Opening Night: How to Host the Perfect Restaurant Grand-Opening
If you are someone that has been planning the opening of your restaurant for some time, you may be overwhelmed. Opening up a restaurant takes a lot of intense planning and sometimes it is easy to forget that in order to truly introduce your restaurant to the world, you need to host a grand opening.
Though you may feel confident when it comes to operating your restaurant, hosting a grand opening event is a brand new ordeal altogether. Hosting a successful restaurant grand opening requires intense planning, so there is no wonder why the prospect of doing so is so intimidating.
If you have found yourself in a situation where you have an upcoming grand opening and you are not quite sure whether or not you are properly prepared, here is our advice on how to host the perfect restaurant grand opening.
Make sure that you have guests
A very common mistake that people make when hosting their first restaurant grand opening is not inviting guests. People tend to think that they can advertise the grand opening and people will just come, but that really isn’t the case. If you don’t have an established business, then it is likely that you will not have a large following and so the likelihood of getting a good turnout from a general advertisement is very slim.
The best way to ensure that your restaurant’s grand opening has a lot of guests is by personally inviting people. If you really want to bring some attention to your opening, you could even invite some local celebrities or the mayor of your town. However, if you don’t have the desire to have celebrities at your event, then you could invite friends or local business owners.
Inviting local business owners means that you can get to know the competition and even make some friends, as you never know when you may need to borrow something or ask for a favor.
Get some publicity
What is the point in having a grand opening if it is not going to get any attention? We recommend that you contact your local newspaper or even buy exclusive leads on local bloggers that can document your grand opening. Having some publicity will make people want to visit your restaurant once it is officially open. If you get the right publicity, you can also let people know what you may be selling and what atmosphere you have to offer. This is something that people are not usually aware of until they actually get to your restaurant, so being able to inform them of this information beforehand will only benefit your business.
Make sure that your staff are properly trained
Your restaurant grand opening is the first chance that you get to make a real impression on potential customers. For this reason, it is essential to make sure that your staff is properly trained before your opening event.
We recommend that you employ staff that has at least two years of restaurant experience, this way you will not have to worry too much about them making mistakes and you can instead focus on ensuring that the rest of your opening goes to plan. If you are someone that is new to the restaurant world, then having workers with a lot of experience will also make sure that you feel comfortable.
Offer an opening event deal
If you are worried about your opening event not having enough attention, then we recommend that you offer a one-time deal. Offering a great opening deal will make people much more likely to come and try out your food. Though you will not be making as much money, this will really give you the chance to get your brand out there and even pick up customers that will keep coming back if they like what you have to offer.
When offering a grand opening deal, be sure to check that you are not underselling yourself as you still need to make some sort of profit in order to be successful. Be sure to work out all of your finances before you advertise the deal, just to ensure that you are not losing money.