Attention to all restaurant owners, chefs and food service industry entrepreneurs! With Chinese New Year around the corner, let’s not miss this great opportunity to attract new customers.
With the right strategy and preparation in place, you will find your business to thrive throughout the festive season. Expect to see more returning customers too!
Do you think you’re prepared? Here’s a checklist from us to help you make the best of this festive season!
Nothing screams Chinese New Year more than a feast! Plan out your unique touch to the festive season, create and include special food and beverages exclusive to a Malaysian’s Chinese New Year.
Watch as customers come pouring in just to have a taste of your limited festive meal! With these auspicious menus in place, it will also be easier for you to plan your inventory.
Let’s face it, there’s going to be a lot and a lot of customers during Chinese New Year, so you might need to bring in extra pairs of hands to help out.
Start recruiting your part-timers weeks in advance and start your training process as soon as possible. Plan with your restaurant manager to schedule festive shifts for each of them to avoid burnout and set a quota of service to keep them efficient without tiring out!
The rule of thumb- it is better to over-prepare than to be underprepared!
We all know that inventory management is always important, nothing is worse than closing the restaurant early because you ran out of ingredients in the middle of service, and this becomes more and more apparent as the festive season comes.
To make sure that doesn’t happen, plan out from the past year’s experience, take note of which meals are likely to sell the best, and be prepared to stock up.
This is especially true for your Chinese New Year menu! Do that by contacting your suppliers, informing them of what you need early, and always remember: quality is still key!
Now here’s the creative kicker, get your staff together and host a meeting to let their creativity shine. Not only that it makes a good team-building exercise, it is also a good way to take in ideas for what you’re gonna do for decorations for the restaurant.
Decorations are so much more important than just simple additions to a restaurant; they provide mood, aesthetics, and ambiance. It’s the festive season, go crazy!
Add a red backdrop, add Chinese lanterns left and right, banners to spread luck and prosperity, and cherry blossoms to welcome an auspicious Chinese New Year to returning and new customers alike!
Encourage customers to snap a photo and post it on social media too to spread word of mouth about your restaurant.
You’re mostly set! But don’t keep your preparations, surprises, and good food behind closed doors! Have behind-the-scenes footage, and update your customers on social media about your festive preparations to get them excited about what’s to come.
Take pictures of your specially curated Chinese New Year food and salivate your customers, giving them time to plan their family dinners at your restaurant.
Double down and offer early booking discounts to really hook in those sales for the customers! Consider social media ads and invite food bloggers for tasting too if your budget allows
Finally, double-check your restaurant’s systems like the cash register, payment terminal and POS systems to ensure that they are up to date. You’re going into a new year, so might as well give it a chance to upgrade the essentials!
If required, you may consider contactless ordering where customers can proceed with their order without needing a waiter.
It helps to give your waiters more time to serve food, chefs can get to work quicker and more efficiently and at the same time be able to cater to more customers.
Last but not least, and it shouldn’t even need to be said but always have a plan B, if something suddenly doesn’t work out, be prepared for it:
Some staff didn’t show up? Make quick shift changes. Not enough ingredients? Contact your trusted suppliers to stock up quickly.
Sure you can rake in the customers, but that’s half the battle, the other half involves keeping them satisfied! Kept your checklist and ticked it all full?
You’re all set then, get to work, and have a Happy Chinese New Year!
Ajinomoto Food Biz Partner
