Many hotels and business property sites have had some type of food and beverage service from conception. Most are for the necessity of guests’ every day need for consuming a meal. Others are to provide building tenants with a cafeteria and/or coffee shop.
Both corporate and boutique properties have seen payoffs with refreshing and elevating their food and beverage outlets. Doing so aids in branding, marketing, morale, and increasing revenue and guest/tenant loyalty.
At the end of the day, it leans on social psychology—just like animals, humans want to congregate at the best place that offers an abundance of quality, delicious food and comfort. We find that updating your menu by bringing in creative superior quality items, retraining service staff, and engaging in a light remodel, will see a return on investments in as little as 9-12 months.
The investment of refreshing your F&B service pays off for all—guests, tenants, and owners.
Here are 5 steps to start off your site’s F&B refresh:
1. Determine your guests hurdles for using your F&B services. This can be a few combinations of the following: examine timing of delivery/service, ease of ordering, layout, dated appearance and/or dated menu. At this time, you have to be 100% honest and imagine what your guest/tenants are perceiving when they step inside your property. Look around at more than just your menu, does it feel fresh and inviting or is it overdone and stale? Is your staff’s engagement with guests genuine or is it just playing a scripted role?
2. What’s the game plan? A real refresh will need to be noticeable, not just a new coat of paint and a few new menu items. You need to consider your budget and if you are able to successfully accomplish your refresh within in it. Things to consider in terms of costing: training ,R&D,consulting services, equipment, marketing, and items needing to be purchased such as new menus, displays, and in some scenarios light or major remodel.
3. Identify who on your team can aid you in your refresh. This is not just for managers, but maybe you have a star bartender, server or back of the house staff member that holds a unique talent which you can utilize. If you are low on talent this would be the time to seek outside help in a few forms: consultants, managers, or forming collaborations with some local talent.
4. Know your market: not all trends are meant for you. Just because you see the local sandwich or sushi place with a line out the door it does not mean, “if you build it, they will come.” Knowing your market is not just building off your current guests needs; it is also about the additional guests you wish to attract. You will need to consider who’s not coming in the door and why? Is it your price point, quality, image and/or overall lack of appeal? If you are seeking to attract higher-end clientele to your site, you might want to create a more upscale F&B amenity within your site. Also consider whether your guest or tenant will be able to afford your new price point. Will the end result be to simply elevate the status of your site, to serve the majority, or a combination of both? Either one will yield different pros and cons.
Building off what works now should be factored in to what to place your emphasis on. For example, if you see your breakfast is stronger, why not work on elevating that portion with better café drinks,baked goods, and expanding breakfast catering.
5. Refresh execution time. At this time, you might be ready to unveil your new, improved F&B program refresh. Make sure you have had plenty of training with the staff and that marketing has been in play before doing so. This can be a mix of pre-opening mock services, soft opening prep, and staff training to get your crew up to date with your refresh. Marketing with your localized building or community is the best start for pre-approval that you are on the right direction with layout, menu and overall feel of the project. This will also give you insight into any of the regulars that might be offended by the new and fresh F&B program you have worked so hard on. There’s always a few Yelpers that will say “I loved that old shoe, but the new one does not fit.” We all know that guest, but they are in the minority and you need to evolve for the better so as to not go stale in this ever-changing hospitality world.
At Savory Hospitality we excel at refreshing or recreating any type of food & beverage hotel or development site from the ground up. We support our clients in building a strong and unique feel that serves to improve their site with the real goal of increasing brand awareness and value.
Reach out to us for a free 30 minute phone consultation to discuss your F&B revamp today.
Cheers,
Salar Sheik
Savory Hospitality Founder
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