One of the most popular industries in the world is the food industry. There are many different types of food businesses that operate within this industry. If you have recently opened a new restaurant, café or vendor business of some kind, and you’re struggling, then you may want to find ways to enhance the business.
That’s why we have put together this article. It will go over various tips to help you enhance your food business. These tips may not entirely be for you, but they are worth considering all the same. The more informed you are, the better placed you will be to make informed decisions. Let’s dive in.
Swap Suppliers
You could enhance your new food business by swapping suppliers. Your current supplier may be offering ingredients that are fine, but there may be more high-end options out there that can make all the difference. Not only can using high-end ingredients help the food taste better, but it also allows you to increase your price point.
It’s not just the ingredients you should look at for your supply, but other elements too. For example, you could look to get more high-end cutlery and plates and upgrade the drinks you serve. You might want to offer a more premium wine or go for more household names for soft drinks.
Either way, it’s worth looking into other suppliers. You may even be able to negotiate with your current supplier to get yourself a better deal. This could be hard if you’re locked into a contract, but suppliers are mostly flexible due to the changing nature of the food industry.
You may find that swapping suppliers and changing the stock you use can help you enhance your new food business and take you to the next level. It’s worth looking into, even if you decide that you’re happy with your current setup. At the very least, it will give you peace of mind.
Improve Your Marketing Efforts
For a lot of food businesses, marketing is everything. Food businesses are very competitive with each other, especially in city centres. A consumer could have dozens upon dozens of options when they are deciding on where to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Due to this, you may have to do more to have your food business stand out compared to the others.
A lot of the time, this can only be achieved by improving your marketing efforts. It may be that you need to promote your business more through local newspapers or magazines, or it could be that you need to overhaul your social media campaign. Social media is one of the favoured marketing efforts that is used by food businesses, as it allows them to directly showcase their offerings to the local community. Some even use social media as a booking tool and deal with enquiries.
You may also want to overhaul your website and modernise it, too. You should showcase the best dishes you have to offer and use the highest quality photos that you can. You may need to optimise a photo for certain uses. You may, for example, want to move an image into an online PDF menu. This will mean you need to look into getting a JPG converted, which can be done through various online tools. An online menu, in the form of a downloadable PDF, can help give your customer an idea of what to expect from the food business and prepare them for their visit.
Some food businesses physically send menus to the doors of customers and potential customers to entice them over. Again, you should ensure you are using high-quality photos and that all the information you are sending out is correct. When you’re marketing is on point, you should entice customers to the door. It will be up to you to do the rest on the day to make their experience good and convince them to stay.
Look Into Delivery Options
More and more food businesses are exploring delivery options. This trend grew from 2020 when people weren’t allowed indoors, but it was a trend that was always on the up. This is due to the fact that there are many different platforms and apps that can be used by food businesses and consumers to get a delivery done.
In the past, food delivery was only conducted by the food business itself. Nowadays, there are plenty of freelance and third-party businesses that hire people to deliver food from food vendors across the city. If you want your business to go to the next level, then it will be in your best interests to look into various delivery options. Online food delivery is a billion-pound industry, and that is due to the demand.
At the very least, you should try a trial of some kind with a delivery provider. If it ends up not being cost-effective for you, then you can always put a stop to it. It usually works as a subscription service, where you pay a small fee for the service each month. Otherwise, you may operate on a commission-based service, where the delivery person and the company take a small percentage of any sales conducted by delivery.
For this reason, you may want to increase your food prices on delivery service. This will be to accommodate for the price taken by the delivery service, and the time it takes away from your tables.
Consider Travelling As A Vendor
Some food businesses find that having a fixed physical premise doesn’t quite work for them. This may be because the location isn’t ideal, or the food that they offer suits the street food genre of food. In situations like this, a business may close down its physical premises and, instead, look to travel around the country.
These food vendors could pop up at festivals and major events and, of course, feature at various food markets. These events can be highly rewarding for vendors, and the only issue they have to figure out is how much stock they need.
If you’ve ever been at these events before as a consumer, then you will understand just how much of a demand for food there is. In fact, you have probably seen that they often sell out. Take a look at food vendors that do similar food to you. This could show you what you could be doing and if it will be worth your time.
You could even look to become a wedding caterer, or a caterer for major events in general. This could be a lucrative business to look into. It’s worth looking into all different types of businesses, so that you can find one that makes you the most money and that you enjoy.
Enjoying the business is key. There is little point in transforming the business if you aren’t going to enjoy it, as this will directly affect your morale and productivity. You will also have to consider what that means for your employees if you have any. There are a lot of questions to consider, and the answers should help to enhance your business. Consider speaking to those involved in the business for help deciding if you’re struggling.
Ingrid Maldine is a business writer, editor and management consultant with extensive experience writing and consulting for both start-ups and long established companies. She has ten years management and leadership experience gained at BSkyB in London and Viva Travel Guides in Quito, Ecuador, giving her a depth of insight into innovation in international business. With an MBA from the University of Hull and many years of experience running her own business consultancy, Ingrid’s background allows her to connect with a diverse range of clients, including cutting edge technology and web-based start-ups but also multinationals in need of assistance. Ingrid has played a defining role in shaping organizational strategy for a wide range of different organizations, including for-profit, NGOs and charities. Ingrid has also served on the Board of Directors for the South American Explorers Club in Quito, Ecuador.
