What Determines Value In A Restaurant?

How does a restaurant provide value to its customers?

Combo deals? Buy-one-get-one offers? Coupons? Restaurants across the country have tried them all. The question still remains: what does it take to get customers to confidently say that a restaurant's services have value?

One popular strategy has been to lower prices relative to other businesses. On the one hand, it makes sense. With rising inflation, rising costs, and other economic woes that plague everyday life, it is much harder now for consumers to spend money. So, if a restaurant were to serve food at lower prices than the competition, then said restaurant might be a more appealing option given the previously mentioned financial concern. However, InMarket chief strategy officer Michael Della Penna suggests otherwise.

"At a certain point, there's only so far you can cut prices," Della Penna explained to The Food Institute. "Whether you're a restaurant, retailer, and grocer in this ‘race to the bottom,' you need to take a step back and analyze what your customers are looking for in addition to low costs."

The key to value, as Della Penna implies, is understanding the customer. By analyzing trends and data regarding customer behaviors, owners can find ways to deliver food that is not only affordable, but appeals to customers in a way the competition doesn't. Della Penna specifically stated that "predictive technology" and innovation are necessary to properly read and cater to the customer bases of today.

Understanding the customer in a rapidly-changing landscape is of the utmost importance to a restaurant's value. Creative menu options, customization choices, and other engaging elements, coupled with fair prices, drive customers to restaurants and demonstrate to them that said restaurants have value.

Published by:
Christian Dantes

REWrite Blog