10 Marketing Tips for reopening hospitality in 2021

After months of closure restaurants, pubs, cafés and hotels now have a roadmap for reopening in spring 2021.

With hospitality managers and operators under huge pressure to get everything right for reopening, it’s all too easy to put marketing down as an unnecessary time and cost, but the restaurants, pubs and other hospitality businesses that will get back on their feet fastest will be the ones who communicate regularly with their customers.

With constant changes to the rules and regulations and understandable nervousness on the part of some consumers about being in busy public places again, it’s vital that hospitality businesses communicate regularly with customers to show you are ready to welcome people back, have thought about their safety and that they can come out and enjoy themselves.

Here are my Top 10 marketing tips for reopening:

1. Create an emotionally rich and engaging relationship

   
   One thing that the last year of lockdowns has taught us is to be grateful for things we have always taken for granted - not least being able to pop out to meet friends at the pub or enjoy someone else’s cooking at a restaurant. People have started to appreciate the emotional connection they have with their local pub or neighbourhood restaurant or with somewhere they hold fond memories of or dream of visiting.
   Understand that emotional connection with your customers (past, current and future) and use it to bond with them. Marketing communications should be honest, empathetic, generous and authentic. Develop the personality and story of your brand and share your experiences of the last year and your hopes for the future in a way that makes your audience want to be part of your story and support your future.
   
   

2. Review your target audience

   
   Has your audience changed over the last 12 months due to travel restrictions:
   - can you gain new customers who are staying in the UK for their holidays. How do you reach with them?
   - can you connect with more local customers who are staying closer to home and now recognise what they have on their doorstep?
   - have customer expectations changed? If you traditionally have an older audience they may need more reassurance about how you will keep them safe. A younger audience may be more concerned about things they are now restricted from doing.
   - do review your offer, your menu and your price points and make sure they are right for your current audience.
   
   

3. Sell the dream through good photos and videos

   
   What we all need right now is to get out of the house, see friends and family and have someone else do the cooking and washing up! Use photos and video to appeal to this emotion and show people that they can go out and relax - photos speak a 1000 words.
   Update images or create a short video of your outside space if you have it or of your ‘social distanced’ indoor dining area. Film a virtual tour - on your phone is fine.
   It goes without saying that photographs of dishes and ingredients whet the appetite of hungry diners - but think beyond the obvious and give a sneak peek behind-the-scenes.
   
   

4. Communicate a clear and consistent policy

   
   While nobody really wants to read all the rules and restrictions any more than you want to enforce them, do make sure you have published your policies on your website and link back to them from elsewhere. There are so many ongoing changes that people do need to be reminded what the general rules are as well as anything unique to your venue and it can avoid awkward and embarrassing moments when guests arrive.
   Communicate with customers about any new safety precautions you’re taking and the government rules and regulations you need to follow (mandatory reservations, gathering information for contact tracing, etc.) Remember to review your cancellation policy too.
   
   

5. Keep your audience updated everywhere you can

   
   During the next few months your competitors will be vying for your customers’ attention, so make sure you are front of mind and that they can find out what they need to know about you wherever they connect with you. Make time to update your website with your plans for reopening including your new opening hours, menus and anything else that’s new (garden bar, gazebo, marquee?). It’s quick and easy to post on social media, but also make time to refresh your Tripadvisor, Facebook and Instagram bios and any listing sites you appear on.
   
   

6. Review your Google Business Page

   
   Make sure you’re set up on Google My Business. It’s free, easy to use, and allows you to manage your online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. It is often the first place people find your information when searching specifically for your business or just searching your town or location for somewhere to visit. Add fresh images, and make sure your introduction is up to date and relevant.
   
   

7. Get the best out of social media

   
   Social media is perhaps the easiest and most effective way to keep your audience up to date and engaged as it’s easy to post regular updates. On Instagram use stories or reels to tell the story of reopening your venue and give your audience an insight into everything that is going on behind the scenes. This will create a sense of anticipation but can also be a relaxed way to convey the measures you are taking to make people safe. If you dare go there, TikTok is starting to play a part in developing brand stories and audience engagement. Here are some ideas try:
   - Create recipe videos
   - Take followers on a virtual tour
   - Create a “behind-the-scenes” video of the kitchen staff preparing meals
   - Interview employees and share their experiences
   - Hold a live stream Q&A session with followers
   
   

8. Create long-form evergreen content

   Create long-form evergreen content for your website whether that’s telling your story on an ‘About us’ page or creating a news section or blog. This is content that isn’t time-sensitive and includes keywords that you want to be known for that will drive traffic to your site. Begin by drawing up a list of three to five keywords you want to improve your rankings for – terms that people may search for and that are relevant to your business.
   Blogs can help your website appear authoritative. You can write content that answers common questions, helps customers understand something, or solves problems (like things to do on a rainy day in your location or introducing them to your team or favourite food & drink producers.
   
   

9. Don’t forget email marketing

   Email marketing is a really useful tool for driving customer loyalty and engagement as well as keeping people updated. If you capture customers email addresses on booking (online or in person) invite then them to sign up to receive email news from you. You can also ask people to sign up via your website. Use an email marketing service like Mailchimp which will help you comply with GDPR data regulations and enable you to create a professional looking template.
   -  Don’t make emails ‘salesy’ or pushy – share other news about what’s going on in your area or things you’ve been doing, reading or listening to.
   - That said don’t be afraid to include a clear call to action to book.
   - Link your email newsletter content to your website and blog, including short excerpts in the newsletter with links to read more on your website, this encourages people to engage more with your brand.
   - Send to many, write to one – approach every email as though it’s personal.
   - Be consistent in email frequency and make sure you keep topics varied and interesting.
   - Save time and effort by planning a couple of months topics in advance. 
   
   

10. Encourage reviews

    Reviews on platforms such as Facebook, Google My Business and TripAdvisor are powerful ways to build your reputation. Your business is more likely to show up in Google’s local pack if it has reviews that mention keywords you’re trying to rank for and the town/area where you are based. I often speak to businesses who understand that these reviews count but don’t know how to generate them, one way to do this is to include a call to action on your website, you can download a Google Review widget from your google. Another way ask people in a fun way on your menus or other signage. See our blog on managing your online reputation>

2021 UK Restaurant Trends and Predictions

How the world has changed in a year! When I look back at my restaurant and hospitality predictions for 2020 they seem to come from another world where we took for granted being able to pop to the pub or meet friends for dinner. As a society, we have come to recognise that restaurants, pubs and hotels help to fulfil the basic human need to connect with others and to shape social relationships.

Boom or Bust for restaurants in 2021?

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that it’s impossible to predict the future, so the idea of making any predictions or looking at hospitality trends for 2021 seems like a foolish exercise. There are those who predict a boom in the hospitality sector in the second half of 2021. Jay Rayner wrote in The Observer in early January: “There will be a desire to spend, which has to be good both for the economy in general and hospitality in particular.”. In July and August after the first lockdown, people flocked back to support hospitality businesses, albeit gradually at first and encouraged by the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. As soon as it’s permitted and safe to do so, we can expect to see a pent up demand to eat out, meet friends for a drink and enjoy the warmth of hospitality again.

Yet, starting the new year in another full lockdown with expectations that it will last until spring, the hospitality industry faces enormous challenges in 2021 and is at risk of losing almost 50% of normal revenue streams and seeing huge numbers of redundancies. The British Beer and Pub Association and the British Institute of Innkeeping and UKHospitality have published findings that suggest:

• 72% of members expected to operate at a loss and to be unable to survive because of the collapse in trade.

• Seven out of 10 UK pubs and restaurants fear they will become financially unviable and forced to close in 2021 as a result of damaging Covid-19 restrictions

• By February 2021 there would be 750,000 fewer jobs in the sector compared with earlier this year.

The Future Shock report, from CGA and UKHospitality, outlines the difficult year for the pub, bar and restaurant sector and sets out the challenges and opportunities facing the industry into 2021 indicates:

• A £53.3bn year-on-year drop in sales between the start of April and the end of September.

• Falling consumer confidence, with 78% of British adults concerned about the long-term financial implications of the pandemic.

• 21% of consumers said they would eat and drink out less frequently than before

• Hesitant business confidence, with 27% of leaders of multi-site groups predicting they will be unviable by mid-2021 with current levels of support.

• insight from recent research commissioned by Marcus Wareing found that 34% of consumers expected to spend less when they returned to restaurants.

2021 will be about settling into a new rhythm and catering to diners in new and innovative way. Here are some of our predictions for the UK restaurant trade in 2021. Several of the predictions for last year seem even more relevant today than they did 12 months ago.

1. Home delivery and finish-at-home meals become the norm.

2020: We predicted that restaurants and pubs should do more to tap into the trend for home delivery with the potential to reach new audiences and increase turnover at quieter times. We wrote: “There’s particular scope for more sophisticated options from high-end restaurants. Yet operators will face a challenge to adapt to this fundamentally altered business model.
“

Lockdowns forcing the closure of hospitality since March have forced hospitality businesses to switch their business model overnight to offer take-home meals in order to keep some of their staff employed and their businesses afloat. New businesses have sprung up, such as Restaurant Kits, to facilitate this trend without the high costs of delivery platforms like Deliveroo and Uber Eats.

2021: We expect to see more businesses find new revenue streams through diversification into take-home meals, cook at home kits and restaurant branded products on the shelves. With no end in sight to restrictions, taking the restaurant experience home or giving yourself a night off cooking, has never seemed more important. While there seemed to be some saturation in demand for home delivery/restaurant kits during autumn, we can expect to see growing demand in 2021 and the launch new platforms and technologies that make it easier for restaurants to improve systems for ordering and management.

2. The Rise of Ghost Kitchens

Until this year ghost kitchens where food is prepared and distributed, but no customers are served were perceived as a niche phenomenon in our cities. In 2021 they will become part of the next normal. While high rents in city centres are unsustainable more hospitality businesses and chefs will move away from the high street towards more affordable ghost kitchens. The beauty of a ghost kitchen is that it allows your operation to run leaner and meaner than ever before.

Before the pandemic, revenue for online food delivery in Europe was experiencing double-digit growth and was expected to exceed £19bn by 2023. In the UK, Foodstars, Jacuna Kitchens and Deliveroo are just a few of the third-party delivery platforms to have entered the game. Yet virtual kitchens are not just for the big operators, with kitchens offering hired spaces they can be a great stepping stone for new businesses in a similar way to businesses which tested a concept through a street-food offering, people will start a virtual kitchen first and then open a bricks-and-mortar site when the hospitality sector can open up again.

2. Provenance, Sustainability and tackling food waste

2020: We predicted an increased awareness in reducing the use of single-use plastics and reducing food waste and encouraged operators to demonstrate the steps they were taking to make improvements. The reality has been that we’ve gone several steps backwards and seen wide-spread use of disposable cups and packaging with take-away drinks and meals. The constant stop-starting of operations as lockdowns and closures have been imposed at short notice has seen an increase in food waste.

2021: With Brexit complete and increased customs tariffs the price of imported ingredients will increase and the importance of sourcing locally will become all the more critical. We should expect to see more British grown produce on our plates. Hospitality businesses will have to rapidly adapt their supply chains, their workforce and shift their long term planning. How they will do this is still uncertain, but many businesses will have to become more reliant on local communities and markets.

3. Eating for Immunity

2020: We suggested that consumers were likely to seek healthy options on weekdays and treat themselves at the weekend and that operators should offer healthy options as well as occasional treats.

2021: Immunity will be the new buzzword for 2021. The pandemic has caused us all to think more about how a good diet can improve our health and immunity. While heavily emphasing the nutritional value of dishes on your menu

4. Contactless technology everywhere

2020: Our 2020 predictions for the importance of technology have been critical this year to reduce contact and enable online orders. We predicted that consumers would more regularly use apps and mobile technology: “Technology will transform the way consumers order food and drink and to change how we book too. It’s clear that personal devices will play a critical role in the restaurant experience, from QR-code enabled menus, to mobile order-ahead options, minimizing contact is important to consumers and has effectively gone from short-term fix, to key priority.”

2021: There has been significant investment in developing new and improved technology to help hospitality operators improve safety for staff and customers and we will continue to see new apps and technology rolled out in 2021. Even operators who have previously been reluctant to adopt systems such as QR codes, remote ordering and contactless payment will be forced to implement these new technologies due to customer expectations. The aim is to make the entire process contactless, so consumers can feel safer and enjoy a convenient, hassle-free experience.

5. Keep engaging with your customers

With prolonged closures and constant changes to rules and restrictions, hospitality operators have been forced to communicate regularly with customers whether through social media, email newsletters or PR. If the experience you offer your customers is one that makes them feel looked after and treated when they visit your pub, restaurant or hotel, it follows that you need to continue to do this even while you are closed.

While the pressure facing operators for both time and budget means it’s all to easy to put marketing down as an unnecessary time and cost, it’s vital that you continue to communicate with your customers (current and future) and maintain an emotionally rich and engaging relationship with your followers.

The most successful hospitality businesses that will emerge from the train wreck of 2020, will be those who understand the emotional connection and use it to bond with their customers. Marketing at its best should be honest, empathic, generous and authentic. It combines brand building with narrative to develop your business into a character with its own personality – one that customers want to see progress and support through the challenges that 2021 holds, and whose story they want to be a part of.

6. Family-friendly dining

2020: We suggested that restaurants and pubs should review their family-friendly dining options, while not necessarily offering children’s menus, but making the experience as welcoming as possible to parents and children. With restrictions on meeting and dining with people from outside your household, restaurants became dependent on bookings from single households and bookings from families have become all the more important.

2021: While it seems unlikely that we’ll be able to dine out with friends and colleagues in the first half of 2021, restaurants and pubs must develop ways to appeal to families and give people a strong incentive to dine out, when permitted, to celebrate family occasions or just for a break from routine.

7. Eat and drink local

City centre footfall is at an all-time low, even during periods when restrictions have eased, office workers based at home and no international tourists, town and city centre venues have taken the biggest hit during the pandemic, while restaurants and pubs in residential areas and the countryside have been supported by customers staying local. While footfall may increase in our cities in the second half of 2021, consumers will remain inclined to stay local and support businesses on their doorsteps.

This is a real opportunity for community-based businesses, which are often independent operators. To survive operators must may more attention than ever to their local audience and not rely on attracting customers even from the other side of the city. With many vacant spaces and potentially lower rents, as landlords look to fill their properties again, this also creates new opportunities for brave start-up businesses, chefs going it alone for the first time and entrepreneurs who’ve been held back before by the high costs of starting a bricks and mortar business.

8. The return of warm hospitality

Even when open, the need for strict hygiene measures, social distancing, and rules on household mixing, have put hospitality operators under huge stress and required them to prioritise policing the rules over offering warm hospitality and personal connections. The requirement to wear face masks and, in some cases, the introduction of contactless ordering and payment has taken away so much of what customers love about going out to eat and drink and the reason why people love working in the industry. In the short periods, restaurants and pubs were open in 2020 we all had experiences of overly officious and understandably stressed staff, being a bit abrupt and sometimes plain rude.

Yet we all crave the warmth of human contact, a bit of friendly banter at the bar or with the waiter, or some nosey people-watching of the next table. Restaurant and pub operators who can find ways to inject the usual warmth and conviviality into dining out will be the first to bounce back. It will be vital to give staff the training to manage any rules or expectations with grace and charm and to look for those extra touches which make the customer feel welcome and valued.

How to write a press release

If you have exciting news to share about your business, it can be easy to share it with people face-to-face, but translating that energy and confidence in a written press release can be harder. Here are my tips for writing a press release that will make your story stand out:

1. Keep it simple, refreshing and to the point. If your story’s worth telling, you should be able to summarise it in one sentence.

2. Don’t go over the top - no boasting - it’s not just a case of bigging up what you do. Stick to the facts and don’t exaggerate. If the story is newsworthy you won’t need to exaggerate.

3. Avoid hyperbole and cliché - words like ‘passion’ and ‘award-winning’ are overused and are an immediate turn off to journalists and readers. Write as you would naturally talk to someone using your own voice.

4. Equally there's no need to adopt a bland impersonal tone in your press release give it a bit of your own personality.

5. Make it relevant - I recommend creating a few different versions with different angles for your local media, for trade/business press and for national consumer mags and newspapers.

6. Keep it short and sweet. You don’t need to put all the detail in a press release. One page is plenty perhaps with a few notes or details on a second page. Leave your reader wanting more!

7. Do steer clear of puns or wordplay - this will mean nothing to busy journalists, scrolling through their inbox.

8. Don’t bury your ‘top line’ Most journalists don’t have time to open all the press releases they receive – never mind read them all the way through. So don’t make the mistake of burying the most interesting part – commonly known as the top line – at the bottom of your press release. Get it in the very first line.

9. Put the story in the body of an email - don’t rely on people to open attachments. Remember that journalists are often on the move, so they may be reading your release on their mobile.

10. Quotes bring the story alive. They should add insight and opinion - appeal to the senses with colour and flavour. Don’t use quotes to state or repeat facts. And make sure they sound like you as if you were talking to someone in person.

2020 UK Restaurant Trends and Predictions

Read the 2021 UK Restaurant Trends & Predictions >

Is 2020 set to be a more stable year for restaurants and hospitality? After a highly unpredictable 2019 with low consumer confidence and the economy narrowly avoiding recession, is the industry feeling confident about what the year ahead holds?

As widely predicted the rising costs, strong competition and weakening consumer demand have seen the extensive decline of the UK restaurant market during 2019 and it seems likely that there will be no quick fixes in 2020.

According to MCA UK Restaurant Report 2019, the UK restaurant market is set to contract by 3.1% in 2019 - the biggest decline in 7 years. More than 1,400 UK restaurants collapsed in 12 months to June 2019 and the number of restaurant insolvencies was up 25%. Customers have turned their backs on chains like Byron, Strada and Jamie Oliver’s restaurant empire.

But it’s not just the chains that have taken a hit, independents make up the majority of the UK restaurant market with 64% of the value and 84% outlets (MCA) and have taken their share of closures and insolvencies. Visit frequency to independent restaurants per month has fallen -8.3% in the last year.

Pubs and fast food outlets continue to outperform restaurants as they are well-positioned to satisfy the demand for lower-cost convenience.

Millennials (under 35s) make-up almost a quarter of the UK population (source: Statista) and spend a whopping 13% of their income in restaurants and bars (source: Foodspark) so cracking this market is key to restaurant and pub operators’ success in 2020. Yet Millennial consumers are increasingly difficult to attract and have different expectations and habits to their parents so restaurants need to adapt in 2020 to drive footfall and sales from this key market.

Here are some of our predictions for the UK restaurant trade in 2020.

1. Keeping Millennial Diners Happy

Millennial diners value individuality, uniqueness and adventure. They are less loyal and more likely to follow the crowd to the latest opening for the real life and social media kudos.

For this generation dining out is an experience to share with friends and meet new people. They choose restaurants for the atmosphere - they enjoy communal tables and open kitchens that let them engage with the creativity and character of your kitchen team.

It’s no coincidence that the popularity of street food coincided with the rise of millennial diners as it fulfils their desire to experiment and explore different styles of food and new cuisines. Each month the average millennial eats at a restaurant four times but has street food, orders delivery and has food to go 11 times. Food trucks offer unique foods in a fun and often social setting.

Convenience and affordability are also key to this generation - it’s not just about fast food but also efficient service. They like to use technology from booking platforms and self-ordering and payment apps that offer them control and convenience. 


2. Pop Up to Permanent

Millennial diners’ interest in trying the unique and new is also driving a trend towards pop-up restaurants.

For chefs and restaurant operators launching a pop-up site is an opportunity to test a new concept, gain a following, fine-tune details and secure investment before making a long term commitment. These take two forms: ticket-only events or short-term residencies and medium-term site take-overs.



The pop-up concept is also attractive to landlords and property companies who are increasingly nervous about signing long leases following numerous high profile restaurant closures. The bad PR and inconvenience that goes with a failed leaseholder can have a negative impact on property value so they will be incentivising take-overs and rotating pop-ups.

Examples include the former Magpie site at 10 Heddon Street, where eponymous hand-made pasta concept ran for three month - their website now says ‘Details of relocation to follow. Watch this space.” Meanwhile at the same site, Australian chef Shaun Presland has brought his take on Japanese cuisine, Pacific, to London with a strong hint that a permanent site will follow.



Spanish small-plates restaurant, Pilgrim, began its journey as a six-month residency in Hackney before they sent off an application to BBC Two’s “My Million Pound Menu”. The three founders gained the backing of Graffiti Spirits Group with an invitation to open their first permanent site at the group’s Duke Street Market which was then under redevelopment in Liverpool. Following the show, they tested the concept further with pop-ups in London and Liverpool allowing them to refine their menus and build an audience.




3. Do you deliver?

The insatiable appetite for food delivery services shows no signs of waning in 2020 driven by the quest for convenience and affordability, especially from the Millennial generation. The food delivery market is expected to grow in value by 17% over the next two years, indicating it could be worth close to 5 billion by 2020 according to market analyst NPD.

Restaurants and pubs can do more to tap into this trend with the potential to reach new audiences and increase turnover at quieter times. There’s particular scope for more sophisticated options from high-end restaurants.

However, commissions payable to these platforms are typically in the range of 20% to 25% of the total order value and with the loss of drink sales associated with delivered food, restaurant operators will face a challenge to adapt to this fundamentally altered business model.


4. Family-friendly dining

By 2020 over 5.5 million millennials in the UK will be parents and by 2025 they will make up 83% of all parents. Restaurants, pubs and cafés that may have turned their noses up at family groups must welcome them.

This is a generation which has grown up eating out more often than their parents and will take their children out with them and will expect more than a traditional nostalgic children’s menu of fish fingers & chips or sausages & mash.

WholeFoods US has predicted the shake-up of the kids’ menu as one of the top ten food trends for 2020. Parents are introducing children to more adventurous foods and putting health and nutrition higher up their priorities and will demand more child sized portions from the main menu as well as organic produce, wholegrain bread or pasta and more fresh vegetables than you see on usual kids’ menus.

5. Provenance, sustainability and tackling food waste

Consumers are increasingly making more thoughtful choices about what they eat. There’s a collective consciousness that by choosing carefully sourced sustainable options we can make a difference to climate change. 73% of Millennials will pay more for sustainable produce compared to 63% of the general global population and they want to buy into a whole sustainable lifestyle rather than token gestures.

Regenerative Agriculture is a term you should expect to hear more in 2020 - the idea that farmers and food producers must improve growing and grazing practices to improve soil health, increase biodiversity and sequester carbon.

For restaurants, this means sourcing organic or low-input produce, sustainable fish, seafood and meat.

The rise in flexitarianism means not only offering vegan and vegetarian options but also finding ways to reduce meat on the menus. Sustainable Restaurant Association Award winner, The Wheatsheaf in Chilton Foliat has cut meat by a third by taking roasts of the menu and substituting mushrooms for a third of the meat in its burgers aiming to continue to satisfy carnivorous customers.

Fruit and vegetable retailer and wholesaler Turnips Borough which supplies some of London’s top restaurants reports that chefs are demanding produce with a clear provenance or geographic designation from small producers. They believe this is a result of a growing awareness that sustainable farming practices and better soil produce the best tasting ingredients.

Awareness about reducing food waste and single-use plastic will grow further in 2020. Consumers will expect restaurant operators to demonstrate the steps they are taking to improve and show that tackling food waste doesn’t have to be an afterthought. This trend is spearheaded by a series of new restaurant launches putting tackling food waste at the forefront of their brand: including Doug McMaster’s reopening of Silo in London; and Adam Handling’s new ‘sustainable causal’ restaurant, Ugly Butterfly, which opens in Chelsea in December serving dishes made from waste predominantly sourced from his nearby fine-dining restaurant at the Belmond Cadogan Hotel.

6. Healthy Pleasures

8 out of 10 millennials say it’s important to eat healthily and indulge occasionally and people of all ages are looking to mix and match balancing health with the occasional indulgence. Consumers are more likely to seek healthy options on weekdays and at lunchtime and treat themselves at the weekend.

Millennials always have their eyes on the latest health trends. Operators must offer healthy options and whether that’s alternative milk and dairy, gluten-free or vegan options. Other trends that will continue to grow in 2020 included fermented products for their gut-health benefits, ancient and heritage grains including spelt, emmer and naked oats from producers like Hodmedod; as well as alternative gluten-free flour from peas and quinoa.

Younger diners also like the opportunity to personalise their menus making choices that are more or less healthy by picking their own pizza toppings, salad dressing, or burgers with or without a bun.

7. Would you like wine with that?

An extension of the health trend is that numerous reports suggest that younger people are drinking less than their parents. 25% of young people class themselves as non-drinkers (BMC Public Health) and 65% of alcohol consumers aged 25 to 34 “are trying or have tried to cut back on their alcohol intake”.

Dry months Dry January and Sober October are increasingly popular across all age groups and are key periods for operators to offer exciting alternatives and an opportunity to retain some of the margins. Yet restaurants and pubs must offer grown-up, sophisticated alcohol-free options must be available all year round.

There’s an increasing choice no-alcohol spirit alternatives spearheaded by Seedlip who launched Aecorn Aperitifs in 2019. These brands are driving innovation in no-alcohol cocktails or mocktails. Low/No Alcohol beer is seen as more socially acceptable than it was and many more premium brands are entering the market and Michelin starred restaurants including Clove Club and the Standard Hotel have added no-alcohol wines to their lists.

Real Kombucha, launched in 2017, is now stocked on 60 Michelin-starred restaurants and is also served as an aperitif at l’Enclume. While sommeliers at restaurants such as La Gavroche, Clove Club, and Restaurant Nathan Outlaw are creating their own no-alcohol ferments from loose leave teas.

8. Up your Tech Game

We know millennials love convenience so it’s no surprise that many of them turn to technology to improve their dining out experience. 77% of millennials say restaurant technology improves their dining experience.

This generation is tech-savvy and will use apps and mobile technology to research where to eat out, to book, to check wait times, to pay and to share reviews. The prevalence of smartphones has put consumers in control; while portable EPOS systems help businesses run more efficiently.

We’re seeing an increase in technology for branded apps helping restaurant operators to improve loyalty and drive repeat business as well as build efficiencies in ordering and inventory management, and staff scheduling and payroll.

Voice-activated technology will transform the way consumers order food and drink and is expected to change how we book too. Restaurant booking platform, Qundoo believe that 50% of all searches will be voice searches in 2020 while ResDiary now offers bookings through a Facebook chatbot.

Social media has changed the way millennials choose restaurants, bars and cafés and booking through social is expected to grow to. 18-35-year-olds spend five days a year browsing food images on Instagram, and 30% would avoid a restaurant if their Instagram presence was weak.

So restaurant operators must make sure that they are easy to find online and on social media with up-to-date menus and strong images, and adapt the latest technologies to drive online booking.

12 Tips for Restaurant PR

12 Tips for Restaurant PR

You and your team are slogging away serving fabulous food and creating memorable dining experiences - your customers love what you do but you’d like more people to know about it.

You are only new once

Maybe you’ve tried contacting the media to get coverage and inviting journalists and influencers to visit but struggling to get heard above all the competition. Journalists always seem to ask “is it new?” and reading restaurant reviews in the national papers or features in magazines it can seem like all the coverage is about the new places. It can feel frustrating once you’re more than a year old. But there are other ways you can engage with the media.

So how can you use PR to secure media coverage for your restaurant, pub or café in the local media, in national magazines and newspapers or through influencers and bloggers?

1. Be Newsworthy

One of the primary mistakes businesses make when writing press releases or reaching out to the media is not to find an angle or a hook for your story. Imagine you’ve only got a few seconds to capture someone’s attention - that famous elevator pitch. It also helps to imagine you are writing a story that could be featured in print. Ask yourself what would make it interesting to you as a reader. If you’re launching a new business that’s great - tell us what’s unique about what you do, what are your credentials, and where did the team come from. If you’re not a new restaurant have you got any significant anniversaries to celebrate, have you invested in refurbishments, hired a new chef, launched a new menu or planned any special events?

2. Tell your story

Journalists are inundated with press releases and invitations you want them to read to the end of your email or press release. Tell your story as if you’re telling it to a friend. Here are some top tips:

• Give it context - set the place, time, setting and any relevant context.

• Keep it factual.

• Use active verbs.

• Use a quote or testimonial from one or two people in the business to inject some personality but focus on the emotions - how do you feel about it? Leave the facts for the main text.

• Create some tension - don’t be afraid to reveal the challenges and how you’ve overcome them.

3. Don’t go over the top

Remember PR is not advertising, it’s not just a case of bigging up what you do. Stick to the facts and don’t exaggerate. Avoid hyperbole and cliché - words like ‘passion’ and ‘award-winning’ are overused and are an immediate turn off to readers. Write as you would naturally talk to someone using your own voice. There's no need to adopt a bland impersonal tone in your press release give it a bit of your own personality.

Keep it short and sweet. You don’t need to put all the detail in a press release. One page is plenty perhaps with a few notes or details on a second page. Leave your reader wanting more!

4. Be consistent

Every little detail of how you present yourself before people visit your restaurant counts just as much as what happens when they walk through the door. So take a step back from the detail and try and look at how you present yourself online as if you’d never seen it before. The first thing a journalist might do when they hear about you is to look at your website or your social media presence, so make sure it’s projecting the image you want to convey and is consistent across the board. For example, make sure your social media profiles and handles say the same thing and that the details and photos on your website are up to date.

5. Every picture tells a story

Good photography is a necessary investment. Access to good high-resolution images can make or break whether an editor decides to publish an article. So do have a portfolio of good images of your venue and of the food and portraits of the chef and key people in the team?

Good food photography is a skill and it is worth getting in a professional rather than making-do with images you’ve taken on your phone. If you can’t afford a professional perhaps you’ve got a friend or customer who is an amateur photographer and will bring in a proper camera in return for lunch.

We recommend creating a “Media Pack” of images online that people can easily access by following a shared link. Google Drive and Dropbox are my preferences. Make the journalist’s or picture editor’s job easy by creating folders such as Interiors, Exteriors, Food, and Portraits. Clearly label each photograph (e.g. the name of the dish) and if you need to credit your photographer put their name or details in the file name.

6. Do your research

Sounds obvious, but really: do your research. Buy papers and magazines and read the online ones so you know exactly what they each cover - and just importantly what they don’t. Does your story fit?

Make a list of the editors and writers covering the most relevant sections - you can often find their contact details in the magazine or contact pages on their websites. You can always pick up the phone to the switchboard and ask who is the right person to contact.

Keep a record of all of the journalists, bloggers and writers you want to approach and a note of what you’ve sent them, when, and how they responded. This will help you next time you want to contact them.

7. Be targetted

Keep in mind that no two journalists are alike. Each journalist has their own focus or speciality - so one size does not fit all. Create and share stories and press releases that are tailored to the individual - even if that’s just by personalising the covering email.

8. Don’t forget the time

Don’t expect to get coverage overnight. Monthly magazines can work on a lead time of six months or more. Editors will have an editorial calendar - think about how your story can fit into other things going on…Christmas or Halloween are the obvious ones, but remember Christmas issues can be planned as early as June.

Clients are always asking me why they can’t get their restaurant reviewed in the national papers, but each paper probably only publishes one review a week so that’s only 52 restaurants a year… and yes as I said, unfortunately, the critics do favour new openings.

It’s good to think beyond the classic review - can you offer recipes, tips, or other opinions. Could you get a profile piece for your chef or restaurant manager?

Is your chef or sommelier a thought-leader? It’s good to establish them as an authority in what they do. Social media or blogs can be a good way to demonstrate their expertise and can help journalists who are looking for a specialist to speak to.

9. It’s all about who you know

It’s an old cliché that still rings true, but these days social media can be your friend when it comes to building your network. Seek out journalists and influencers on social media and give them a follow. Engage with their content and build a relationship. You can even use direct messages to send them an invite to visit. It works!

In the real world - get yourself out there - network, enter awards and take part in events.

10. Be prepared to offer complimentary meals

While restaurant critics prefer to visit unannounced and anonymously if their public profile allows, other journalists will appreciate an invitation to taste your food.

Journalists and influencers are, as you can imagine, inundated with invitations so be prepared for rejections. But by sending targetted invitations to people you’ve identified as relevant and offering a nice hook or reason to visit now, you will have a higher success rate.

My personal experience is that journalists prefer to make individual visits rather than attend a press event - it gives them the real customer experience. But sometimes if you want to celebrate a special occasion like a restaurant opening or anniversary a press event can work, offer something exclusive such as the chance to meet the chef or meet some of your producers.

It’s also worth setting expectations with journalists about what they will get when they come, rarely but nonetheless surprisingly, I do hear stories of people taking advantage of the free drinks offer. What you offer is up to you, but it’s usual to offer for the guest to bring a plus one and include one or two drinks or a bottle of wine with their meal.

11. Share and share again

The real value of PR doesn’t stop when the article or review is printed.

Use social media, your newsletter and website to tell people about the coverage. Although for copyright reasons be wary of posting photographs or publishing the article verbatim. You can share links to the article if it’s online or quote a the headline or an extract and use the publications logo.

12. Talk to the experts

Finally, if you’re struggling to make time to do your own PR, there are lots of agencies and freelancers out there who specialise in doing PR for restaurants, chefs and hospitality. Their value is in their address book and relationships with journalists and influencers and knowing how to make your story newsworthy.

Working with a freelancer like Polly Robinson, is perhaps not as expensive as you might think because they don’t have the same overheads as an agency. Freelance restaurant PRs will work flexibly and either on a one-off project basis (e.g. for a restaurant launch) or on an ongoing basis.

Get in touch with Polly today if you need help with getting your restaurant into the media.

Email polly@pollyrobinson.co.uk or call 07966 475195.

Top 10 Christmas Ingredient Trends for 2019

Top 10 Christmas Ingredient Trends for 2019

With the miserable wet weather we’ve had recently, we all need something to look forward to . . . and luckily Christmas isn’t that far away now. I’ve been chatting to my clients Turnips Borough, the fruit and vegetable retailer and wholesaler in Borough Market who supply some of London’s top restaurants (La Gavroche, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, and Marcus Waring) about what they predict will be the key trends on our plates this Christmas.

The rise of veganism has only grown stronger this year and that means more households will be planning a plant-based Christmas and restaurants will be offering vegan and vegetarian options at centre stage rather than as an after-thought. It’s not only people going the whole hog with veganism, but more of us are also choosing to reduce our meat consumption and so vegetables will rise in prominence this Christmas.

Although we like to strick to tradition at Chrismas, chefs and home-cooks are looking for new flavours and textures - exploring different varieties and innovative cooking methods to offer a new take on traditional roast potatoes and brussel sprouts.

Here are the predictions from the Foster family at Turnips.

Purple Veg

Whether it’s the Instagram effect of just or just a because we all need a bit of colour in our lives, we’ve seen a growing interest in bold, vibrant and colourful fruit and veg from a rainbow of Chantenay carrots to heritage tomatoes. Purple vegetables are particularly on-trend from purple cauliflowers and brussel sprouts to candy-striped beetroot and purple potatoes. Purple is the hot colour for veg in your Instagram grid this Christmas.

Going nuts

Nuts are no longer relegated to a decorative bowl on the coffee table. Vegans and vegetarians are seeking out natural protein alternatives and nuts are an obvious choice.

Meaty Mushrooms

People are seeking out ‘meaty’ and strong flavoured vegetables to replace meat in their diet. Think beyond bland supermarket button mushrooms to Chicken of the Woods, Beefsteak and Puffballs which have a firm texture and flavour.

Truffles

Long associated with the height of luxury, truffles are the perfect Christmas indulgence and we’re seeing growing interest in the different varieties from the best Perigord truffles to rare White Alba. Truffles have that umami, savoury profile you see in miso and tahini that reflects a shift away from sweet accompaniments. Simply sliced over your Christmas Turkey a truffle adds a touch of decadence to your Christmas lunch.

Exotic Fruit

Out of the UK’s summer fruit season, people are seeking out exotic and unusual fruits from the Southern Hemisphere - chefs and consumers are enjoying the colour and floral flavours of passion fruit, guava and dragon fruit. We’re particularly excited about Mauritius Lychees which are at their best over the festive season.

Oranges are not the only fruit

While we know that clementines and tangerines are in season over the British winter, we’re seeing a growth in the availability and interest in more unusual citrus from cedro and yuzu to bergamot and pomelos. Bergamots are hugely popular with our restaurant customers for it’s highly perfumed flavoured high acidity - it’s the citrus that gives Earl Grey tea its distinct flavour. The sour flesh works well in curds and marmalade while cedro is used for renowned for its peel which is incredible when candied.

Baby Vegetables

Baby leeks were one of the hits of last week - people love them not only as they look pretty on the plate but they’re super tender with an intense flavour. This year we expect the trend of baby vegetables to extend to Rainbow Chantenay carrots and diminutive Piccolo parsnips. Popular in restaurants for some time, baby veg are gaining in popularity with home cooks who enjoy their delicate appearance.

Micro salads and edible flowers

Chefs show no sign of getting bored with micro herbs and edible flowers for decoration. Going back to the popularity of the colour purple, viola flowers are one of our best sellers with their velvety texture, intense purple colour with a lettuce-like flavour. Crimson basil, purple shiso, sweet red batavia lettuce and savoury baby red chard are also perfect for a touch of purple colour to decorate your plate.

Back to our Roots

We’re seeing a return to under-rated roots and chefs are innovating with cooking methods, again putting a twist on the traditional and experimenting with chervil root and parsley root. Parsley root looks similar to parsnips but has a distinct parsley flavour with a hint of celery, it can be eaten raw, used in soups or purées or roasted like parsnips. Chervil root has a slightly sweet, delicate and nutty flavour and has always been popular in France but British chefs are starting to use it more often. Pureed, its creamy white flesh is a great accompaniment to meat or fish or you can roast or even make chips with it.

Get Fermenting

Fermentation is without doubt one of the buzz words of 2019 with much interest in gut health, and there’s no reason to put that on hold over Christmas. Figs are in season now but will be finished by Christmas so we recommend fermenting figs now and serving them on your Christmas cheeseboard. Fermenting is also a great way to deal with leftover fruit and vegetables and avoid fruit waste, when you find that tired cabbage or bag or carrots at the bottom of the fridge, why not have a go at making your own kimchi. It’s easier than you think.

2019 UK Restaurant Trends and Predictions

Read my 2020 UK Restaurant Trends and Predictions on my new post >

2019 begins with great political and economic uncertainty but what does it hold for the restaurant industry?

The uncertainty is causing a decline in the share of UK consumers eating out, as we show greater prudence with our discretionary spend. According to a new poll by YouGov, almost a third of Britons are visiting restaurants less frequently than last year. The number of lunches eaten out of home in November 2018 was the second lowest on record, after a 3% year-on-year fall, while growth at other meal-times was stagnant according to MCA’s recently launched UK Restaurant Market Report 2018 – conducted via online consumer surveys, analysis of MCA’s market sizing and company specific research.

Here are my predictions for what we’ll see, or see more of in 2019. It will be very interesting to see how these trends in the restaurant sector will play out in 2019.

1. FOOD WASTE

Reducing food waste has been a hot topic for some time. Silo in Brighton became Britain’s first zero-waste restaurant when it opened in 2014 and now others are following suit. 2019 will be the year that restaurants will have to take action and demonstrate to customers that they are tackling the problem. Until now consumers have been increasingly aware of the food wasted in their homes and by supermarkets, this year the attention will turn to restaurants. “If people weren’t already persuaded by the environmental and social impact of food waste, the economic argument has begun to sound persuasive,” says Andrew Stephen, chief executive at the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), which reports that more than 80% of its members now separate their food waste (a proportion that falls to two-thirds for independents).

According to Wrap (The waste reduction organisation) food waste represents a cost to the restaurant sector alone of £682 million each year including food procurement, labour, utilities and waste management costs, or £3,500 per tonne. Wrap estimates that 51% of all waste is recycled. This is made up of: 65% of packaging and other wastes are recycled. Rates of food waste going to composting or to anaerobic digestion (AD) are very low. Almost 900,000 perfectly edible, freshly prepared meals end up in the bin in the UK every day because they haven’t been sold in time by restaurants and cafes according to food waste app Too Good To Go.

Numerous new schemes and technologies are now on the market to help hospitality businesses reduce food waste, such as and Too Good To Go, an app that enables people to buy food from restaurants that would otherwise go to waste. The smart way to deal with food waste is to reduce, recycle and reuse, whether that’s through creative use of leftovers or taking it back to the farmer’s field where it began as compost.

2. PLANT-BASED DINING

The rise of veganism is not news but will only grow stronger in 2019. Plant-based, vegetable-led dining will become even more mainstream. Some hospitality businesses have refused to adapt claiming vegetarianism and veganism is just a passing fad, yet 2019 will be the year that we have to embrace plant-based food as a development that is not going away. Winners will respond by giving vegetable-led dishes equal status on their menus while not alienating meat eaters. It’s not just the increase in vegans and vegetarians but also those of us choosing a ‘flexitarian’ approach.

According to Waitrose & Partners Food & Drink Report 2019 one in eight of us – or almost 13% of the population – is now vegetarian or vegan, with one in five (21%) identifying as ‘flexitarian’. For the first time, The Good Food Guide 2019 by Waitrose & Partners has highlighted restaurants with specifically vegan menus - a list that reaches 107.

With vegetables as centre stage, we’re seeing great innovation to introduce new flavours and textures. Once underrated home-grown vegetables like celeriac and swede rise in prominence, while others like avocado will see a demise as we become aware of their environmental impact.

3. THE BLUE PLANET EFFECT

Once seen never forgotten, BBC One’s Blue Planet II made us all wake up to the impact that plastic is having on our environment, not least the scenes of albatrosses feeding their young plastic. Waitrose & Partner’s research suggests that of those of us who saw the programme 88% of us have changed our behaviour as a result marking a new era of environmental awareness. Consumers will question restaurants’ use of plastics as well as the food industry and retailers and will demand an end to single-use plastics.

We’re already seeing a backlash against plastic straws and a search for practical alternatives. The take-away and street-food sector will be forced to rethink packaging to find sustainable alternatives, not only take-away cups but also food carriers and cutlery. In restaurant kitchens, chefs will have to find alternatives to storage materials like cling film. The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has lunched a guide to help hospitality business find viable alternatives and make decisions and held an sent Unwrapping Plastic Use and Misuse in Hospitality.

Skye Gyngell from Spring restaurant in London said that the issue had been brought into focus after she worked out that since opening Spring her team had used enough clingfilm to stretch from their central London location to Istanbul. Gyngell said: “Single-use plastic is a really serious issue, but we shouldn’t be catastrophising it. Instead, we should recognise that we are better off now than we were 50 years ago and face up to the fact that this is our challenge, our problem to solve now. It’s also really important to understand that it’s nowhere near as hard you think to use less plastic.”

4. TRANSPARENCY & TRUST

As consumers become more concerned about the environmental and health impacts of their diet, transparency is key. Consumers will demand clear information about raw ingredients such as the use of controversial products like Palm Oil, the farming standards (organic, free range etc) of the food on their plates and the specific sources of meat, dairy and vegetables.

After years of the media revealing the less than savoury truths about the food industry, consumers want to know what’s really in the food they’re eating and they’re more likely to pledge loyalty to brands that they can trust. Consumers know they have a choice, and will always prefer brands that take an extra moment to cater to their needs such as a simple “GF” next to gluten-free dishes on the menu.

Consumers will ask questions about the food they are buying. The best operators will provide the answers and address consumer concerns. Chefs should prioritise shorter supply chain sustainability and ensure that all staff front of house and in the kitchen can talk confidently about their sourcing.

5. CALORIE COUNTING

As part of the Government’s goal of cutting childhood obesity, Public Health England has proposed guidelines to impose calorie caps on ready meals, sandwiches and restaurant dishes The announcement has largely been met with derision by the industry with chefs like my client Andrew Sheridan, from Sosban in Llanelli telling The Telegraph: “The world's gone absolutely bananas. It would take the enjoyment out of it. Going out for a nice meal is supposed to be indulgent, you don't want to be sitting there counting calories."

It seems like an impossible ask for small independent restaurants to carry the burden of the nation’s growing obesity epidemic. But for the mass market where portions are often unnecessarily large it's important to know the nutritional content of the food we're eating, not just calories but also fat and salt.

The guidelines are only at consultation stage and how, if at all, they are implemented remains to be seen, yet restaurants should be aware of the debate and consumer expectations.

6. SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

2018 saw a well-documented shake up of the casual dining sector. Perhaps one of the positive outcomes of which has been the way that it’s allowed the independent sector to shine. Today’s cynical consumers see through brand gimmicks and chainy sameyness and seek authenticity and individuality. In 2018 restaurant sector growth was greatest in the regions outside London as operators seek less crowded markets, although disposable income is lower outside London, there is a far lower presence of modern, highly branded restaurant chains.

Small secret restaurants with backdoor entrances or hidden within a larger restaurant are also something we expect to see more of in 2019 such as Nuno Mendez Mãos and Kirk Haworth’s Saturday only restaurant Plates in Hoxton.

Likewise small focussed menus will appeal to diners and will mean less complexity in the kitchen, a leaner supply chain, lower food costs and less food waste too.

7. AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

The pressure on disposable income means eating out will become more of a treat and so diners will expect a great quality experience, not just in terms of the food and drink. The whole dining experience needs to be memorable to encourage people through the door and keep them coming back.

Consumers will seek out unique experiences whether discovering a true slice of local or ethnic cuisine on holiday or down a neighbourhood side-street, a pop-up restaurant or a supper club in someone’s home kitchen. An Eventbrite survey discovered that 75% of people said that they believe unique dining experiences are worth paying more for.

Diners want to be engaged and entertained. Research by Barclaycard in 2018 found half of consumers (52%) would rather pay for a good experience than splash out on material possessions. The same number (52%) would choose to tell their friends and peers about an enjoyable brand experience rather than a purchase they’ve made. 68% of respondents said the setting they are served in is as important as the food or drink itself – a clear sign that providing the best quality product or price is no longer enough.

8. TECHNOLOGY EVOLUTION

2019 will see big changes to how technology is used in the hospitality sector both front of house and in the kitchen.

Technology can increase convenience and reduce costs in both restaurants and pubs and home-delivery. The ability to book a table via an app or social media is already widely available. We’re increasingly seeing the use of apps to check accurate waiting times for tables in restaurants where making reservations ahead is not an option.

Once inside the restaurant technology increasingly offers diners a seamless experience from viewing the menu, ordering and paying. In restaurants where orders are sent straight to the kitchen via tablets or other devices, it reduces misplaced orders, the need to decode poor hand writing and provides and instant and accurate record for the most popular dishes. Technology can be linked straight into stock management systems to facilitate easy ordering.

Technology can also provide solutions to supply chain transparency and traceability, manage food waste and improve customer loyalty.

While speed and convenience may increase satisfaction, it’s crucial to remember that it’s no substitute for real personal service and relationship building.

Your online reputation matters - here's why

Everyone is a food critic today. When we’re looking for somewhere to eat, stay, or shop we now are much more likely to be influenced by reviews on Tripadvisor, Google, or Facebook than we are by a business’s website, social media or even reviews by professional critics.

Reputation Economy

We’re living in the ‘Reputation Economy’ where choosing where to eat has been democratised. Online reviews are the new word of mouth - just a bit more public than a chat over a drink with friends.

Don’t bury your head in the sand.

Restaurants, hotels and pubs cannot afford to ignore what is being said about them online (and that includes social media). Making time to track and respond to online reviews and customer feedback is crucial to all hospitality businesses.

Your online presence on sites from Tripadvisor or Facebook to specialist sites like Squaremeal or OpenTable is just as, if not more important than your website and social media.

Why responding to reviews matters

Keep your finger on the pulse and your business will reap the rewards. Responding to reviews, listening to the voice of the customer, and resolving their issues will go a long way in helping you protect your restaurant’s online reputation; more importantly, review management will provide you with the insights that you need to consistently deliver great dining experiences.

Prove it to me

• 87% of consumers in Europe and US say they are influenced by online reviews
   
• 53% 18-34s say online reviews play an important role in their decisions
   
• 7 in 8 diners will go online to choose where to eat
   
• 86% will check menus online before eating out
   
• 44% turn to their mobiles to find somewhere to eat while they are out and about
   
• 80% make reservations online
   
• People look at 6-12 reviews before making a decision
   
• 53% expect businesses to respond to negative reviews within a week
   
• 94% say an online review has convinced them to avoid a business.

What does this mean for my restaurant?

Start by Googling your business and go through all the results to see what people are saying about you and which sites are having the most influence on your reputation. 
Pay most attention to the first page of results, but don’t stop there….

If you have Google Analytics set up on your website, look at which sites are driving the most traffic to your website.

Do an audit

Start by making a list of all the places your business is mentioned online. Is all the information up to date - opening hours, contact information, menus and photographs up to date? What’s your star rating and general feedback like? Make an action plan to update each listing and add your current menus and fresh quality photos.

Follow these 10 simple steps to manage your online reputation >

Which review sites are most important and where should I focus?

Tripadvisor, Google, Facebook, SquareMeal, OpenTable, Zomato, Yelp, Hardens, AA, Instagram, Twitter, your website - understandably it can seem overwhelming to manage reviews and listings and share fresh content in all these places. 

Which review sites are the most influential and where should you focus your effort.

GOOGLE

It goes without saying that Google is the world’s biggest and most powerful search engine but it’s also increasingly becoming the most influential restaurant review platform. While Google Business means that we can access all the key information we want from the home page without even visiting a website. 

Google Maps is even starting to role out showing customers queuing times for a table or service, although it’s not arrived in the UK yet, it won’t be long.

63.6% of consumers say they are likely to check online reviews on Google before visiting a business — more than any other review site.

Google’s dominance is only going to grow and to eclipse other sites. In addition, user reviews will start to heavily influence search engine optimisation (SEO) results as Google’s algorithms take into account positive and negative reviews, prioritising positively reviewed businesses.

TRIPADVISOR

Is the world’s biggest travel site. It launched in 2000 and every month 456 million people – about one in every 16 people on earth - visit TripAdvisor.com to plan or review a trip. According to Tripadvisor’s own “Diner Decision Making Survey”

UK consumers surveyed:

• 87%  said online reviewers influence their decisions about where to eat
• 87% say Tripadvisor inspires them to try new restaurants
• 52% say online photos influence them
• 95% say Tripadvisor is the most accurate review site - 2% Facebook and 3% Google.

OTHERS YOU CAN'T IGNORE

• Facebook 
• Yelp
• OpenTable
• BookaTable
• Zomato
• Foursquare

And don’t forget to monitor what people are saying about your brand on Twitter and Instagram and thank or respond to them there too.

Trends to consider

Reviews are getting shorter, simpler and more to-the-point reviews. The average review is 65% shorter since 2010 and is now roughly the size of a tweet.

There are more and more positive reviews. Reviews are increasingly shifting from being a place where consumers air their grievances to being a place to recommend businesses after a positive experience.

For more recommendations on how to manage your online reputation follow these 10 simple steps >

10 Trends in UK restaurants for 2018

2018 has proved a tough year for the restaurant trade with multiple closures of both casual-dining chains and fine dining restaurants. The number of restaurants in the UK has fallen for the first time in eight years. The combined squeeze from rising business rates; food inflation; growing minimum wage costs are all taking their toll. 

Consumer confidence is falling with the prolonged uncertainty of Brexit; and rising inflation is putting pressure on discretionary spending and we’re seeing a like-for-like fall in the growth rates for the casual dining sector and continued promiscuity from consumers who are spoilt for choice.

Yet we’re continuing to see innovation in the UK restaurant sector and there are rewards for operators who are doing the right thing. What are the key trends for the rest of 2018? What can restaurant owners and chefs not afford to ignore if they want to stay ahead of the pack?

1. ALL DAY EATING

Traditional dining out for lunch or dinner is evolving, with consumers seeking new places to socialise, to work and to hold meetings. Flexible working means people aren’t restricted to restricted lunch-hour and want to eat at all times of day. Traditional office environments are being traded in for remote working environments as consumers swap their desk for a cafe.

The future landscape of the restaurant industry will be shaped by millennials (those born between 1982 and 1996) and Generation Z (those born from 1997 onwards), due to their frequency and spend on eating out-of-home for breakfast and brunch as well as lunch and dinner.  This generation is discerning and look for value for money as well as a good experience whatever time of day.

2. ACCESSIBLE FINE DINING

Meanwhile, formal dining occasions are not dead but customers are looking for the top quality food and service of traditional fine dining restaurants but in a more relaxed and accessible environment. With a new generation of chefs, we’ll continue to see a move away from luxury and formal dining with white tablecloths and long tasting menus, to simple, informal restaurants that won’t intimidate younger diners.

3. START YOUR DAY WITH BREAKFAST

Gone are long working lunches in favour of breakfast. The breakfast trend is mirrored on our social media accounts with "breakfast" being hashtagged on Instagram more than 50,0000 times in 2017.

Restaurants must adopt opening hours and menus to offer great breakfasts, either to sit and savour or to grab-and-go. This must include healthy options as well as indulgent treats. Granola and avocado on toast have long been favourites of the Instagram world, but now consumers are looking for something new whether that’s pimped up porridge or a cracking shakshuka. In South Wales, Llanelli's Sosban’s Sunday Brunch is regularly booked out with over 80 covers a week.

4. IMMERSIVE & AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCES

While chains offer customers the familiar and reliable, consumers are fickle in their brand loyalty and show a willingness to experiment. 79% of consumers are open to trying new types of cuisines they have not had before.

As consumers grown increasingly savvy, they will see through ‘concept dining’ in favour of the authentic. Old school establishments that stick to doing what they’ve always done well, like 30-year-old French restaurant Le Café du Marché in Smithfield will attract younger customers looking for the genuine article.

Special events from guest chef nights, wine tastings, charity fundraising evenings or just special menus to mark occasions from Valentine’s to Harvest Suppers create a reason for your customers to come back.

5. THE RISE AND RISE OF FOOD HALLS

This year has seen the rise of the Food Hall springing up around the country with empty spaces from derelict markets (Mackie Mayor in Manchester), tube stations (Fulham) and empty shops (the former BHS on Oxford Street) all offering thousands of feet of communal dining spaces from multiple outlets and creating increased competition for bricks-and-mortar venues.

For chefs and restaurateurs, food halls are a low-risk opportunity to test a concept in a high-footfall location. Julio Bruno, CEO of Time Out Markets which began in Lisbon and is rapidly developing sites around the world says: “We are democratising fine dining. Some of the best-known chefs in the country want to be part of this,”. 

For consumers, Food Halls offer a fun experience where they can experiment with new tastes and groups of friends can eat completely different styles of food while sitting together. Nick Johnson, co-founder of Mackie Mayor says: “People lust after spending time with other people in real time, eating, drinking, people watching – they always have and always will, we’re hard wired, it’s part of being human. All our vendors are passionate and independent. We are originators. It’s an antidote to brand mentality.”

6. POP UPS AND STREET FOOD LEAD INNOVATION

Street food's transient and fluid nature act as a barometer of consumer interests and trends and chefs and restauranteurs should follow the street food scene to stay ahead of the curve. 

For over a decade chefs and entrepreneurs have been using street food stalls or pop-ups in empty spaces to enter the market with low entry costs and flexibility to respond to consumer feedback. Research suggests that 2.5 million people per day ate street in 2017 and we continue to see the growth of marketplace operators like Kerb and London Union creating hubs crowded with people looking for something more interesting than a Pret sandwich for lunch. 

But as the number of vendors grows, so consumers are coming more discerning and voting with their feet as they demand more sophisticated offerings, new flavours and higher expectations when it comes to service. As the BBC’s recent series Million Pound Menu shows, consumers are demanding authentic and honest food - it’s no longer enough to build your business on Cubanos when you’ve been to Cuba once on holiday or to churn out frozen fish from the cash & carry when consumers demand sustainably sourced fish.

7. WOMEN CHEFS’ TIME IS HERE

The recent furore caused by Clare Smyth’s award of Best Female Chef at the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards has highlighted the latent inequality in professional kitchens. If nothing else Smyth’s award and subsequent debate have drawn attention to the issue and we should expect to see greater recognition and opportunities for female chefs.

Other female chefs have claimed the award is ‘bizarre’ and ‘outdated, yet only four of the restaurants in the World’s 50 Best are run by women. The low representation of women isn’t just at the top end of the industry. It’s estimated that out of the 250,000 professional chefs in the UK, only 18.5% of them are women (about 46,000). Although figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest the number rose by a third, from 1 in 5 to 1 in 4 chefs in 2016. 

More of a concern are reports of sexual harassment in the hospitality industry, which in the #MeToo era will be tackled publicly or behind closed doors.

Restaurant operators and the media will seek out and develop female talent, with employers needing to be more accommodating about flexible working hours for parents (both male and female) as healthy fast food chain Leon has done.

Customers will look for opportunities to support female chefs and we should expect to see more women chefs rise to senior levels.

8. VEGAN IS HERE TO STAY - LIKE IT OR NOT

The unstoppable rise in vegan diets is something that can’t be ignored and chefs will have to embrace the evolution or lose out. It’s the less virtuous side of vegan food that is set to grow fastest as demonstrated by Temple of Seiten’s fried vegan chicken, and vegan burger restaurant Pure Filth. When bleeding veggie burgers become a hot menu option, it’s clear we are seeing a bigger movement than just consumers wanting to eat more healthily.

All outlets will introduce more plant-based dishes to their menus and entice strict vegans and flexitarians with creative, visually appealing dishes using unusual ingredients like tempeh, jack fruit and aquafaba.

There’s been a 350% increase in the number of vegans to over half a million in Britain in the ten years to 2016 and while there’s no recent data that number is estimated to have significantly increased since. And let's not forget the estimated 22 million “flexitarians” – those who enjoy meat and dairy but want to reduce their consumption.

9. EVERYONE'S A FOOD CRITIC

Online reviews turn all your diners into food critics. Seven out of eight consumers routinely go online to discover dining destinations. This makes online listings and reviews sites (Google, Tripadvisor, Facebook as well as restaurant specific sites like Tomato and OpenTable) critical. 87% of UK diners say they’re influenced by online reviews, with 64% turning to Google (more than any other review site).

Keep your listings up to date on all these sites and make sure you include contact numbers, maps and opening hours. 86% people say they check menus online before booking so keep yours up to date on your website and elsewhere.

Monitor and respond to reviews on all the channels. A quick and considered response can turn a negative experience into a positive one.

10. EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY

The volume of bookings from third-party sites (OpenTable, Res Diary, Square Meal, etc) is set to grow and facilitates a surge in last-minute reservations made within 90 minutes of seating. These sites are also blamed in part for the increase in no-show bookings because it’s so easy to make a booking - find time to call and confirm bookings to build a personal relationship.

Once at the table, we are all benefitting from new technologies from self-service menus; mobile ordering and payments and technology which facilitates splitting the bill between friends.

10 Steps to manage your restaurant’s online reputation

Today we're all critics. Your busiesss's online reputation matters. Follow these 10 simple steps to managing your online reputation.

1. Claim or update your business list on Google My Business.

Make sure that your opening hours, contact details, and map location are correct. 

google.com/business >

2. Do an audit 

Make a list of everywhere you business appears online and make sure the information is up to date and accurate. Some listings you will be able to easily update, others like AA or Squaremeal you will have to contact to request an update.

3. Share your menus

Don’t just put your menus on your website. People check menus online before making a decision to visit so make sure they can find current menus easily at least include a link to the menus on your website.  [Share menus on social media too and tell people when you introduce a new dish or seasonal menu].

Since early 2018 Google has enabled restaurant owners to upload menus straight on to the information pages of their listing.

4. Update your photos

Photos say a 1000 words so make sure your online listings and your website have up to date and good quality photos. Include some of the exterior, the interior, garden if you have one, as well as food and drink.

5. Set up Google Alerts

Google Alerts send out daily or weekly updates on specific keywords so you can keep track of what’s new online. Set up alerts on your business name, your head chef or even some of your competitors.

google.co.uk/alerts >

6. Make time for managing your online reputation

Set aside a set time every week (Monday mornings can be a good time to do this) to monitor and respond to reviews.  If you give the task to someone in the team make sure that they are briefed about how to respond consistently and using the right tone and language for your brand.

7. Thank people for their feedback

Positive reviews can transform your business. Researchers studying Yelp, one of TripAdvisor’s main competitors, found that a one-star increase meant a 5-9% increase in revenue - so thanking people for positive reviews is just as important as responding to bad ones!

8. Don’t hide from bad reviews

Consumers expect brands to respond to reviews—and are disappointed when they don’t. Responding within 48 hours of negative reviews can turn a bad experience into a positive one. 45% of consumers say they’re more likely to visit a business if it
responds to negative reviews.

How to respond to bad restaurant reviews.

• Be polite and factual - try not to get angry or emotional.
• Prioritise those that need a factual explanation or apology rather than emotional rants.
• Be brief
• Respond from a senior manager
• Reflect the personality of your restaurant
• Address specific comments
• Invite guests to return and give you a second chance

9. Share feedback with your team

Motivate your team by share compliments as well as investigating issues highlighted.

10. Act on feedback

Use both positive and negative reviews to improve your operations and customer experience.