If you want to grow your Lakeland restaurants, you need money—truckloads of them. Arranging finances through a bank loan is one of the options you can tap, but are you willing to pay an interest fee (and the capital) for the next five years or so? Who knows what will happen by then? How are you going to pay for the loan if there is no assurance that your business will succeed?
Breathe easy because there are ways to promote and grow your restaurant business without needing to shell out money from your own pocket or worse, borrow from the banks.
Hire a food truck
If the rent is getting a little too steep for you, consider just buying or renting a food truck. It empowers businessmen to whip up something they love—whether it is a delicious comfort food or a three-course gourmet meal packed in a convenient way for people to eat while walking on the streets. Food trucks are very flexible because you can drive them to wherever the people are—the parks, the universities, the shopping malls, etc. These trucks don’t cost a fortune and you will cover the cost of buying or renting one in the future.
Tap the networking communities
Networking is a fail-safe mode that needs no money. You need to join online forums and groups, so you can get the information from industry insiders. There will be some inspiring stories from restaurant owners there that will propel you to grow your business.
Use social media and blogging
Set up an account on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Instagram for your restaurant and post regular updates and relevant content on these platforms. The way to reach your audience is to use social media. You’ll be surprised how powerful and influential social media can be. Blogs and social media posts that contain photos of the food you serve could attract many potential customers.
Reward your customers
Many businesses fail because they try to mimic the strategies and ideas of their competitors. You have to think outside the box and attract your own brand of customers. Speaking of customers, you need to reward your loyal customers by giving them discounts and access to unique promotions.
Innovate
You need to make ordering easy for your customers. You can integrate an online delivery system where they can order, customize their food, pay, and wait for their food to arrive. Since you want to grow your business, you have to be able to keep up with the times. And the times dictate that businesses, no matter what kind of industry they are in, must go digital.