The handbook · Run and grow
Get customers
The best food in town does not help if nobody knows you exist. Most of what works costs time, not money.
Summary
Start with Google Business Profile, it brings the most new guests of any channel. Add address, opening hours, menu and pictures, and ask every happy guest for a review. After that comes the sign on the street, the neighbours in the block and the lunch guests from the offices within a hundred metres. Social media is a complement, not the base.
Numbers to plan with
- Google first
- the business profile on Google brings the most new guests of everything you do
- 20 reviews
- is a reasonable first goal. Ask every happy guest.
- 300 metres
- is as far as many people walk to eat lunch on a weekday
- Week 1
- invite the neighbours. They become your best ambassadors.
Google Business Profile matters most
When someone searches for food in your town, Google shows a map with three places at the top. Being there is worth more than many months of posts.
The profile is free and takes about an hour to fill in properly. Do it before you open, so it has time to become visible.
- Correct address, opening hours and phone number. Check the opening hours before every public holiday.
- Upload at least ten pictures: the food, the place, the sign and yourself
- Add the menu and a link to your own ordering page
- Answer every review, even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones.
- Post an update once a month or so. Google likes profiles that are alive.
Reviews that build themselves
The rating decides whether someone who has never been to you dares to try. The difference between 3.9 and 4.5 is big in how many people click.
Happy guests rarely write on their own. Unhappy ones do. That is why you have to ask.
- Ask right when the guest says the food was good. Then, not later.
- Have a QR code at the counter that goes straight to the review form
- Answer bad reviews calmly, briefly and without arguing. Other readers see how you behave.
- Never give away food in exchange for a rating. It shows and it backfires.
- Print the best reviews and put them up in the window
The street, the neighbours and lunch
Most of the sales in a small food place come from a radius of a hundred metres. See the block as your most important market.
Walk around yourself the first week. Bring tasters to the hairdresser, the workshop and the office on the corner. It takes one morning and can give guests for years.
- A clear sign with prices outside. People walk past if they do not know what it costs.
- Offer the offices nearby a lunch agreement with an invoice
- Write the dish of the day on a board and change it every day, even if the dish is the same
- Keep the hours you have said. Closed on a Tuesday when the sign says open costs more than one missed lunch.
- Invite the neighbours in the building to the opening night. They talk to everyone.
Common questions
Do I need my own website?
A simple page with menu, opening hours, address and an order button is enough. Many manage for a long time with Google Business Profile plus an ordering page. What matters is that the details are correct everywhere.
Should I spend money on ads?
Not at the start. Fill in Google Business Profile, get the reviews going and put up a good sign first. Ads strengthen something that works, they do not create it.
Do discounts like two for one work?
They fill the place for one evening and teach the guest to wait for the next offer. Use them sparingly and preferably at times that are empty anyway, for example Tuesday afternoon.
How fast can I expect it to fill up?
Three to six months before the weekdays are stable is common. The opening week is good, then comes a dip. That dip is not a sign that you have failed, it comes for everyone.
4Social media without it taking over your life
Instagram and TikTok work best for places with something visible: a big burger, a flambé or a good looking room. If you have that, film it. If you do not, spend the time on Google instead.
One picture a week is better than ten pictures in January and then silence.