the food at my restaurant would never be compromised. There are various ways of cutting down the costs and to increase the sales but compromising on the quality of food is something I would never do. I would work on creating a brand value of my restaurant by maintaining the quality regardless of any recession or economic downfall.