Would you like to pack out your restaurant?

Can you see your restaurant buzzing with customers, night after night? Even lunches (and breakfast?) are busy. Everyone is talking about your food, your innovation and the amazing flavours you weave into unchallenging but interesting and delicious dishes. You know you are a part of a global trend exploring the newest flavours to be presented to the food industry in many decades.

With Vic Cherikoff Food Services, you will find that this website is an essential resource as you grow your business using our incredible ingredients as the focus. What we offer is the path to a continuous income stream because using our ingredients and a few tools which we present below, will keep regulars coming back and bring others with them. Our flavours add enough of a twist to the dishes with which your clients are already familiar so that they will talk and talk about your offerings. And what sells better than word of mouth?

As your customers talk about you, so will the media.

Have you seen the recent stories on Vosges Chocolates in New York or Osia in London? How about the World Expo in Nagoya or the monthy Australian cuisine promotions we run around the world? Every one of these have not had any let-up in media coverage since our products moved in. We have just launched a range of retail canisters with Lakeland in the UK as we mount an assault on the British food industry, bakeries in Holland and Switzerland continue to order our flavours, food service throughout Asia is firing following the airing of Dining Downunder on the ABC Asia Pacific network and the response to our flavours in Europe is nothing short of amazing.

"I can see these (Australian flavors) being a major food trend in the United States." Napa Valley Cooking School, California

"This is the most exciting development in food flavours for decades." Perfecta Foods UK

"Great show! It's about time you Aussies promoted your own cuisine." Glen McGregory, Bangkok

The interest at the recent Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and the International Food Exhibition in London was astounding. Most telling, were the common comments that our flavours and products were nearly the only new concept at these shows. The many inquiries we had came from both, show attendees and other exhibitors as they saw the innovation and value in adding an Australian twist to their wares.

Articles on my ingredients, their production and on my customers and colleagues appear in magazines and newspapers on a weekly basis as well as a regular amount of television coverage. Would this kind of publicity help your business? Read on for some simple ideas on how to make this happen for you. And here's a link with some great marketing ideas and processes to make promoting your business a bit easier.

Can businesses grow through the personal recommendations of their current customers? You bet!

Wouldn't you go along to an eatery after a glowing testimonial from your friends?

Yep. You, me and everyone else.

If you had visitors from out of town or overseas, where would you take them for a meal? Would you go to a local restaurant just because its nearby or one where you knew the food would impress your guests and really show them what we Aussies are all about?

Of course you'd pick the one where the food adds to the experience of being in Australia or being Australian. We may be too young as a nation to have a cuisine but we do have flavours which are uniquely ours.

Let me ask you a few more questions?.

Would you regularly go to a restaurant with a reputation for expensive food and a well known chef earning the big bucks? Or would you rather go to a value-for-money restaurant where their menu is innovative but unthreatening yet the flavours make the visit a real food experience?

You are probably like me in that you have been underwhelmed by the food from those places the critics rave about. Give me honest, creative food anyday and leave the egos out of the price of the meal.

Anyway.

You don't want the critics' opinions. You want your regulars talking.

So how do you best go about it?

Our customers tell us, that our flavours are best used in those popular dishes which are sure-sellers. There is no point in putting some of what are still uncommon ingredients into dishes which are generally poor sellers if you know they are only going to attract 5% of your diners.

Sure, they may rave about it but way less than 10% of us go out of our way to try what we think may be really different. The rest of us like to stick with the safe options.

Leave our ingredients out of any game meat dishes. Besides, they really show off beef, lamb, veal, chicken and pork well. Why challenge your diners any more than the suggestion of leading edge flavours used well?

So, the best way to educate us is to bank on the fact that we will pick the usual and then introduce us to the wonderful tastes of that special twist of the different - our Australian flavours!

Chef!

There is little point being totally at the mercy of passersby and a few regulars.

Particularly when there is so much competition around and food is changing so rapidly. If you are still doing what you did 6 months ago in terms of bringing in customers then you should recognise that most of your clients are probably eating somewhere else.

Print out and try this quick quiz:

	Are you making sure every customer leaves your restaurant with a convenient (A4 or smaller) copy of your current menu so that they can help promote you to their friends or remind them of a return visit? yes/no
	Does this menu have your address, hours of opening, phone number and possibly your website details and how many diners you can seat? yes/no
	Do you offer an incentive card ie. a bonus dessert or free coffee after a set number of return visits or accompanying guests? This can be set according to the meals purchased eg a free dessert after 6 main course purchases. yes/no
	Do you as chef or owner, circulate in your establishment and make your customers feel special? Did you know that many people like to know the person from whom they are buying meals and trusting for their good dining experiences? yes/no
	Do you capture the contact details of your customers and keep in touch by fax, post or email? yes/no
	Do you promote your seasonal changes in menu? yes/no
	Do you promote seasonal events eg Anzac Day, Australia Day, Wattle Day, Melbourne Cup Day as well as the usual ones? yes/no
	Have you thought of advertising a special menu because its your birthday or anniversary of some other event? It further personalises your operation and brings your clientele closer to you and your team. Remember, people prefer to buy from friends and trusted acquaintences so let your regulars know you. yes/no
	If you have quiet weeks or months, do you contact your database of customers and tell them that business is slow and you need their business and so look forward to their next visit that you have an offer for them if they come in to dine the following week? yes/no
	Does eating at your establishment provide more than just a feed? Does your menu describe attributes of your cooking style, your ingredients, your suppliers, your reputation or in other ways, value-add the experience for your customers? yes/no
	Knowing that most people are visual, not auditory, do you have your specials written down and then described by your waiting staff? yes/no
	Can your waiting staff provide more than just a catalogue of ingredients to each dish? Are they so interested in what you cook that they are your best sales team simply because they are enthusiastic about your offerings? Do they realise that enthusiasm means more tips? yes/no
	Do your waiting staff ask diners if they had a second choice which they might try on their next visit? yes/no
	Do you send promotional material written in a news-worthy style to journalists who write for relevant publications in your area and market? yes/no
	If you do not know someone who can help with the above already, are you sure that you are not serving them in your restauarant and charging them for their meals instead of bartering for their services? yes/no

If you answered yes, to all the above then you are probably one of the millionaire chefs running a swag of establishments around the world while building your reputation and culinary empire daily. If not, then I hope you find some value in these suggestions to building your business and career.

Want to read about more ways to build your business? Click here for some articles and tools for anyone in hospitality. And if you are into marketing and want to build your business and cashflow, have a look at the resources Ken Evoy offers at absolutely give-away prices. Follow this link for a free demonstration.

Want to know more about the flavours which make restaurants successful? Click here to go to our product glossary.

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rear 167 Kingsgrove Rd Kingsgrove NSW 2208 Australia
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