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How to Choose the Right Music for Your Restaurant

Noise pollution is one of the top customer complaints that restaurants receive and understandably so. Blaring music in particular (and rambunctious diners) can create a very unpleasant dining experience and destroy the romantic mood you want to feel with your significant other on your date night.  However, studies have proven that the right music for restaurants and bars can induce positive emotions among customers resulting in an increase of sales.

 

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Effectiveness of Restaurant Background Music

Imagine walking into a posh steakhouse only to be greeted with hip hop music upon arrival. The juxtaposition would seem indecorous to you as a guest. On the flip side, however, a pleasing fitting sound of soft country music would be more compatible with the steakhouse’s ambience. Granted, some guests may be more perceptive to music than others. The restaurant background music may seem distractingly loud and unseemly to some of them. In this guide, we further elaborate on what kind of music to play at a restaurant, how to curate the ideal restaurant music playlist, and steps to procure a music license for your restaurant.

Choosing the Right Restaurant Music

Music evokes a range of emotions. Hence, emotions are one of the most vital components of customer dining experiences. Restaurant background music can excite us or repel us depending on the volume and genre. It can maximally set the mood. From heavy-metal rock, to slow jazz, indie-pop and rap music, there are many options to choose from. However, most restaurant background music services provide a very limited catalog with little or no customization whatsoever. Fortunately with emerging advanced technologies, newer companies are able to offer larger music libraries and apps to restaurants, enabling easy access, customization, and control. Unlike the archaic systems of yesteryear, the current digital solutions that we’ve become familiar with over the years are equipped to handle multiple locations and take minutes to set up.

Jazzing Up your Restaurant Décor

Music background can not only set the mood but also highlight your design. Ambiance can make your restaurant more memorable and enjoyable for your customers. The overall atmosphere is indicated by the way each restaurant arouses senses and emotions. Therefore, a great music playlist is considered to be another integral factor of your restaurant’s design and layout which requires strong detail orientation and attentiveness. The style of your restaurant furniture should coordinate with your restaurant music and interior design. In addition to the right music, comfort level and durability of restaurant chairs and restaurant booths can have a notable impact on customer experience.  Ultimately, the quality of food, service, and the restaurant’s aesthetics marked by the furniture and color scheme combined together should create a cohesive brand.

Tuning into Sales and Customer Satisfaction

Playing the right background music has the potential to increase patrons’ satisfaction and has also shown to increase profits. Research shown by Soundtrack Your Band confirms that. The study analyzed approximately 2 million transactions and 16 restaurants. Subsequently, results showed that restaurants that played background music that fit their brand’s personality have piqued positive emotions among customers and increased revenue.

You can enlist the help of music services to search for a pre-made playlist or create your very own. If you decide to use them, it’s important to have a legitimate business account with them. Spotify features a range of restaurant specific music playlists.  you can alternatively play a song, artist, or album from a Spotify radio that expresses your brand the best. Pandora radio, another music service, enables you to play songs from artists that communicate with your ambiance.

Soundtracks for Every Environment and Time of Day

As previously mentioned in this article, matching your background music and design with your brand is the most important aspect of creating an effective playlist. Your music playlist should either contain a wide selection or be updated frequently. Patrons and staff members alike will appreciate the variety. Keeping your playlist dynamic can go a long way too. The songs you select intended for your ambiance don’t collectively need to sound the same. You can switch up the band, tempo, and genre every so often. You can alter your background music based on the time of day by dividing your playlist into different energy levels or creating a new playlist altogether. For instance, the music played at restaurants during the morning should be calm and uplifting. Slightly more energetic songs and beats are recommended during brunch or lunchtime. Music should be livelier during happy hour. Dinner invites a more dynamic mix. Upbeat background music should be played around late evening.

Playing the right music for the time of day is important. Likewise, selecting the music for your atmosphere is a necessity. Many restaurants tend to mix and match the type of background music they play as the environment changes. Awareness of these changes is crucial for determining the appropriate music for your environment. If you run a family-friendly restaurant, songs with explicit lyrics are not recommended.  In fine dining establishments, music’s role can enhance the quality of food and service. Music typically played at an upscale dining setting resides at a lower energy level, generating a more relaxing feel to the ambiance. If your bar and grill is separated from your dining area (assuming you even have one), you may want different streams of music for your restaurant so you can distinctly define your vibe in each area. Music needs to match with the fun but relaxed vibe at a lounge. Music in such circumstances will actually help define the lounge so carefully sorting through a specific genre and vibe of music can establish the mood at your venue.

Music License for Restaurants and Bars

The overall customer experience is heavily affected by the ambiance at your restaurant. Playing live or recorded music is a critical part of the atmosphere you want to achieve. However, playing music requires you to be conversant with copyright infringement laws and licensing restrictions. Unfortunately, owners who neglect to research the laws pertaining to playing music at restaurants may open them up to expensive lawsuits filed by music rights holders such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. A music license allows you to play music that is licensed by another person or organization. Users must obtain permission from songwriters and composers who may charge a fee for permitting you to play their music at your venue. Costs for obtaining a music license may vary based on the capacity of your business, number of times the music is played, whether the music is recorded or live, audio, video, and the measurements of your space.

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Top 4 Reasons Why Your Restaurant Needs an App

The food sector has appeared to be one of the most profitable industries, even during economic trying times. Because of its broad potential and growing popular demands for different food motifs in various cities, the restaurant business is competitive by nature. In recent times the massive development of innovative technology has affected the restaurant business as well as quality of service.

 

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Over the years, the food sector has proven to be highly profitable primarily due to its broad potential. When matters took a digital turn, restaurant mobile apps began trending. Technology has since played a vital role in redefining the food service industry. Every establishment aspires to provide their customers with a convenient and satisfying dining experience. Benefits of mobile apps for restaurants can help owners and managers achieve this goal.

In recent times, restaurants have explored and utilized information technology solutions to boost sales and improve performances, quality and efficiency. Technological integration has been a success and apps for restaurant owners have not only helped them improve the quality of customer service but have also enabled them to reach beyond their limitations in remodeling their overall business structure. Customers also enjoy the convenience these apps provide with menu viewing and ordering activities.

The most substantial KPIs (key performance indicators) for any restaurant is to have more visitors each day. Whether it is in a form of reserving a table or for a fast food chain, the quantity of customers you attract per day determine your KPI.  Not only does this KPI indicate the popularity of your restaurant, it is also used to predict sales. Though reserving a table comes with several risks: mismanagement, seating people at the wrong table, uneven ratio of people per table, and the uncertainty of no shows. Reservations have been and are still made over the phone. However, reservations can be made online and through an app which customers are increasingly using. Known as a push notification, this app serves as a reminder to the customers of the reservations they made which you can notify them about. The app also allows customers to select the table they want to book along with the number of seats they need. They can also make cancellations which alerts the manager.

Regardless of which industrial sector your business belongs to, having an active online presence on social media sites is more critical than ever. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can inform you of the latest trends. These channels can also draw large numbers of viewers in a short span of time with effective online marketing. Available with apps, they also enhance the value of your brand and its image. Furthermore, these platforms notify people of new eateries thus validating them. You can also use these social media apps to interact with customers and respond to their feedback.

Loyalty programs help retain existing customers and attract new ones. In fact, customers are more likely to download a restaurant app you created if it provides them with exclusive offers. Such offers should include discounts. Loyalty programs incorporated in mobile apps are thought to be more effective than the traditional versions as customers can be updated with your offers with just a few swipes and taps on their phones. You can also provide a substantial output of your customers with this app.

To reach its maximum capacity, your restaurant mobile app should include an online payment system. This feature not only eliminates the hassle of handling cash between clients to your restaurant but also reduces clutter at the front desk which can delay payments. In a nutshell, an in-app payment method not only provides a secure option for payment processes but keeps record of orders customers made.

You may have used a couple of mobile ordering apps in your lifetime. Designing and personalizing your restaurant mobile apps may seem easy to do. Converting your physical menu into a mobile app that allows customers to place their orders is largely a simple matter. However, there are several design elements and techniques to consider when designing your restaurant app. Knowing how to design an app and how to use it will potentially set you apart from  competition and help you accomplish your business objectives successfully.

 

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5 Tips to Make Your Restaurant Ready for Summer

Summer is here and people are going out more and staying out longer. If you want your restaurant to benefit from the good weather you need to get ready. VF6BC6GMA8CU

Although it sounds trivial, there is quite a lot of work involved in getting a dining establishment ready for a new season.  Every season has its own unique characteristics which trigger different behaviors from your potential customers.

For example, in the winter there will be a rise in demand for warm dishes such as soups, casseroles and baked desserts.  In the summer, on the other hand, you will see a rising demand for salads and ice-cream, while you can forget about serving soup to anyone, especially during lunch.

So what do you need to do to get your place ready for the summer?

1.       Spring cleaning

We know that a restaurant has high hygiene standards but even so one of the first things that any food related business must do when winter ends is spring cleaning and pest control. There are no two ways about it. Food will attract visitors of all kinds. The ones we want and the ones we really don’t and a restaurant needs to be ready to handle both.

2.       Change the menu

Like we already mentioned above, different seasons call for different dishes. Change the menu to reflect the changing seasons. Include seasonal fresh herbs, vegetables and fruits in your menu. Talk to farmers in your area and see what produce will be available and make sure you always have an adequate supply of fresh items in your dishes.

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Host an Anti-Valentine’s Day Event at Your Bar

valentine

Some people are not big fans of Valentine’s Day, and who can blame them. If you don’t have someone special in your life, the day can seem like torture. You see everyone at work getting flowers or talking about their special plans for the evening. Everyone seems to be holding hands and happy, smiling because they are blissfully in love. However, there is a large segment of the population that just doesn’t “get” Valentine’s Day. They generally stay inside on February 14th, and the last place they want to go is to a restaurant or a bar that is full of couples in love.

Sounds depressing, but this can be a very good opportunity for you as a bar owner. Instead of having a Valentine’s Day celebration at your place, consider having an anti-Valentine’s Day party that pokes fun at the holiday.

You can have a lot of fun with this idea. Consider holding a competition where people are allowed to get up and tell their worst ex story. Give the winners a free glass of beer to drown their sorrows and a free t-shirt with your bar logo on it to wipe up their tears! It is a fun time, and the t-shirts can act as free promotion whenever someone wears it. In addition to having your logo on the shirt, consider adding something like “I Survived another Valentine’s Day”. (more…)

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Basic Expectations when Dining Out

restaurant furniture

If you are planning to start any kind of business, you have to make sure you will consider the expectations of your customers. Always remember that customers are always right. Once you consider the expectations of your customers, especially in terms of dining out, you can easily attract more business.

Comfortable Seating and Fine Furniture

Let us first start with the basic expectations of customers when dining out. There are some surveys made which state that customers are expecting to be seated in comfort in a restaurant. Comfort is a factor for any dining venue with the exception of fast food restaurants where this is a less important aspect.

Comfort is not only about the chair you seat in; most customers are also looking at the rest of the restaurant furniture. Make sure that there are matching chairs and tables, wall paintings and other kinds of furniture that will spice up your restaurants and enhance the décor.

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How to Make Your Restaurant Stand Out

restaurant dancingHaving your own restaurant can be a very lucrative but tough business. The following tips will give you some ideas on how to get that extra edge over your competition:

Offer Live Music

Why not hire a band and let your customers enjoy some live music? If you have live music, more customers will be enticed to visit your restaurant. Eating in a rather plain restaurant without any entertainment at all can make your dining experience dull and boring. Regardless of the genre of music played by the band you will hire, live music will surely be one of your aces over your competitors. Don’t forget to let your diners know that the band accepts special requests. This is a great bonus for people celebrating anniversaries and birthdays.

Leave Some Empty Space for Dancing

Have you ever imagined operating a restaurant where you can leave an empty place for dancing? Combine this with a live band or a juke box and you will ensure your customers have a night to remember. (more…)

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