Ten tips to make your restaurant ready for summer

The summer months are almost upon the nation. While the general public is planning the days they’ll spend in the sun catching up with friends and family, lighting barbecues, and enjoying the sunshine, hospitality businesses need to focus on how they can make their summer as successful as possible.

For restaurants, summer is the busiest part of the year. People are out and about, meaning they will happily drop in for a snack, drink, or even a whole meal. This means that restaurant owners need to make their establishments ready for summer. With that in mind, consider these ten essential tips.

Perfect your patio

It’s no surprise that people want to sit outside during the summer, so perfecting your patio is one of the first things you must do for your restaurant. How can you perfect your outdoor space?

Plenty of colourful plants and flowers is a good place to start as it makes the space more welcoming, but you also need to leave enough room for tables and chairs that capture as much of the light as possible.

However, you must remember that not all summer days are assured sunshine. There’s likely to be a few damp days along the way, so installing parasols, retractable covers or even a corrugated roofing section available from clearambershop.com to keep your guests safe from the downpour is a must. 

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Bring in some summer colour

Summertime colours will immediately make your restaurant seem more appealing, and it’s just as important as selecting the right linens for your tables. You should decorate your business with all the fun and welcoming colours that scream summer is here and make your restaurant seem like the only place to be.

However, you don’t want to risk assaulting the senses, especially if your establishment focuses more on luxury. Even with this, you can include more subtle summer colours that the clientele will appreciate without it being too overpowering or distracting.

Rethink your menu

Summer is the chance for reinvention and there is no better place to do this than with your menu.

People don’t wantto eat hot and hearty meals during the summer months, especially if the temperatures reach unheard of heights. Instead, focus on more refreshing dishes and take advantage of fruit and vegetables that are in season and introduce them into your dishes.

If you aren’t responsible for organising the menu, speak to your chef and kitchen team to see what they can do. There’s no point in hoping for something that won’t taste good or simply isn’t possible, so understanding what the menu will look like early and perfecting it will help set your restaurant up nicely.

And don’t forget the drinks

While there will be plenty of people eager to try your summer menu, more will be interested in what drinks are on the menu. After all, what’s summer if you can’t give groups a place to sit in the sun and knock back a few cocktails (responsibly, of course)?

This list of the best summer cocktails can inspire but don’t be afraid to experiment and add your own twist on some of the classics. You can also introduce theme nights to launch your summer menus so customers can get a taste of them. It’s also worth training everyone to make these cocktails in case demand is higher than you expected.

Entice customers with promotions

Even established restaurants need to attract new customers, and summer is the best chance for you to do this. They don’t even need to be loyal customers, but giving them a reason to walk through your door just once can be enough to make your summer plans worth it.

You can entice customers with promotions such as dinner and drink deals or even events. This approach appeals to all types of customers, ranging from couples celebrating their summer to groups of friends or relatives throwing a party for someone. You can decide whether to have the promotion run for a limited time only or the entire summer, whichever you feel you can accommodate best.

Bring in more staff

Not anticipating the summer rush is one of the worst things a business can do, and it can have catastrophic consequences for your restaurant. You need to ensure that you have enough staff to serve all your customers, which means you will need to hire more temporary staff over the season to accommodate the increased demand.

This approach will not just ensure your customers are not waiting too long for drinks or food, it also allows you to cover shifts for existing employees taking holidays or wanting to enjoy their own summer.

Those that impress can come back for Christmas or even be kept on permanently to make it easier to manage the increased interest in your restaurant, thanks to a successful summer.

Show off your restaurant online

You cannot expect people to know about your restaurant, especially with many competing establishments in the area. Marketing is always essential for running a business, so using online marketing through Facebook or Instagram can help spread the word.

Contact local groups to highlight your offers and promotions or even celebrate renovations you’ve undertaken to prepare for the summer. You can even include competitions in this marketing by asking people to share and comment, with the winner (picked randomly) receiving a free dinner or drinks token the next time they stop by.

Encourage reviews

Similarly, you can encourage reviews that will spread the word further and use these as incentives for customers to return. Randomly selected reviews could be used as a competition piece, but you can’t simply give free stuff away just for people leaving a review.

The more reviews your restaurant receives, the higher it will climb on search engines. With this, anyone searching for the best restaurants in your area will be directed to your brand, and if all looks good, they will be eager to show up and sample what you have to offer.

Offer delivery

As much as you want customers to spend time in your restaurant, you also know that life gets in the way. Offering delivery is a great way to get around this as you can still serve customers even if they are still at home.

This approach can work almost like a catering service, although you may not be able to provide something as substantial as that. Still, you can offer some of your more famous dishes and drinks for delivery if there are any customers in the vicinity, especially if they’ve been unable to get a table at your restaurant because it’s so busy.

Make it a social place to be

With the summer comes competition. Even if you’re not into football or golf, your customers might be.

This is why showing live sports can be a huge benefit to your restaurant. It gives people a place to hang out and spend time with friends for at least two hours. During those two hours, you could serve more food and drinks than you would otherwise, meaning you get a substantial profit from their presence.

Furthermore, there will be many places offering the same thing, so if you don’t want to lose your customers to nearby competitors, it's in your best interests to jump on the bandwagon. Install TVs around the bar or set up a projector outside if the weather is accommodating enough.

Summer fun

Every proprietor wants their customers to have someplace to enjoy the summer months in the sunshine. By considering and implementing these tips, you will set your restaurant up for success and have the opportunity to welcome a wide range of existing and new customers through your doors.