How To Keep A Restaurant Busy In An Economic Recession

Posted by Tupei Lu
Food & Drink
1873 Pageviews
During the recession of the later 2000s, one of the first luxuries to take a hit has been eating out. More and more people have opted to cook or take pre-packaged meals home rather than shelling out the bucks at a restaurant. Yet, some restaurants continue to thrive while others topple like ninepins.

What makes the difference between the successes and the failures?


  1. Food Quality. When faced with rising prices and falling clientele, restaurants tend to drop the most expensive ingredients of a dish, thus cutting costs. On top of that, they raise the price. The combination of increased cost and decreased satisfaction tends to drive customers away in droves. So whatever you do, keep your quality intact.

  2. Accept the inevitable. It is inevitable that your income will go down during the recession. Do not try to keep increasing your profits - instead, accept that you are working to maintain what you have, and basically to stay above water.

  3. Decrease variety. Cut the most expensive dishes off your menu. Offer delicacies that are made of inexpensive ingredients, and which rely more on the chef's skill and the freshness of ingredients rather than on exotic tastes and flavors.

  4. Stick to the tried and tested. In times of distress, people tend to fall back on what they know to be worth their money. Keep up the standards of your tried and tested best-selling dishes, even if it means decreasing your profit per dish or increasing the prices slightly. Overall, this may end up saving your restaurant in these difficult times.

  5. Introduce periodic specials. Keep offering your customers something new, so that they keep coming back. A flat discount is now a routine affair, so opt for different offers - for example, an Indian restaurant could offer discounted kebab platters one week, and South Indian platters on another.

  6. Service. Service is the one area that should not be compromised upon. If customers are used to friendly, attentive service, keep offering them that. Do not let your worries show, do not complain about decreasing profits, and treat your waiters with the same care you used to in prosperous times. People pay to eat out for the sake of a nice experience, so be prepared to offer them that.

  7. Offer cost-effective takeaways. Many people want to hit a compromise between eating out and cooking at home. A cheap takeaway, prepared fresh, tastes better than something from the supermarket but will still be cheaper than a full-course meal.


    8. Food is the single most basic necessity of human life. Therefore, restaurants will never ever go out of fashion. As long as you offer people good food, ambience and service, they will keep coming back. Just remember to act as if you are in the pink of economic health, and your customers will believe it too.
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