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Establish if the café is being run efficiently.

When purchasing a café or coffee shop ensure you collect profit and loss statements and balance sheets prepared by the vendor’s accountant. These will tell you the story behind the café or coffee shop you’re looking to purchase. Using Benchmarking, the same tool that the Australian Taxation Office utilizes to establish if a business owner is being fraudulent in the declaration of profits, you can establish whether or not a business is in fact the prospect it has been painted as.

Increase your return on investment by reducing your purchase cost.

More often than not the buying and selling of a business is not an equitable win win scenario. Usually it is either an inexperienced business purchaser overpaying for a business or an exhausted and frustrated flailing business owner cutting their losses and selling for what they can. The key to buying business is to ensure you are not driven by emotion and purchasing the café or coffee shop on the ‘look and feel’ of the shop or the taste of their coffee. The new business must tick all of your boxes not just some. Purchasing low will give you a greater return on investment, and a greater probability of selling your business down the track for more than you purchased it. This is one of the easiest ways to make money in your new business.

If you happen to own a family restaurant or diner, you will find these light up drinking glasses a real novelty to have. Not only will your customers be amused, children will also love them. Why would they be such a hit? Here’s why.

Kids Will Love Them

Imagine families who normally come over to your restaurants for their meals. They would bring their little kids along for a family meal together. How fun would it be when you serve the children with these light up drinking glasses? Whatever soda or soft drinks they order would be served to them in these colorful flashing glasses. And you don’t have to limit them to only drinks. Kids usually love ice cream or sundaes and will definitely enjoy them in these flashing glasses. Plus the fact that they can be entertained as well while the adults watch in amusement.

Adults Are Not Left Out

The other day I was reading through our local newspaper, and one of the local bars and eateries had an interesting advertisement. The very popular watering hole and brunch restaurant claimed to have the; “Longest Happy Hour in the City – 12 Hours!” Indeed, I laughed, because I was reading the newspaper at Starbucks and talking to an acquaintance who I’d just met. And then I said that’s not a happy hour; “that’s a happy day,” and what an excellent restaurant bar strategy to bring in more clientele.

Being curious about the success of such a strategy, and the fact that it seemed brilliant to me, I decided to cruise by and check it out. No, I’m not really a big drinker, nor do I want to sit for 12 hours and go on a drinking binge even if the prices are super low, but my interest was in whether or not this strategy was working for them. It turns out it was, and the place was packed with no seats available. It’s just as well, as I had work to do, and I didn’t feel like taking the day off.

Being a restaurateur in the current economic climate isn’t easy. There remains a dearth of disposable income for many people, meaning eating out is not an option they can turn to very often. With a smaller pool of dining customers, restaurants need to be at the top of their game to attract them. Here are 10 ways you can attract more customers to your establishment.

1. Incentives are a great way of attracting customers, especially during these difficult financial times. People don’t necessarily want to stop dining out, they simply can’t afford it. By providing discounts and special offers, you may be able to entice them to visit. However, be wary of discounting too frequently or by too big an amount as this could devalue your brand.

2. Advertising is another useful option, especially if awareness is a problem or you wish to promote the aforementioned discounts. Think about where your prospective customers are and what media they consume in order to identify where your advertising budget can be best spent.