Restaurants are a tough business. The margins are tight, the competition’s fierce and you’re at the mercy of outside events. For instance, following the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, more restaurants than ever were declaring bankruptcy.

In the 12 months to May 2022, 1406 restaurants in the UK went bust, up 64% on the previous year.

In this less than ideal environment, any cost-effective ways to encourage more business must be worth exploring. Read on to see a menu of what’s possible.

For Starters, Make Sure Your Free Options are Being Utilized

There are many ways you can push your restaurant with no charge at all. One route is to contact your local tourist board and see how you go about getting on their list of eateries.

There’s now a preponderance of apps that detail local facilities and features, and it can be very advantageous to get yourself listed. They’re usually free – the app owner wants their product to be definitive so will want as many quality businesses on there as possible.

Print weekly updates on specials and offers and distribute them around the local community. Or, if you don’t have time to leave the premises that day, frame them and stick them up in the toilets and other suitable spots. Give them to the staff to distribute on their way home.

Consider issuing discount vouchers – if you manage to target new customers this can be a very cost-effective way to bring people in.

Get a customer email list together – it’s a direct publicity route goldmine.

Don’t forget that social media is doubly suited to you. Firstly, you can spread word on specials and new dishes to your followers for free. Secondly, there are about a gazillion photos of food on social media: people love to see food pics. Make the most of this aspect and get snapping.

The Main Course: Paid for Ads

The world of paid advertising can be a bit of a minefield. Make the wrong move and you’ll be caught in an explosion of expense. Make another wrong move and it may not cost the earth but it may do nothing for your exposure either.

You may want to consider conventional routes such as radio and local magazine ads. They can be worth doing, depending on reach and demographic, so do your research beforehand.

Or you might want to try something a little more out there. Out Of Home advertising can offer fresh and exciting means of promotion, from dynamic digital screens at bus stops to static billboards over town centers.

A very fruitful area to explore is roadside advertising, which scores big in terms of potential reach and can have a major impact on the local populace, or, for a bigger chain operation, can have significant national effect.

Getting Your Desserts: What These Cost-Effective Methods Will Do For You

In the past few months, for those in the restaurant business it’s been enough just to survive. Some analysts have predicted a full recovery of the sector by 2024, but these pronouncements were made largely before the onset of huge energy and food price rises.

Given the possibility of extended hardship, it makes more sense than ever to use one of these recipes for cost-effective promotion.