The restaurant market registered sluggish growth till 2022. But, it is expected to grow strongly in the upcoming years. In 2022, the global food service market size was valued at $2,395.03 billion in 2022. But, it is predicted to rise to $5,423.59 billion by 2030 from $2,646.99 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 10.79%. That’s a whopping number.
Every year, about 50,000 new restaurants open in the U.S. With so many restaurants opening their doors to the public, how do you make yours discoverable? Establishing a solid online presence will increase your local restaurant’s discoverability. This will drive more footfall, which will improve your restaurant’s bottom line.
All that being said, we’ll share a few strategies that you can adopt to stand out in the culinary crowd.
#1 Develop a User-Friendly Website With a Menu
Creating a professional website is the most powerful way to establish your restaurant’s online presence. A website allows restaurateurs to showcase their offerings.
Recent research by Business Wire discloses that 79% of restaurant-goers often or always visit the website of a restaurant. Further, the survey discloses that 84% of diners often or always look up a restaurant’s menu beforehand.
Thus, you must design a visually appealing website that captivates your audience’s attention. Add all important details in the center of your homepage. Starting with the basics, include your restaurant’s address, phone number, and opening hours.
Listing all the key details on your homepage will help improve your rankings in the SERPs and lead to a pleasant user experience. An easy-to-read and up-to-date menu is also a must-have on your website. Upload high-quality, mouthwatering images of your dishes to trigger your audience’s visual hunger and arouse their appetite.
Many restaurant owners hire professional website builders, whereas others build websites on their own. The former will cost you a lot of money, while the latter will cost you a lot of time. Why not save yourself both and use an AI website builder?
Artificial intelligence-driven website builders speed up the process of website creation. Where web developers take weeks to develop a website, you can launch it within minutes. This is mainly because you don’t have to spend time designing individual elements or manually coding. Artificial intelligence does that for you. Thus, your restaurant’s website will go live faster than you think.
Also, you don’t have to be a tech expert to build your restaurant’s website using AI website builders. It just takes a few pieces of information for these platforms to create a website. Thereafter, you can customize it if you want. As Hocoos explains, you can select different fonts to make texts pop, create or change the color palette, and even blur the background to add a stylish touch.
#2 Use YouTube to Showcase Your Restaurant’s Dishes
YouTube is not just for songs or DIY tutorials. You can boost your restaurant’s visibility by showcasing your dishes and culinary expertise.
Share behind-the-scenes footage or upload videos of your chefs in action to captivate your audience’s attention. This will, thus, entice them to visit your restaurant, increasing footfall.
Somedays, you can host virtual cooking classes or create tutorial videos to engage with your viewers. You can also go live on YouTube or upload a video of your head chef taking viewers on a journey of creating your restaurant’s signature dish. Make sure to end the video with a close-up shot of the masterpiece. This will leave your audience eager to experience the dish in person, so they will visit your restaurant.
YouTube also offers restaurants the opportunity to collaborate with food bloggers. For a wider reach, consider inviting food bloggers to your restaurant. Their reviews will drive more customers to your restaurant.
#3 Register Your Restaurant on Food Delivery Apps
Ordering food online has gained traction over the last few years, especially post-pandemic. It’s easy to see why: customers can enjoy restaurant meals at home without stepping out.
Approximately 78.8% of U.S. consumers use food delivery services annually. About 45.4% of people use DoorDash, whereas 23.5% are members of DoorDash and DashPass. A 2023 survey by Upgraded Points reveals this.
Therefore, partnering with food delivery apps is essential for restaurateurs looking to boost their online presence. Uber Eats, DoorDash, GrubHub, Postmates, and Instacart, to name a few, are food delivery services you can partner with. One significant benefit of collaborating with food delivery platforms is that your restaurant will show up on people’s screens at the right time, i.e., when they are hungry.
While food delivery services take a good chunk of profit, partnering with them will make it easy for people to order from your restaurant. It will also help you build a strong online presence, expand your reach, and boost your sales. Nearly 84% of businesses report that partnering with UberEats has increased their revenue by an average of 15%. Thus, the pros outweigh the cons.
Putting it all together, a solid online presence is the key ingredient to success for local restaurants. Incorporating these strategies will help you boost your restaurant’s online presence and attract customers.
Encouraging your customers to leave reviews online and running ads on Facebook and Instagram are other ways to improve your local restaurant’s online presence. You must also list your restaurant on Google Business Profile and Maps. This will increase your restaurant’s visibility significantly.
Bear in mind that boosting your restaurant’s online presence will require a bit of work and patience. But you’ll see amazing results with time, so don’t lose heart.
