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Food & Wine Festival Checklist 

Carolina Duarte • Oct 01, 2019

Be prepared so your restaurant can fully take advantage of it!

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Restaurants go to food and wine festivals for several reason, outreach the local community, exposure to the restaurant, among others. But at the end of the day, they are all looking to get more customers, create customer relation which at the end it all leads to more sales.

How to properly prepare for a food festival and really take advantage of it?
I am not going to state the obvious about the food and the supplies needed for the festival, you are restaurant experts probably know more than me in that aspect. I am referring to getting all the marketing pieces together to give a wow experience to your customers, that is my area of expertise.
Believe or not it all starts online, even if you are at a food festival, chances are visitors, which most cases are food lovers, research online the restaurants that are going to be participating. If your restaurant makes a good impression chances are visitors would be going there first. However, if by any chance your restaurant image online (including your website, reviews, Facebook page, etc) does not make the expected impression, they will go to the next restaurant. Even if you do not like technology, do not use your phone, you do not check reviews, your customers DO.

This is a checklist of essentials you need to make a good impression and create customer retention after the food festival:

Create a good impression

  1. Your website, make sure your website is up-to-date, the menu is your current menu, your contact information is accurate, etc. Consumers tend to get frustrated when incorrect information is given. Have something on your website that encourages them to visit you at the food festival.
  2. Mobile friendly website , most people use their phone when researching. It is very important that your restaurant's website is easy to navigate on a smartphone (meaning no pinching and zooming). They might research your restaurant before and during the food festival.
  3. Your reviews online, do you know what your score is on Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor, etc? If you are not sure about this, take the time research it (just type on Google your restaurant name and all these review sites will come up) If you do not have reviews (maybe you are too new) thats OK these food festivals are a great opportunity to do so.

Customer Retention
  1. Mobile app, having a mobile app for your restaurant is a great way to stay in touch with your customers and create customers retention. During the food festival is a great opportunity to promote your app have a poster with all the advantages of your restaurant app and a QR so they can scan it and download it on their phones. If you already have an app, send a notification to all your customers and let them know you are going to be at that festival, you will be surprise how many will respond a visit.
  2. Email listing, take advantage of these food festivals to build your customer database. You could use this database to send them promotions or special events, staying in touch is key.
  3. Reviews, its time to collect reviews, make it easy for your customers to give you a review. You could have a QR they can scan on their smartphone

Preparation is key to the success of your restaurant at a food festival. Have your marketing elements prepared, make a good impression even before they visit your booth and use technology to stay closer to your customers while creating customer retention.

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Why My Restaurants Need a Mobile App?

By Carolina Duarte • 17 Feb, 2019
When was the last time you check your phone? or use it to research online? ( I wouldn't be surprise if you are reading this from your phone) Believe it or not with a mobile app you could get 98% of your customers attention, just take a second to imagine about all the benefits that could bring to your restaurants. If you target market is millennials and your restaurants are not or their phone, (through a mobile app, mobile site or mobile search) chances are they will not know who your are, meaning your restaurants do not exist in their world. Whether you like it or not chances are your competitor is getting a mobile app. Many restaurants ask me this question, why would my restaurants need a mobile app? The answer is why not? Let’s take a look at the benefits and you tell at the end of this article could come up with your own conclusion.
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