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As technology is growing every day, sometimes it feels like you can’t keep up with the latest app trends for your business. It seems like there’s always a new app trending, and you find yourself always asking the question, “Is there an app for that?” Business App development has been booming so there are a lot of options out there available for restaurant owners and diners.

This can make it hard to narrow which App fits best for your needs.

So, which apps are really the best for restaurant owners? Here are the apps that we believe you can best benefit from and utilize to influence and grow your business.

Here are 5 of the best apps to generate more business and make your life as a restaurant owner a little easier.

1. ChowEasy

Want to attract the perfect customer? ChowEasy is an easy and efficient way to grow business by offering a marketing tool that provides promotions for diners looking for your type of restaurant cuisine. Unlike other sites, ChowEasy allows you to directly set up promos on your terms and conditions. This marketing tool allows your business to grow by offering promotions that define your brand. Allowing diners to bid for the food and type of restaurant can match diners with bids that fit them and what they are looking for. Diners save money, and restaurants attract and retain new customers. It’s a win-win for both parties.

2. Hootsuite

It’s crucial in today’s age to have an active social media presence. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram can gain you exposure and customers that may not know about your restaurant. So being there is a must for any restaurant but keeping up can be a difficult and daunting task.

Apps like Hootsuite allow you to manage posting and engagement, along with being fully involved in your community. Managing all your social media accounts on one easy-to-use platform, and allows you to schedule posts months in advance. Available for Apple and Android products, you can create the online presence you want for your restaurant with help from the App’s tools.

3. Partender

Selling alcohol generates revenue for restaurants because the markup is high and it’s easy to upsell it to your customers. The average revenue that comes with selling alcohol is anywhere from 20 to 25 percent of a restaurant’s income, sometimes even higher.

This App is a life save for restaurant owners serving alcohol and all you need is an iPhone. Partender helps owners manage and track liquor inventory in their bar by measuring their liquor and sales data. Creating this type of data lets you know what is being sold and calculate how much your bartenders are pouring correctly. It’s really an easy, must-have that is worth the monthly investment.

4. Yelp

Social proof can make or break a restaurant. Managing that is an important part of marketing your restaurant.

Many diners wouldn’t even consider a restaurant until they have checked the reviews on Yelp. That’s because sites like Yelp are powerful and more influential than any other for the restaurant business. Yelp allows you to build customer loyalty and gain new customers with loyal customer reviews. This FREE tool has 132 million monthly visitors; that’s why managing a Yelp account is essential for your restaurant to grow.

5. Feedly

Stay in the know! There’s so much going on every second, and there’s information being shared that can sometimes feel overwhelming. Don’t be left out on all the latest and greatest industry trends. Now you can stay up to date with Feedly.

Feedly is a power news aggregator, compiling information from sources all over the internet. Choose publications, blogs, and set up keyword alerts for content related to your restaurant. This App is full of helpful information, super user-friendly, and easy to read because of its minimal layout design.

What apps will your restaurant use?

Maybe you’re already using some of these.

When you stumble onto a new app, research it, find its value and determine if you can implement its use in your day-to-day restaurant business. When implementing any new tool for your restaurant, determine your end goal then find the best app to help you accomplish that goal.

Working with influencers can be so beneficial to your restaurant’s marketing strategy. Thanks to the massive impact of social media, restaurants can increase awareness and grow their business through a large audience, driving more traffic to their doors. There’s no doubt that the influencing market is booming right now. The industry grew from a $1.7 billion market in 2016 to $9.7 billion in 2020. For every dollar a business spends on influencers, they earn $5.20.

That being said, it may be frightening to look at all the options and how you can utilize influencers to spread your restaurant’s messaging. Here are some common questions about food influencers, answered.

What are Food Influencers, and what do they do?

Food influencers have a wide range of social media followers that can help you boost your restaurant’s customer base. Influencers are often celebrities and bloggers who have gained popularity through photos, videos, and personal engagements. They can promote any of your products by sharing it with their followers and what they like about your brand. More specifically, food influencers are constantly increasing and trending throughout social media websites. The idea of food culture is a scene in the media, and people love looking and browsing through food options and food tags.

What are the benefits of working with a foodie influencer?

The benefits of working with food influencers are overwhelming. Over 70% of consumers say they are more likely to purchase a product based on a social media referral. Referrals are more effective when they come from another person rather than the actual company. That’s why the results of working with influencers have become a valuable tool for customers’ dining decisions.

The benefits of endorsements through influencers outweigh the drawbacks. The influencers have worked to build a trusting relationship with their followers. Brands want to make sure they are exposing the content that best fits them.

Is it worth it? Why should I consider an influencer?

Influencers make powerful partners because of their existing relationship with the audience. Influencers have advantages that are hard for brands to replicate, such as their large community of followers, personal connections, consumer trust, and social network expertise. Social influencers effectively start, share, and spread online conversations, which is incredibly valuable to brands.

Food and beverage brands often have more success with influencers than other business types. The reason for that is because food is the most popular subject that trends on social media like Instagram and TikTok. Not every consumer participates in certain activities like fashion or fitness, but everyone in the world eats food. Eating is often culturally connected to occasions like celebrating and sharing, and that’s why everyone from different parts of the world can come together on relating to food. Not only is food relatable, but visually appealing. Visual content like food and cooking is appealing to viewers and generates 94% more engagement online than text alone. Food and recipe influences are a source of marketing that is growing rapidly every day.

How do I find the best influencer type for my restaurant?

You want to choose the best type of influencer for your restaurant, and they are things to consider. Ask yourself the following questions;

Do they meet your restaurant’s ethics and values?
Is their engagement at Influencer Level?
What is your influencer budget?

Established Food & Drink Influencers

To be considered an established influencer, there should be 10,000 + followers. Established influencers work really well within the restaurant industry.

Micro-Influencers in the Food & Drink Industry

Micro-influencers range from 1000 to 10,000 followers. Don’t let the name fool you, micro influences can have a high engagement rate with followers. The bonus of working with micro-influencers is they tend not to be as price-oriented as experienced ones because they are still trying to grow their brand.

How much do influencers charge?

It’s pretty simple when it comes to understanding the cost of influencer marketing. Basically, the more followers those influencers have, the higher their cost to post about your restaurant. Prices rise somewhat proportionately until they reach a point of being a celebrity influencer (with over 500k followers).

Prices rise relatively proportional until reaching the point of celebrity influencers (with over 500k followers). In terms of formats, you’ll pay a large sum for a video – around 50% more than you would for a post. Stories are the cheapest, presumably due to their brief nature.

Influencer Rates* Worldwide, by Influencer Tier, March 2019

Type of content / Influencer Tier	Nano (500-5k followers)	Micro (5k-30k followers)	Power (30k-500k)	Celebrity (500k+ followers)
Post	$100	$172	$507	$2,085
Video	$114	$219	$775	$3,138
Story	$43	$73	$210	$721

By choosing the right influencer style for your restaurant you can benefit from all that influencers have to offer. This style of marketing can create a huge impact on your business if you use it the right way. What are you waiting for? Find an experienced influencer that can help you get those customers straight to your door.

What else should Restaurants do?

In today’s fast-paced environment, it is important to try multiple marketing avenues for different customer segments. There are some customers who get swayed by the availability of promotions. Some customers pick a restaurant based on location and reviews. Above all, it is important for Restaurants to focus on the ‘Basics’ which are good tasting, fresh food offered in a clean and comfortable ambiance with the attentive service that all Diners expect.

Social media, health trends, and social responsibility are among a few things that millennials value in a restaurant

According to Forbes, “millennials have over $200 billion in buying power and will make up 75% of the workforce by 2025.” This means that millennials are an important target for restaurants and learning how to reach them will be crucial. So how do you attract millennials to your restaurant? With endless dining options available at the fingertips, you need to stand out but also align with their values. Keep reading to learn 7 things you can do to keep them coming back!

Use High Quality Ingredients

Appeal to the health conscious generation by using high quality ingredients

Studies have shown that Millennials are willing to fork over more money for high quality food. Since healthy eating is a trend more than ever before, be sure to use wholesome ingredients for everything. These include organic vegetables and meats that are free of hormones/anti-biotics. It would also help to emphasize phrases like “sourced locally” and “non-GMO” in the menu.

Boost Social Media Presence

Stay engaged and present in your millennial guests’ lives through social media

Since Millenials and Gen Z are tuned into the world of social media, grab their attention there. Your internet presence speaks volumes to these generations. Promote your restaurant and menu in engaging ways like posting a question or a raffle for a free giveaway. Also leave trails in your restaurant that lead to your social media. A couple ideas include inserting hashtags or your social media handle in menus or cups. Finally, update your directory listings and ask guests for 5-star reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor.

Prep Food For The Gram

Posting food photos on social media is still a trend and shows no signs of dying

You’ve seen it. Pictures of food being posted by the millions. Food pictures are hot content for Instagram and Facebook feeds so why not use this in your favor? First, you’ll want to make sure the presentation of your dishes are worthy of a photo. Then, take a handful of snapshots yourself and experiment with various lighting edits and filters. Don’t be afraid to spend significant time on these. The photo you select needs to be captivating enough to stop people from scrolling. And you have lots of competition.

Build a Brand and Tell a Story

Fatt Matt’s reinforces their brand through merch items and even their very own BBQ sauce

Your restaurant is a brand and should have a compelling story. Make sure your social media, theme colors, and logo all reinforce the story of your brand. Millennials love their brands and aren’t afraid to endorse them through purchased merchandise. Make T-shirts, stickers, and other merchandise to make them a part of the story. You can somewhat easily attract millennials to your restaurant but a cool story will keep them.

Host An Experience

Create an experience to keep them coming back for more

To keep millennials coming back, you have to transcend beyond just providing a great meal. You have to provide an experience. It’s been shown that millennials prefer to live for new and unique experiences. This priority extends to eating out which you can thank the wave of pop-ups, food trucks, and food festivals for. If you don’t know where to start, just put some heart and soul in the atmosphere. You can use ambiance, art displays, music and aesthetic interior design to help create an experience. Additionally, you can keep them coming back through game nights, live music, art shows, and open mic nights. When in comes down to it, you want to envelop them in an immersive world they can’t to return to.

Have A Unique Menu

Millennials like taking risks with bizarre novelty menu items like the donut burger from “Sublime Donut Burger” in Atlanta

As mentioned in the paragraph before, Millennials live for experiences. This means that novel menu items will go a long way with this generation. This generation is the most diverse and open to new cultural cuisines. With that being said, offer something fusion and even quirky. To top it off, give your dishes distinct names that’ll catch their attention. You don’t want to only offer what millions of restaurants can. For instance, offering only pizza in a market where you can get pizza anywhere. This is why many restaurant chains are closing.

Be Socially Responsible

Millennials intentionally endorse restaurants that aim to protect the environment and support social causes

Being a restaurant that demonstrates corporate responsibility will go a long way. With the accessibility of information through the internet, any news of unethical or controversial actions can be found. Studies show that millennials would rather support businesses that do good and have no hesitancy to boycott. Due to this, establishing a good online reputation and supporting a good cause would be key for longevity. To start, you can make it known that you use biodegradable wear and consistency recycle. “Millennials don’t mind spending more money on things that are good for the planet.”

Take Your Restaurant To The Next Level

Going through the list, it can seem like a demanding task to attract millennials to your restaurant. Though it takes a lot to catch the attention of this generation, your restaurant will improve in many ways. Have fun with it while you become more than just a restaurant, but a brand!