Restaurateur Roberto Rella says you have to give your customers extra, rather than using discount schemes
Springing up during the economic crises to entice diners back out of their homes and into restaurants, discount websites like Cobone and Living Social offer special deals on restaurant and cafe meals to diners who want more for their money.
Although hugely popular still in 2011, F&B experts have told Caterer Middle East that it's loyalty programmes restaurants should be investing in now, rather than carrying on using these sites.
Executive chef at Dubai’s Qamardeen Hotel, Bernd Geiger, thinks customer loyalty schemes are the only way to outmatch discount offers' appeal.
“There are discount sites like Cobone and Living Social popping up like mushrooms, still now,” he says. “We used one here to open the new Esca Caffé, as a sales tool for awareness. But after you’ve brought your venue to people’s attention, you have to fight back with quality.
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“If you make these deals permanent, I think you will destroy your business. They don’t create the right kind of business. If someone is loyal you, you have to give them something back in return. You have to decide what they want and give them a loyalty scheme.
Roberto Rella, managing partner of soon-to-be-launched Italian restaurant, Roberto’s, said: “I’m personally against using these type of schemes, although I don’t want this to sound like a sentence.
“In my new restaurant concept, we are trying to get back from [this way of thinking] – we are studying the right approach. I don’t need to give something for free to make you come [to my restaurant]. I would rather give you little extras, like something to complement your drink. Instead of peanuts and olives, I would give you bruschetta, or salmon canapés, or Sicilian mozzarella fritters.
“This is what we do in Italy, we give complements to drinks. They attract a lot of attention and curiosity to the bar, and will being people to the restaurant.”
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