Customer loyalty is a commitment that requires perseverance and foresight. Anyone who runs a bar or restaurant knows how difficult it is to always agree with the customer and how much requests and pressure can affect the relationship between the two sides of the counter. Knowing how to build customer loyalty does not simply mean knowing how to be a bartender or waiter well, but it also means knowing how to be a figure capable of relating correctly with the public. There are some precautions that go beyond the single relationship between the manager of a restaurant and the clientele, let's discover them together.

Customer loyalty: making them feel at home


Home is where catering is successful. This motto could be framed and hung on the walls of every restaurant or business, because if you run a bar rather than a restaurant, the customer must feel at home in order to return. Building customer loyalty therefore means welcoming them in a hospitable and comfortable environment. Consider personalizing the dining experience for your most trusted customers, allowing them to choose dishes off the menu that don't complicate the kitchen's work. The secret in this case is to already suggest to the customer some dishes off the menu, in this way you will have more control over the choices and the customer will be satisfied with the service designed especially for him.
Don't forget to customize the experience even for some very specific targets. Let's think of the parents who bring their children to have lunch or dinner in your restaurant. Dealing with younger customers is never easy, but to retain the family audience, we advise you to study ad hoc ideas for this sector, letting yourself be inspired by our article on managing younger customers .

Timing and quality


The perception of times in the restaurant is different from other environments, because the waiting time seems to expand. It is therefore necessary to plan a correct workflow between the dining room and the kitchen, reducing time wastage. If there are delays in the service, it is better to report them to the customer: the more uncertain the waiting time, the more negative the perception of time becomes, with the consequent loss of customers. Building customer loyalty by meeting deadlines does not mean having less attention to quality, on the contrary, speed and quality are two important values ​​for increasing public trust in a venue. Playing in your favor is Combi Wave , the multifunction oven by Techfood that allows you to cook any type of food in less than three minutes without compromising its quality.

Social customer care


Social media is an aspect that you will no longer have to underestimate to improve customer care and increase customer loyalty. The online reputation of a bar or restaurant has become a fundamental motivation in the choice of the public. For this reason, we advise you to also take care of online reviews, especially the negative ones, avoiding accusations and inviting the user to return to your restaurant to change his mind. Customer care to build customer loyalty also means being grateful to a customer by using social networks, demonstrating their importance for your business. Look for interaction as if you were in front of the counter, involving the public and creating a close relationship of trust between venue management and customers. To find out what to post on Facebook, we present our article on social management for bars and restaurants .
Building customer loyalty through customer care is therefore more challenging than building loyalty through promotions and point collections. A sincere relationship must be born and established between management and the public and to achieve this we must always think that to be good restaurateurs, we must first be customers. What is your trump card for customer loyalty? Write it to us in the comments