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Welcome
Happy New Year and welcome to 2010! By all accounts this may be another tough year for the hospitality industry, so this is a good time to ask yourself what can be done to give your restaurant the competitive advantage. We’ve rounded up some of our favourite New Year’s resolutions from restaurants below – why not make a few of your own?
While you’re in planning mode, don’t forget to tell us about what’s going on in your restaurant for Valentine’s Day. It’s on a Sunday this year, so think about adding extra availability and any special menus you’d like us to promote through your own site and partners like lastminute.com.
Olivia Fitzgerald
General Manager
UK & Ireland
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Hot Topic
New Year's Resolutions
In December’s Livebookings Academy we asked attendees to jot down a New Year's resolution that would benefit their restaurant. We have highlighted a few examples below and explained why these are important:
"Make a concerted effort to utilise customer contact details"
Customers' email addresses are valuable. When booking online via Livebookings Direct customers have the opportunity to opt in for email contact. This enables restaurants to develop an extensive database and send regular promotional emails. Please adhere to these best practice email marketing guidelines. Remember, email addresses will also be captured from bookings through our Network Partners.
"Become a better user of Livebookings Console"
Sign up for free LIVE training demonstrations to further your understanding of this diary system and ultimately increase your bookings. For further information please contact Kenni Poulsen.
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"Attend all future Livebookings Academies"
This New Year's resolution was a particular favourite of ours. We ask attendees to evaluate our Academies and the feedback we receive proves restaurateurs really do benefit from our expertise. Look out for newsletters on our next Academy.
If you have yet to make any New Year's resolutions, Livebookings has pulled together a list that should give you a little inspiration:
1) "Thou shalt Tweet"
Restaurateurs are becoming increasingly aware of the need for an online presence in order to attract new and web-savvy customers. How else can you market to your customers one-on-one for free?
Advantages of social networking:
1. It's free!
2. Simple set-up
3. Easy customisation
4. Updating is straightforward
5. Conveys information about the business
6. Buzz generation
7. Allows for customer feedback
Please reply to this email and let us know what social networking sites you use? Send us the URL to your social networking page so we can see who does it best, and who may need a little advice.
2) "Thou shalt not be ruled by technophobia"
"The fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers" Wikipedia. You cannot afford to be technophobic. In 2009, 70% of UK households had internet access. This figure rises to 80% in London. Last year alone internet access increased by 11%. With 18.3 million UK households now online restaurateurs need to embrace the internet revolution.
3) "Thou shalt go live"
Forget the pen and paper diary! Livebookings provides a range of electronic reservation books that will increase the efficiency, reliability and accuracy of your diary system. Building a database, sending marketing messages, maximising tables and handling all reservations in one place are just some of the advantages available to restaurants working with Livebookings.
4) "Thou shalt not take a punt"
Calculate your return on investment from marketing initiatives to realise the benefits this can bring.
5) "Thou shalt visit thine own website"
Imagine yourself as a new customer visiting your restaurant’s website for the first time. What’s your first impression? Is Livebookings Direct available on the homepage? Are the menus easy to find? Is the website eye-catching? These are all pointers you should think about. In this technological era a poorly designed website will reflect negatively on your restaurant.
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6) "Thou shalt mention thine website on voice-mail"
When your restaurant is closed, direct customers to your website. Remember, customers can make bookings via your Livebookings Direct interface 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so take advantage of this.
7) "Thou shalt plan more than five minutes in advance"
We know you’re busy, but plan ahead and your restaurant will benefit. Forsee peaks and troughs in trade. School holidays and post-holiday periods are notoriously slow. During these quiet times consider special offers... |
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Marketing Tip
Expect and Anticipate the Quiet Times
As a restaurateur you are aware that bookings tend to decrease during certain times of the year. In fact, you may well be experiencing this at the moment. Post-Christmas, people are cutting back, and combined with the worst recession in 100 years, January 2010 may be a very slow month. However, all is not lost. When money is tight, customers need an incentive to book. Running a special offer provides this incentive, allowing you to make the most of the quiet times.
Complete our online offers form and we will do the rest. Please note, if you want to renew or extend an existing offer you do not need to complete this form again. Simply email offers@livebookings.net with the name of your restaurant, the title of your offer and when you would like to extend the deadline to.
Examples of offers you may want to consider:
- Delicious dining discounts e.g. 50% off
- 2 for 1 meal deals
- Set menus
- Pre/post theatre deals
- Special occasion dining - Valentine's Day (14th Feb) and Mother's Day (14th March) are fast approaching
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Promotional Ideas
Promote your Valentine’s Menu Through lastminute.com
lastminute.com has recently introduced a restaurant page dedicated to all establishments offering a Valentine’s menu. This page will remain live until mid February offering your restaurant fantastic coverage in the run up to Valentine's Day. The promotions include dining for under £25 and over £25, plus dining menus specifically for Saturday 13th February and breakfast menus for Sunday 14th February.
- Please forward menus to ptunmore@lastminute.com detailing which promotion you wish to be a part of, menu price, times and dates available, and any terms and conditions
- Please note, menus over £20 will be subject to a 10% commission, unless featured in the 13th or 14th February promotion
- Regardless of your participation in the above promotion, Livebookings would like to know details of your Valentine’s promotion. Is your restaurant open? Are you serving a special Valentine’s menu? Is your à la carte menu available? Please contact support@livebookings.net
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Top 10
The restaurants receiving the most bookings in December, in no particular order, were:
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In Season
In season this month:
Vegetables
Beetroot
Red, white cabbage
Celeriac
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Onions
Potatoes
Spinach
Chard
Fruit and Nuts
Apples
Pears
Walnuts
Chesnuts
Hazelnuts
Game
Pheasant
Matured partridge
Mallard
Pigeon
Rabbit
Hare
Fish
Brill
Cod
Flounder
John Dory
Scallops
Cheese
Bonchester
Sharpham
Appleby Cheshire |
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LIVE Training
New Dates Added for FREE Training Sessions
Livebookings is running a series of free LIVE online training sessions to help you use Livebookings Console more effectively, resulting in overall improved customer service and bookings.
The topics that will be covered include:
- All functions
- Guest and mailings tab
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Table maximisation and booking management
Simply decide which session to attend and book your place.
Sessions will start at 3pm. You will need a computer with internet access.
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Job Vacancies
Are you looking for a new challenge?
Please click here if you are interested in joining our dynamic team. |
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