Repeat customers are of huge importance to a restaurant. These are the customers that are loyal to a restaurant, bring their friends to the restaurant and tell others about their great experience at the restaurant.

But how can you make sure that you are offering your customers a great experience to ensure that they enjoy their meal with you, want to come back and want to shout about how great you are to others?

When your guest arrives in your car park and walks through the front door of your restaurant, they are making their first impression of your restaurant. While they are sat at the table, waiting to order their meal, or waiting for their meal to arrive, they are taking in the atmosphere of your restaurant. While your guests are waiting they are looking around, they will see if there is any dirt, they will hear if staff are arguing and they will see what other meals look like.

This is all part of their first impression and their experience in your restaurant.

There are certain areas of your restaurant that can really negatively impact your restaurant and the likelihood of guests returning, and these might be things that you have never considered.

For example, the car park; if there are cigarettes or rubbish across the car park, or over flowing and smelly bins then this can put guests off before they even enter the restaurant.

You also need to think about the welcome the guests receive on entering. If there is a hostess area make sure it is clean and clutter free. Make sure that the hostess desk can be seen around the restaurant so the guest is not waiting hopefully to be spotted. Make sure staff members acknowledge new guests entering the restaurant and don’t just walk past them.

Make sure toilets are regularly checked too. A dirty toilet area, overflowing bins or blocked toilets can be really off-putting to a guest in your restaurant. Create a rota where staff members check the toilets, refill toilet rolls empty bins and such like. These small tasks can make a huge difference to the overall experience for your guest.

If you’re not sure what the first impression to your new guests is like then why not book for a mystery diner who will check all these points and more – so you know for sure that you are doing it right!