The other day a restaurant owner and I were discussing the challenges he’s facing in these economic times. His food costs are up…utilities are up…health insurance for employees is always going up…taxes are higher, and on and on and on. Everything is headed up—except his sales volume.
The number of customers visiting his restaurant was down slightly. The average ticket was down, too. More and more moms and dads were splitting dinners to economize. Even sales in the bar were down. I guess that means people can’t even afford to “drown their sorrows.” What to do?
He did make some modifications to his menu which did, in fact, help. Then he freshened his advertising to reflect the new dinner entrees available for under $10.00. But even with the increase in traffic, receipts were still well short of where they needed to be. He sheepishly admitted that the thought had crossed his mind to cut back on his advertising efforts. Continue Reading
