The food industry is a high-risk business proposition. You’ve got a lofty level of competition and a lot of details to perfect. According to an often-quoted study, 60% of businesses fail in the first year. How do you ensure your hotel’s F&B Dept./ restaurant’s success?

You can help increase your chance of success by understanding few of the surprisingly common problems restaurants face and developing strategies to combat these issues.

Customer Service

The key to success is happy customers who want to return again and again. way you handle your customers along every step of their dining experience has an impact on whether you’ll retain that customer. Every contact your staff makes with customers must be pleasant, welcoming and accommodating. As the digital arena continues to grow, online reviews are consistently important to your success.

Marketing

From big hotel groups to even small restaurant owners, fail to pay enough attention to marketing, making this a common problem in the F&B world. Following are a few areas to attend to now in order to avoid the pitfalls that not-enough marketing incurs:

• Make a marketing plan. Daunting? Start small and then scale.
• Engage in social media and digital marketing.
• Create a customer loyalty program.

Be creative with your marketing. Whatever your budget, there are inexpensive ways to market your restaurant.

All Customer cannot be Equal

Travelers today use food as an entry point and a conversation starter to experience the social fabric and cultural customs of a destination. This change in mindset raises travelers’ expectations of culinary experiences, and also raises the bar for hotel food and beverage. Large destinations and hotel groups in particular can capitalize on this paradigm shift by gathering local data on what kinds of experiences travelers are looking for, and using that data to personalize their offerings and promotional campaigns.

It has been determined that in the hospitality industry Food & Beverage Department is one of the biggest and most useful departments. This is commonly known by its initials as F&B. It grew out of simple origins: as people travelled from their homes, going about their business, they often had a need or desire to eat or drink. Others were encouraged to meet this demand by supplying food and drink. As the interests of the public became more diverse, so too did the offerings of the food and beverage sector.

Today, this industry as huge as of approximately $709 Billion in the year 2015 and the projected amount by the end of 2017 is approximately $798 Billion which is expected to grow to $950 to $1000 Billion by the year 2020. Food expenditure constitutes the majority of our consumption basket and with an increasing young population, eating out will only grow. Eating out has evolved from an occasion driven activity to an occasion in itself for the youth for whom eating out is the most favored activity besides hanging out with friends.

With the hotels and restaurants going digital, this industry has revolutionized quiet a lot in last few years. Consumers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices for help with their dining choices, it is imperative that restaurants market to diners via mobile. As per a survey held amongst more than 1000, the report showed that 53 percent of respondents had used their phone to find a restaurant location, while 49 percent had done so to browse a restaurant’s menu. In addition, 35 percent of respondents had used their phone to place an order for pick-up or delivery, and 25 percent had made a dining reservation with their phone.

The hotel/ restaurant industry is going through a period of unprecedented, irreversible change and will look very different in 2020 than it does today. To prepare themselves for the future competition, hotels will need to build an IT infrastructure that can support growing data-driven demands and handle new challenges around risk. Meliá Hotels International, as one example, is committing more than $1 million over the next three years in technology and digital marketing expertise. Meanwhile, Accor has committed $225 million to a major digital transformation project. To compete, others must take action quickly or risk getting left behind.

Where do you stand?

As the technologies are helping to generate revenue out of your service and products, it is very much necessary to have the online presence to show your existence which will not only help in spreading the world about your product and service but also helps in generating more revenue and customers.

Now the challenge comes that every user cannot design or build website which is impressive, excellent and user friendly. Most users think that they can build their own website by learning some tips and tricks but wait!! Are you sure you will be able to learn properly and will be able to build the website which you can launch in the market immediately and does not leave the bad impression on the visitors? In such situation, it is always advisable to outsource the web development work to any experienced web development company.

There are various benefits of outsourcing your project to experienced company which not only helps you in getting great website but will help you in keeping the website up to date which you might yourself will not able to do properly.

Few of the top advantages are below:

1. Cost Reduction – As we know every project has a budget whether its small or big. If you try to develop the project inhouse you not only have to hire a resource but you also need to look for the work space and their facilities which ends up in spending more cost. By outsourcing you just need to pay a reasonable amount and also get guarantee of best services. It also reduces operational and labour costs.
2. Time Management – Outsourcing your website will help you save time on promotion and give you time to do other work that is more important and more fruitful.
3. Quality Work – You can be sure of getting the high-quality work where every step is refined by the experienced QA.
4. Latest Technology – Programming these days relies on the vast number of technologies, frameworks or libraries. And one doesn’t have to know them all to be a good frontend or backend developer. Outsourcing gives you the access to all kinds of specialists, who are experts in their field thus providing you world class capabilities.
5. Risk Management – One of the most common fear regarding outsourcing is not having control over the project. But in reality, outsourcing gives you more control over the project. Choosing a company with good organisational and communication standards, you’ll be updated every step of the way.
6. Timely Completion of Project – Most of the development companies set up a time frame to complete the project. This will help you finish your project on time and give you ample time to set-up everything without hassle.

There are many other reasons too but these are the key to success for many companies and especially for small scale companies. You need to be very careful while selecting a company. Look at their credentials and satisfaction level of past clients and get ready for an appealing website.