People are going out more and more during the times that restaurants have their happy hour and/or extended specials and are looking to save as much as they can.

“We don’t see a change in what people are drinking as much as seeing a change in the time they are drinking,” said Kip Snider, beverage director for the Yard House chain of restaurants.

Still, a growing reliance on happy hour — as well as a “reverse” happy hour with the same specials from 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays to Wednesdays — is not a bad strategy.

“In times like this, the bar business should take on more of a focal point for restaurants because of the incremental profit that comes with each sale,” Henkes said.

Restaurants net about 15 cents for every dollar of food purchased but 38 cents for alcohol, Henkes said. So it makes sense for casual dining spots, in particular, to pitch booze.

Alcohol typically is a pretty recession-proof item but due to marketing strategies put in place when the economy was stronger may places seem to be taking a hit. When putting specials (drink or food) in place it is important to keep your costs in check. The “specials” do a great job to bring in customers during an otherwise slow period. 

The cutback in beverage revenue comes as customers eat at home more often, putting restaurants in one of the most severe slumps the industry has faced in decades.

During times like this restaurants should but extra emphasis on food sales for an incremental profit that comes with each sale. 

Here’s some recommended ways to help jump start your sales:

1. Arrange a meet up or event. Go to sites such as http://www.meetup.com. Come up with a cleaver themed event and post it on that site. Making it relevant to your establishment is a great way to target potential customers that have never hear of your place. Example: If you have a Golf themed restaurant or bar (or even decorated that way) set up a local golfers meet up or get in contact with a local golf club to arrange for a meet up.

2. Give out samples. Great customer service goes a long way. Some times people are afraid to even try new things. Walking around giving samples of food or drinks to patrons will give them a chance to fall in love with a food/drink they never imagined trying. 

3. Add pairings & photos to your menu. Give recommendations for what food/dessert and drinks go well together. This is a great way to increase average profit per ticket. Also hire a photographer to photograph the pairing and put it on your menu. Food photos is a great way to give customers of a preview of a dish.

Customers need guidance when trying to decide what they want to order off a menu.  That is why the placement of menu items, pictures/graphics and item descriptions plays an important role when designing a menu.

The inside right page of a menu is considered to be a high profile spot for a menu.  This is where it’s recommended that you place high end specialties.  It is recommended that you change up the font a little to make this section stand out more than the rest of the menu.

Menu item position affect sales.  It’s known that people/consumers tend to remember the top two items on a list as well as the bottom item.  This is a good location to place most profitable items.

Draw attention to specific areas of the menu. The font type, as well as font size, borders, boxes, symbols and shading all help to draw attention to specific items.  Just remember to not over do it.

Menus should not describe common or familiar items. Some items just don’t need to be described.  If something special or unusual is being offered, there should be a description for that item.

Don’t align prices on a menu, this causes the customer to look at the price of the item to determine what they will order.  If you put the price at the end of the description in the same type without dollar signs, this will allow the customer to focus on the item rather than just the price of the item.

Proofread!!! Proofreading is very important.  Spelling errors and typos are things that can cause customers to not take you seriously.

To see the full menu used above click here.

1. Billboards – These are a great way to saturate a large area and grab a lot of attention in a short amount of time. Though, you are limited to marketing your company locally.

2. Radio – Radio jingles or ads is way to attract more of a targeted audience. Radio stations can provide you with a report of demographics for their audience. This can be used to target your ads to listeners in different groups.

3. Seo – Blast your city by optimizing for “(yourcityname) web design” or optimize for “web design company,” “web designer,” “web design.”

4. Door to door – This has been coming up a lot lately. Many of our clients with store fronts have repeatedly been approached by salesman in their store attempting to sell them a web site.

5. Cold calling – Picking up the phone book and dialing away. Get those scripts ready.

6. Google Ad-Words – Paid for search results on Google. “XXXXXX web design” fill in the industry specific blank for key words. Warning: Can get expensive.

7. Direct Mail – Pick an area, city, industry, income group, demographic and send those mailers.

8. Print Ads – 2 x 3 to full page go for a business magazine or small business resource magazine.

9. Social Media – Oh so much you can do with this. Do even know where to start.

10. Do Great Work – Otherwise known as referrals or word of mouth and let your work speak for it self.