How to Attract Single Men and Women to Your Restaurant and Increase Profit?
In the previous post, we looked at the stats proving that the solo dining trend is here. Though this market is growing, many restaurants lose an opportunity to sell more by providing a decent visitor experience for single guys and women. If you are ready to take a slice of this lucrative segment, it’s time to revise your “Go Solo” strategy or create one if you still don’t have it. Below, we share some things you can do to make dining more convenient for your guests.
Use communal seating to overcome loneliness
Many single visitors feel awkward sitting alone at a table for two or four. You can provide communal seating, say, a row of tables and benches that will be welcomed by both singles and groups. This trick mitigates the feeling of chowing down in solitude and sometimes even leads to pleasant acquaintances between your visitors. Who knows, maybe some ladies looking for single guys will find a soulmate dining in your venue.
Create areas for single guys and ladies
Some visitors will prefer to avoid crowds, and then an area with one-person seating arrangements is a perfect solution. Grouping tables for solo diners is quite effective. People won’t feel strange or wrong if they are surrounded by other individuals dining alone or working while eating.
Provide barside seating with a good view
Barside seating is another popular option to achieve the needed result. You can also play with the design and locate the tables near the window. You will give solo diners something to look at and help them hide the fact that they are dining alone. They will look busy, even without the need to check their smartphones.
Adjust your menu to the needs of solo diners
Sometimes a restaurant menu is full of positions suitable for groups. The dishes are either too large for one person or too pricey if ordered by single guys or girls. Add tasting menus to let your solo guests enjoy your cuisine and try several small plates. By creating a full-fledged visitor experience you also encourage single visitors to return to your value with their soulmates. This strategy is popular with Tapas restaurants.
Entertain single men and women with an open kitchen
Organize an area suitable for the tableside performance of your chef. Let single guys and ladies just take a seat and look how the chef is making magic. When a meal becomes an experience, it enters the social networks of your guests and attracts even more clients in the future.
Try the workspace scenario
Create a convenient atmosphere for your busy single guys. By providing a free Wi-Fi connection, you can let visitors dine and work at the same time, answering emails and working online. A portable recharging station will not only be helpful to your visitor but also will let him stay long enough to eat a dessert (why not eat while waiting?).
Engage single visitors to make them feel needed
Some tech things can also work to entertain non-professionals. For example, you can provide interactive displays. They will keep diners engaged and let them relax. If your interior is designed in a more traditional way, you can leave books, maps, and city guides to give single guys and ladies a means of distraction while waiting for the meal. Free appetizers and cocktails can help you attract solo diners in particular hours and stimulate off-peak traffic.
Train you staff
Your team should be very polite while trying to clarify if your guest is dining alone. Not all single guys and women will be happy to hear something like “Just one?” Instead, suggest a quiet corner where he or she can enjoy their alone time, or even wait till they say it themselves. A professional course in body language will be also useful. Some single visitors are really searching for engagement and company, others want to spend time without the extra attention.
Conclusion
Acknowledging the needs of single visitors, allows the restaurant to win a growing share of guests, increase their loyalty, and hence raise its own profitability. Single men and women don’t want to experience the stigma of eating alone and prefer to choose those venues where they are treated with respect. Analyze your “Go Solo” strategy and check whether your restaurant has proper interior design, trained staff, and menu options to accommodate the needs of single guys and ladies. Perhaps, you are losing a potential flow of visitors.