Take Advantage of Your Customer’s Technology

January 21, 2019

Some restaurant owners hate seeing customers snapping photos of food – it means that the food isn’t eaten at its best, and sometimes it’s a sign of a table that’s going to be slow to turn over.

Then there are other owners and managers who see an opportunity. The truth is that you can save a lot of money on restaurant equipment and marketing simply by taking advantage of your customer’s technology.

Here’s how to use your customer’s tech to promote your business!

 

Run Social Media Hashtag Promotions

One way to get great exposure for your restaurant – with no additional work – is to run a promotion inviting customers to share pictures of your restaurant with a particular hashtag.

Let’s say you offer a seasonal dessert menu. If your restaurant is named “Nonni’s”, you can invite customers to share a picture of a dessert with the hashtag #dessertatNonnis.

You’re getting your name out to thousands of new prospects in a great, positive way. It doesn’t require any additional restaurant equipment or marketing money. It’s a huge win.

 

Offer Loyalty Rewards for Sharing Photos

Another thing you can do is give your customers a reason to share. You can run contests or award points for social media posts about the restaurant.

In the previous example, you can specifically tell your customers that if they share a dessert picture with the hashtag #dessertatNonnis, they will be entered to win a free dinner or another promotion.

You can also have a loyalty app and one way to earn points can be to post to social media about their recent visit to your restaurant.

When you offer loyalty rewards for sharing photos and experiences, you’re giving customers a great reason to promote you. Why spend on expensive restaurant equipment for marketing when your customers can handle it?

 

Offer Incentives for Sharing Your Social Media Posts

One thing you see commonly on Facebook is a store sharing a social media post, and offering a prize to one of the people who like, share, or comment on the post.

Those who follow you online will see your post and share, comment on, and like it. This will dramatically extend your reach and you don’t have to spend a dime on a promoted post or Facebook marketing.

When posts from your Facebook page are getting a lot of good activity in terms of shares, comments, and likes, your business will seem more influential. This will help increase your organic reach even when you aren’t running a contest.

You don’t need specialized restaurant equipment focused on marketing when you can take advantage of happy customers. Create effective posts and encourage your followers to share away!

 

Save Your Cash for Important Restaurant Equipment

When you build your business with the help of your customer’s technology rather than your own marketing dollars, you’ll have more time and money to spend where it counts.

Are you looking for some new or high-quality used restaurant equipment to upgrade your kitchen in 2019? If so, we’d love to help. We’ve been serving restaurants in the Little Rock area for years, and we’d love to help you as well.

Contact us for more information today!

5 Essential Buying Tips for Your Next Food Prep Work Table

5 Essential Buying Tips for Your Next Food Prep Work Table

The right foodservice equipment is pivotal to the efficiency of your kitchen. One of the most important types of foodservice equipment for any kitchen is the work table. With limited room on countertops available for your food prep needs, the cooking process can drag...

read more
Tips for Keeping Your Commercial Sink Sparkling Clean

Tips for Keeping Your Commercial Sink Sparkling Clean

Your commercial kitchen, just like your personal kitchen, must be kept clean at all times. With all of the cooking and food processing you do, it is inevitable that your sink gets messy. Cleaning up your commercial kitchen is incomplete without proper cleaning of your...

read more
Food-Cutting Secrets to Beautiful Dishes

Food-Cutting Secrets to Beautiful Dishes

In the restaurant industry, presentation is often said to be just as important as the food itself. Using the right knowledge, skills and restaurant supplies, you can incorporate creativity into your presentation, making guests feel that they are getting something...

read more
Top Space-Saving Tips for Commercial Kitchens

Top Space-Saving Tips for Commercial Kitchens

Top Space-Saving Tips for Commercial Kitchens Space is always an important consideration when setting up a kitchen, and this is even truer for commercial kitchens. With a strong focus on functionality and the kitchen supplies that meet the needs of your commercial...

read more
5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Mixer

5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Mixer

No one wants to eat off of dirty or tarnished silverware. A stand mixer is a highly useful piece of kitchen equipment to invest in. Although this type of kitchen equipment does not usually come cheap, it can last a lifetime when properly cared for. Despite all your...

read more
Restaurant Prep Tool Selection Simplified

Restaurant Prep Tool Selection Simplified

What’s a restaurant kitchen without high-quality prep tools that can withstand the pressure of frequent use? Whether you already have a restaurant you’re running, or you’re just planning to launch one, one vital factor that could make or mar your business is how you...

read more
Beginner’s Guide to Choosing a Commercial Ice Cream Freezer

Beginner’s Guide to Choosing a Commercial Ice Cream Freezer

Ice cream is a delicious and appealing desert treat for everyone, young or old. Having made the decision to sell ice cream to your customers, whether you have a restaurant, convenience store, or specialty ice cream parlor, it is time to begin stocking up on the right...

read more
How to Choose the Right Kitchen Scales for Your Restaurant

How to Choose the Right Kitchen Scales for Your Restaurant

A food scale is an essential item in every restaurant’s store of kitchen supplies. Designed to take the guesswork out of food measurement and maintain consistent food serving sizes, food scales are indispensable kitchen supplies in the commercial kitchen. With such a...

read more
Beer Chilling Systems: Which Type Is Right for My Restaurant?

Beer Chilling Systems: Which Type Is Right for My Restaurant?

A refrigeration unit is integral to the functioning of any restaurant. Beers are best served cold - there’s no questioning that! But which beer chilling system is the best? From reach-in coolers to glycol chillers, a beer chilling system is an important piece of...

read more
What Equipment Will I Need to run a Food Truck?

What Equipment Will I Need to run a Food Truck?

There’s a lot of planning that goes into starting your own food truck business. Before you hit the road with your delicious food offerings, you’ll need to fill up your truck with all the right foodservice equipment. Considering the lengthy list of possible items to be...

read more
8 Types of Food Thermometers: What You Need To Know

8 Types of Food Thermometers: What You Need To Know

Food thermometers are essential restaurant supplies for your commercial kitchen. They ensure that foods prepared in your commercial kitchen are cooked to the right temperature and held at that temperature for as long as necessary to kill any harmful bacteria. This...

read more
How to Identify the Best Food Processor for Your Needs

How to Identify the Best Food Processor for Your Needs

Highly versatile and extremely efficient, food processors are designed to take away the hard work from repetitive kitchen activities. This type of cooking equipment can quickly become an invaluable tool in your kitchen. From chopping, to shredding, grinding, mincing,...

read more
6 Keys to Choosing the Best Chafing Dishes for Your Restaurant

6 Keys to Choosing the Best Chafing Dishes for Your Restaurant

The chafing dish, also known as the chafer, is an essential piece of restaurant equipment for any establishment that wants to keep food hot. This type of restaurant equipment gets its name from the French word, chauffer, which means to heat, and it’s easy to see why....

read more
What’s in a Cooking Pot, How to Choose the Right One?

What’s in a Cooking Pot, How to Choose the Right One?

As a restaurant owner, your cooking needs might vary. Did you know that a good quality pot can greatly improve your cooking experience, while also improving the quality of your cooking? This cooking equipment is a very important one that cannot be done away with...

read more