To all the young grannies who run a business

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Money is tight a lot of local pubs and restaurants have closed, those that are still thriving are Pubs that do decent pub grub and midrange pub/restaurants serving main courses around £20 and doing it well. Those aside, it’s Macdonalds, Pizza Hut and Wetherspoons etc, don’t try to compete with them. Home delivery is taking a lot of trade too.

We did run a restaurant for 13 yrs, the only advice I can offer is do what you do well offer more variety but be careful not to loose your existing customers.

How are you doing Delia12?
A year on...?

The family restaurants that my family use are basically "adult" restaurants that open early enough in the evening for children to eat (6pm) but which serve interesting well cooked and nicely presented meals but have a relaxed atmosphere.

In our area there are three Italian restaurants that fit this bill - but on the whole my own adult children seem to use family restaurants where they know exactly what's available before hand - so for example a Chinese buffet is popular - and my grandchildren have choosen this for birthday outings several times.
The other place they seem to go are situated at or very near to shopping centres or cinemas - these tend to be chain types such as sushi places.

I'd love to know if you have made any changes and if they are working?
I'm still not sure what type of "Family Restaurant" you have.

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Not to be confused with Delila

AgnesAlorsa

I can see you're new here

There’s another Delia on Gransnet, but she’s Delia22.

This doesn't make sense - or ring true to me. The 'family restaurant' bit is a worry - as my grown children and grandchildren rarely eat out in the evenings. Times have changed.

They do order takeaway meals from restaurants, though, but usually earlier in the day or at weekends. The mums often have breakfast or coffee together, sometimes lunch, yet tend to be home after school. The dads work long hours so prefer a takeaway - and yes, they're all very health conscious too. Nobody drinks either - not much promise for a traditional restaurant at all.

Restaurant implies evening trade, whereas Cafe means coffee and cakes, light lunches, afternoon teas etc closing by 6pm.
Our local Garden centre has a very busy cafe, very popular caters for retired couples etc during the week, all sorts at weekend some families, it’s a multi shop destination with 20+ outlets.
You can’t compete with them.

What are your opening hours and who are your customers

My daughter is in her earlier 30s. Whenever we meet up for a meal in her city, she normally sends me a link of the restaurant / café website beforehand and ask me to choose which one I prefer.

My advice is you need a proper website. The website should show your menu with all the prices including vegetarian options. A booking form to reserve table, directions how to get there and a gallery that showcase the interior of your restaurant and photos of the food you serve.
Your idea of including trendier menus, healthier options is a good idea.

Besides food, do you serve cakes, cheese scones etc, for people who just want to go there to have cake and coffee. Is there an option for afternoon tea?

For takeaway options, sign up with JustEat and Deliveroo.

PS: I have sent you via private message the website of a cafe attached to a garden centre near us that is popular and always busy.

Best of luck.

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DorothyDolo

Read articles. Study what new restaurants do to attract attention and maybe "copy" them... you won't get the same amount of customers, but you should get some.

I've read a few, but they're vague. Can you suggest a site or an article that might help??

I can see you're new here

Katie59

Money is tight and since the pandemic restaurants have been quiet, many closing one or 2 days a week, the only places in this area that are doing well are mid to upper to market, main course £15-20 or so, AND doing it consistently

As you have a Family establishment do you really want the boisterous younger crowd, you risk putting off your existing customers, they are fickle, change the atmosphere and they will stay away. By all means vary your menu, give return visit offers with a limited date to encourage diners to return soon. You are well established don’t spend much on advertising, by all means use Facebook and other Social media, to highlight your menu and offers. All that aside do what you do really well, exceed expectations, the customers will come.

One son of mine is a chef in a restaurant, caters for singles and couples, drinkers too, main course £10 or so but it’s burgers, pizza, curry, etc.

I currently only post on Facebook. Do you think using other social medias would help? If yes, which do you recommend mostly? Instagram? YouTube?

maddyone

You sound rather ageist. Surely you should be trying to appeal to all ages. Customers ages are irrelevant, because they are customers. Have you never heard of the grey pound?

I'm sorry if you understood it that way. Having a family restaurant without families in them beats the whole point. My restaurant is known amongst the elderly of my town, but we miss the cheerfulness of the youth. When i seeked for advice, I wanted something that includes all ages, without discriminating any.

Read articles. Study what new restaurants do to attract attention and maybe "copy" them... you won't get the same amount of customers, but you should get some.

Ditto what maddyone and J52 say. If you waited for my adult children’s custom you’d be waiting a long time. It’s all about paying the mortgage and nursery fees and entertaining at home, as we did ‘back in the day’ as you say. And the even younger ones do not have funds for eating out.

Money is tight and since the pandemic restaurants have been quiet, many closing one or 2 days a week, the only places in this area that are doing well are mid to upper to market, main course £15-20 or so, AND doing it consistently

As you have a Family establishment do you really want the boisterous younger crowd, you risk putting off your existing customers, they are fickle, change the atmosphere and they will stay away. By all means vary your menu, give return visit offers with a limited date to encourage diners to return soon. You are well established don’t spend much on advertising, by all means use Facebook and other Social media, to highlight your menu and offers. All that aside do what you do really well, exceed expectations, the customers will come.

One son of mine is a chef in a restaurant, caters for singles and couples, drinkers too, main course £10 or so but it’s burgers, pizza, curry, etc.

I’m sorry u are getting slated. I would ask the customers that do come into the cafe . It maybe the grey pound is the way to go . Especially if your area is already following food fashion. Everyone is struggling at the moment it may just be that trend and not a reflection on your business.

My advice would be to look at your most popular dishes, keep those on the menu and replace the dishes that are not so popular. You absolutely must include some vegetarian and vegan options. Ask customers to give you a review on Google snd Tripadvisor so that you move higher up the most popular restaurants in your area. Listen to feedback and learn and improve from the reviews. Have a QR code on the table or cards to give with the bill. Open an instagram account for the restaurant and post photos of the food you serve. Good luck!

Who does the cooking? Yourself or a chef? In either case, re-training might be in order, at least as much in the area of technology as in the business of catering. A new, recently trained chef with some experience of up-to-date techniques and recipes could revive your menus. As far as age is concerned, I can't see much difference between my preferences (at 83) and those of my son (53), a trained chef, and my various grandchildren.

I didnt touch a computer til the mid 1980s. I was in my 50s when I did my Ph.d. in database navigation. There are several people on GN who built their own e-commerce websites.

I don't know many 16/20 year olds who can afford to eat out in a restaurant. Their go to is the big golden arch establishment as relativeky cheap and quick. Aren't all the up to 34 year olds struggling to save for a mortgage so can't afford to eat out. May be why you have noticed a downturn in business generally.