How to get more customers to your restaurant: find the cause, then fill the room

How do you get more customers into a restaurant?

When covers drop, the reflex is often to cut prices or run a big promotion. It is rarely the right first move. A promotion mostly attracts people who come for the price and leave as soon as it ends. It also cuts your margin on customers who would have come anyway.

The right method has three steps: understand where and when you are losing customers, fix what makes you invisible or less appealing, then create precise reasons to come at the weak times. This guide is part of our guide to growing a restaurant.

Why is my restaurant quieter? The 4-week diagnosis

Before acting, you need numbers. No software required: a notebook or a spreadsheet will do. For 4 weeks, write down for each service the number of covers, the takings and one line of notes (weather, roadworks, a match, school holidays).

In this made-up example, Friday dinner is holding up. Tuesday lunch loses 7 covers in 4 weeks (from 31 to 24, about 23% fewer). With 40 seats, Tuesday lunch runs at 68% occupancy on average (27.25 covers out of 40). That is the slot to work on first, not the whole restaurant.

The 5 causes to check

• Visibility: does your Google listing show the right hours, a menu, recent photos? Search "restaurant" plus your area on your phone: where do you appear?
• Reputation: has your rating dropped? Do the latest reviews mention waiting times, service, prices?
• Offer: have your menu or prices changed recently? Has a signature dish disappeared?
• Competition: has a restaurant opened or changed its concept near you? Read its listing and reviews.
• Surroundings: roadworks, offices closing, parking removed, a new bus route. What you cannot control, you make up for with other customer groups.

Ask your front-of-house team too: they hear what customers say. And look at your Google listing statistics (calls, direction requests, website clicks): a fall in direction requests often comes before a fall in covers. The guide on your Google Business Profile shows where to find them.

How do you show up better on Google Maps when people look for a restaurant?

When someone searches for "restaurant" near them, Google ranks businesses on three criteria it describes in its own help pages: relevance (does your listing match the search), distance and prominence, meaning how well known you are, measured among other things by the number and quality of your reviews. Google also says you cannot pay to rank higher in these local results.

You cannot change the distance. You can work on relevance and prominence:

• a precise main category ("Italian restaurant" rather than "Restaurant") and accurate secondary categories;
• exact opening hours, including bank holidays and one-off closures;
• your menu with prices, and recent photos of dishes, the dining room and the front;
• useful attributes: terrace, wheelchair access, vegetarian options, bookings;
• a description that says what you serve, where and for whom;
• regular reviews, which you reply to.

The full walkthrough is in the guide to creating and optimising your Google Business Profile, and adding your menu is covered in how to add a menu to your Google listing. Think about your website too: if it is slow, empty or has no opening hours, you lose customers who were hesitating.

Do Google reviews bring customers to a restaurant?

Yes, in two ways. First, they count in Google's local ranking, as seen above. Second, they reassure the customer who is choosing between two places: they look at the rating, the number of reviews and above all the recent ones.

A restaurant that gets one or two reviews a month looks less lively than a neighbour that gets ten, even with a good rating. The key is regularity: ask every happy customer, at the right moment, in a simple way.

• Ask when bringing the bill, right after the customer says they enjoyed the meal.
• Put a QR code that goes straight to your review page on the table or near the till.
• Reply to every review, positive or negative, within a few days: future customers read your replies.
• Never buy reviews or write them yourself: it is against the rules and Google removes them.

What to say and where to put the QR code is in the guide on getting more Google reviews for a restaurant. The rules to follow are in online review laws.

How do you fill quiet slots (weekday lunch, early week)?

A quiet slot usually has a specific reason. Your answer should be specific too. Here are ideas by slot, to test one at a time.

A simple rule: a quiet-slot offer must be visible (board outside, Google listing, social media), stable (same day every week, so people remember it) and profitable (check the dish's margin with the guide on food cost and menu pricing).

If you sell takeaway, the guide on starting takeaway and click and collect shows how to use a slot without filling the room.

How do you bring past customers back?

A customer who enjoyed your restaurant is your best lead. They know the address and what to expect. They just need a reason and a reminder at the right time.

• Build a customer list: name, email, date of visit, with their consent. Online bookings fill it in for you.
• Write once a month: a new dish, a themed night, a seasonal menu. A short message with a photo.
• Recognise your regulars: a word when they arrive, their favourite table, a dessert on the house on their tenth meal.
• Think about dates: birthdays, holidays, the first sunny days for the terrace.

Subject: Thursday is fresh pasta night

Hi [First name],

Every Thursday evening our chef makes three fresh pasta dishes, rolled here that morning. The full menu is [price].

Book your table in one click: [booking link]

See you Thursday,
[Restaurant name]

To go further: the guide on restaurant customer loyalty and the guide to an email newsletter for your business.

Which events and partnerships bring in new customers?

Events give people a reason to come on a set date, and a reason to talk about you. They must stay easy to run for a small team.

• Producer evening: a local winemaker, cheesemaker or grower presents their products and you build a menu around them.
• Workshop: a Saturday morning cooking class, a tasting session. It attracts people who do not know you yet.
• Neighbourhood night: invite nearby shopkeepers, they will recommend you to their customers.
• Key dates: festive season, Valentine's Day, big matches, local festivals. The guide on preparing seasonal promotions lists them.

Local partnerships

Look for places that send you customers without competing with you: hotels and B&Bs without a restaurant, gyms, theatres and cinemas, local companies, tourist offices. Offer them something concrete: a card to hand to their guests, a table held on show nights, a menu for their meetings.

For more ideas, the guide 30 local marketing ideas sorts them by budget.

How do you know whether an action is working?

Keep your covers log. For each action, note the start date and compare the target slot for 3 to 4 weeks before and after. One week is not enough: weather or a bank holiday can skew everything.

• Ask new customers how they heard about you, and write it down.
• Use a code or a phrase ("the hotel sent me") for partnerships.
• Check your Google listing statistics every month: calls, directions, clicks.
• Track the number of reviews you get each month and your rating.

If an action changes nothing after a month, drop it and try the next one. The ones that work become habits: Thursday night, the lunch set menu, the monthly email. To track spend per customer too, read how to increase average spend.

The restaurant owner’s guide

Open, run, grow: each stage has its full guide and detailed guides, with their reading time.

This guide for your trade

• Restaurants
• Bars
• Google reviews software for restaurants

Go further

• How to grow a restaurant: the complete guide
• A restaurant marketing plan
• Increase average spend
• More Google reviews for a restaurant
• Optimise your restaurant’s Google listing
• Instagram post ideas for restaurants