| During the recession of the later 2000s, one of the | | | | decreasing your profit per dish or increasing the |
| first luxuries to take a hit has been eating out. More | | | | prices slightly. Overall, this may end up saving your |
| and more people have opted to cook or take | | | | restaurant in these difficult times. |
| pre-packaged meals home rather than shelling out the | | | | Introduce periodic specials. Keep offering your |
| bucks at a restaurant. Yet, some restaurants | | | | customers something new, so that they keep coming |
| continue to thrive while others topple like ninepins. | | | | back. A flat discount is now a routine affair, so opt |
| What makes the difference between the successes | | | | for different offers - for example, an Indian |
| and the failures? | | | | restaurant could offer discounted kebab platters one |
| | | | week, and South Indian platters on another. |
| Food Quality. When faced with rising prices and falling | | | | Service. Service is the one area that should not be |
| clientele, restaurants tend to drop the most | | | | compromised upon. If customers are used to friendly, |
| expensive ingredients of a dish, thus cutting costs. | | | | attentive service, keep offering them that. Do not let |
| On top of that, they raise the price. The combination | | | | your worries show, do not complain about decreasing |
| of increased cost and decreased satisfaction tends | | | | profits, and treat your waiters with the same care |
| to drive customers away in droves. So whatever | | | | you used to in prosperous times. People pay to eat |
| you do, keep your quality intact. | | | | out for the sake of a nice experience, so be |
| Accept the inevitable. It is inevitable that your income | | | | prepared to offer them that. |
| will go down during the recession. Do not try to keep | | | | Offer cost-effective takeaways. Many people want |
| increasing your profits - instead, accept that you are | | | | to hit a compromise between eating out and cooking |
| working to maintain what you have, and basically to | | | | at home. A cheap takeaway, prepared fresh, tastes |
| stay above water. | | | | better than something from the supermarket but will |
| Decrease variety. Cut the most expensive dishes off | | | | still be cheaper than a full-course meal. |
| your menu. Offer delicacies that are made of | | | | Food is the single most basic necessity of human life. |
| inexpensive ingredients, and which rely more on the | | | | Therefore, restaurants will never ever go out of |
| chef's skill and the freshness of ingredients rather | | | | fashion. As long as you offer people good food, |
| than on exotic tastes and flavors. | | | | ambience and service, they will keep coming back. |
| Stick to the tried and tested. In times of distress, | | | | Just remember to act as if you are in the pink of |
| people tend to fall back on what they know to be | | | | economic health, and your customers will believe it |
| worth their money. Keep up the standards of your | | | | too. |
| tried and tested best-selling dishes, even if it means | | | | |