Tips For Parties At Your Restaurant

If you have a nice restaurant that customers are happy with, chances are you will get requests for them to host parties at your establishment. There are all types of events that they may want to have there including bridal showers, baby showers, family gatherings, birthday parties, and work parties.
It isn't going to take you long to figure out that allowing your restaurant to be used for parties is a great way to get people in the door and to increase profitability. It is a great way for new people to be exposed to your restaurant. This is your chance to give them a great experience. If that happens, they will likely come back with other people to dine in your restaurant. They may also decide to host their next party at your restaurant as well.
You definitely want to have a way to segregate the party from the rest of your guests at the restaurant. This way those at the party can have their fun in a more intimate setting. Your other guests won't feel so bothered by what is taking place around them either. It is a good idea to have some set rules in place for the use of the area to host a party at your restaurant as well. This way both you and the guests will know what can be expected to take place.
While you do have the right to charge them a fee for using the area of your restaurant, you will find it books faster if you don't. You will still make a good profit from the amount of food and drinks that those in attendance are purchasing. Find out if the host will be footing the bill or if each guest will be paying for their own. You may want to offer a discount if one person is paying for it. Make sure you include a nice gratuity for the staff taking care of them as well.
You definitely don't want your regular customers to suffer because you have a party going on at the same time. If this happens, you may lose some customers that would have continued to come back again if the service had been better. Always make sure you are able to meet the needs of everyone that is there if you are allowing parties to be hosted at your restaurant.
All of the bookings for the parties should be done by one person. This way there is no problems with conflicts, double bookings, or other issues. The host of the party will not be impressed to show up and find that someone else is using that space because it wasn't written down.
While booking the party, make sure you get a name and a contact number. You also need to find out how many people to expect for the event. This is going to help you be prepared in the kitchen and with your wait staff. You may have a time limit for the parties in your restaurant or you can allow them to tell you how much time they will need to complete it. Generally a couple of hours at least should be allotted.
You will need to decide if you will have the guests at the parties order off of the regular menu. You may be willing to offer a discount for a large group in order to get them to come in and each there. Discuss the issue of them bringing in other items as well. You may discover they want to bring along a cake and some ice cream for the event. If you are in agreement with this, offer a place to store them until they are ready to use them.

About Author:

Patricia Farnham has a long, successful background in the restaurant industry. To read her opinions, warning and advice on how to open a restaurant and other topics, visit her web Get your own completely unique content version of this article.

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