Building to Your Concept
To be successful, you need to have an ambiance and atmosphere that matches the style of food you are serving and the type of clientele you want to attract. Consider who you are bringing in, their age, their budgets, their likes and dislikes, and how you plan to bring those to them. Creating the right atmosphere for your restaurant meanspairing the concept with the food you serve and the location you choose.

Décor Choices Matter
Everyone has been inside a restaurant that had terrible wallpaper, clashing colors, distracting décor, and a design that just did not work- and chances are it made the meal less enjoyable. A focused design is important to create a relaxing atmosphere that makes diners feel transported to their desired getaway. An Italian restaurant should have décor that suggests Italian setting and this applies to any décor choices.

Music and Sounds
Many studies have been done that suggest music being played in a restaurant can greatly impact the way patrons feel while eating and it can even affect how they feel about the restaurant as a whole! Hearing music they like makes them happy and likely to spend more and tip better while hearing music they dislike has the opposite effect. You can’t please everyone so choose something basic to avoid music extremes.

Lighting Choices
Lighting can be anything from natural light coming in through windows, recessed lighting, neon lights, lanterns, and traditional bulbs. The lighting you choose can play a major role in the ambiance of the entire restaurant. Think about how the lighting in a country BBQ place differs from a suit and tie reservations only type of resonant – it’s all part of finding local success in the restaurant industry!

Seating Arrangements
Seating is the final thing to consider in order to master creating the right atmosphere for your restaurant. Some places offer single party seating and others offer communal seating- both have pros and cons. You just need to decide what works best for your restaurant, your patrons, and your food offerings. Many places offer both single party and communal seating in order to appeal to more people.

With these tips in mind, creating the right atmosphere for your restaurant can be much easier, but it still takes planning and commitment and a certain degree of trial and error. The goal is to have as little error as possible and to find local success in the restaurant industry sooner rather than later!

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Hyper-local sourcing 

More and more restaurants and chefs are focusing in on and emphasizing the freshness of their ingredients and the quality of the produce used in their meals. For some, that means they’re growing it on the premises and using herbs and spices and basic ingredients that they can literally walk out to the back of the resonant and pick fresh from their own plants. Others are partnering with local growers and farmers to source fresh produce grown within their own neighborhoods and communities. More consumers are now paying very close attention to what they eat, and with this comes a renewed focus on what local eateries are using in their meal preparations. When it comes to trends in the restaurant industry this is one of the strongest and is having a strong impact on people’s local dining options and choices already!

Natural ingredients/clean menus

Cooks continue to take pride in the attention to detail and the focus they have on the quality of their meals and the provenance of the ingredients used in their dishes. This is due largely to the fact that more diners than ever are worried about their health and effects their food choices are having on their health and the health and wellness of their family. More diners, especially millennials, want to support local businesses that shares the same values and focuses that they do which generally revolved around protecting the environment, sustainability, and healthy living. They want businesses they support to recycle, reduce food waste, fight pollution, not use harmful pesticides, and support local businesses and use natural non-GMO foods. And the restaurants that embrace these ideas win over strong and loyal customers and can also do good for the community and the world as well with good local dining options people don’t have to feel guilty about. Here at Benedetto’s we value the feedback from our customers and are proud to offer clean sourced foods, some of which are made with ingredients from local farmers as well as from our own garden!

Food waste reduction

Of the recent trends in the restaurant industry that people are taking notice of, one of the biggest and farthest reaching is the emphasis on controlling food waste. For a restaurant to win local over and to be seen as one of the best local dining options available they need to have not just good food and affordable process and great staff- they need to show that they care. They need to show that they care about the environment and are taking steps to reduce food waste and to be better stewards of the food they have and the resources they used.  Restaurants are looking at more ways to reduce the amount of food waste they generate and throw away while providing better food and healthier options to their customers. Things like growing some produce on site to ensure it is used before spoiling and reducing portion sizes of meals served are just two examples of how a restaurant can reduce food waste easily. Benedetto’s prides itself on healthy and sustainable food sourcing and we even grow some of our own vegetables and many of our own herbs and spices right on the property!

Health and Nutrition 

The final trend restaurant owners should not ignore is the renewed focus on health and nutrition in general. Consumers are getting smarter about the food they eat and more attuned to their own bodies. Health food alone is not enough anymore and customers want to know what is in their food and what effects it could have on their bodies. There is also a further focus on local dining options that cater to special nutrition and dietary needs. While it may be hard at the start and cost a bit more in some areas, being able to cater to special nutritional needs can help expand a restaurants’ customer base exponentially. Dietary and nutrition needs such as gluten free, fat-free, reduced calories, sugar-free, low carb, low sodium, and no GMO are popular food needs that more and more restaurants and capitalizing on by offering special menu options to cater to these special needs. Showing that they care about the needs and health of their customers is a great way for restaurant managers to win new customers and keep them coming back time and time again. Benedetto’s is happy to provide good food to our customers time and time again!

These are just some of the trends in the restaurant industry that any restaurant manager needs to be paying close attention to. Embracing any of these trends can be a great way to ensure your business maintains a competitive edge and help ensure you keep winning new customers and continue drawing repeat customers back! If you want your restaurant to be one that people think of when they consider the best local dining options then consider embracing some of these trends and seeing what they can do for your business! To see what this new approach to dinning looks like, come enjoy a fresh, healthy meal at Benedetto’s today!

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