The greatest strength of a franchise restaurant has always been its “restaurant experience.” Nothing else compares to an engaging sit-down dining experience consisting of great food, service, and ambiance. And yet, it’s become important for franchise restaurants to offer more to their customers, something that can be accomplished with off-premise sales.
For restaurant franchises, off-premise sales are food and drink items sold to customers that are not offered as a part of a regular dining menu, and not consumed in an on-site dining room. These take-home products are purchased for the purpose of taking home after a meal, or bought as part of delivery or take-out service.
At first glance, it may not seem wise for a franchise owner to spend efforts on diversifying into retail sales. The competition is fierce in a retail market filled with retailers with expansive inventories and mature logistical systems. All the same, restaurant franchises would be wise to adopt a retail strategy that offers numerous benefits.
Here’s a list of reasons why your restaurant franchise needs to include off-premise sales as part of your normal operations.
Broaden Your Brand
The experience you offer as a franchise restaurant will always be your strongest selling point. And while your core customers have come to associate your brand with the good times they’ve had in your restaurant, it shouldn’t mean that the customer journey must always end at the same destination.
For this reason, off-premise sales can be your customers’ way to enjoy your brand in a different context. By selling your franchise’s take-home products, you can broaden your brand and increase your exposure to a wider audience.
For example, St. Louis Bar & Grill is famous for our award-winning chicken wings. Previously, coming to one of our restaurants was the only way to enjoy our signature product. These days, customers can now enjoy the St. Louis brand for themselves using our Groceries To-Go program.
In this way, we’re bringing our brand to an entirely new level by introducing ourselves to a new market of customers.
Alternative Revenue Channel
Getting customers to come to your restaurant can be difficult under normal circumstances, and has been downright challenging in recent years with the pandemic severely impacting the F&B industry. Many restaurant owners have adapted by shifting their focus from on-site dining to delivery and take-out service. However, for best results, restaurants should also consider off-premise sales as an alternative revenue channel.
Instead of having to rely on food sales from your kitchen, franchise owners can now supplement their sales by selling out-of-the-box items that are ready to go without preparation.
By diversifying your efforts, your restaurant can better supplement your sales and stay resilient.
Proprietary Advantage
As a brand, a franchise restaurant is defined by proprietary products and services that distinguish it from the competition. It’s an advantage that is unique and belongs solely to the brand. For this reason, it only makes sense to employ this strength to your advantage by selling these proprietary products as part of your off-premise sales.
For example, St. Louis Bar & Grill’s is likely most known for our Garlic Dill Barbecue Sauce. It’s proven to be so popular that we bottled it up and made it available for purchase in our restaurants and on our website. This way, customers could enjoy our sauce in our dining room, and then be able to enjoy it later at home.
Knowing that our dining experience is second to none, we can be sure that customers will return for more in the future.
Competitive Differentiation
It can be hard to stand out in a competitive market where everyone is trying to get the customer’s attention. In order to differentiate your franchise restaurant from the rest, use off-premise sales to provide for a unique customer experience that can’t be replicated anywhere else.
As part of our ongoing sale strategy, St. Louis Bar & Grill gives our customers a chance to complement their take-out orders with our at-home cocktail kits. In addition to the drinks that we’ve prepared, these take-home products give our customers the choice to enjoy our products in the way that they want.
By allowing for unique product combinations, we can serve our customers more effectively.
Final Thoughts
Selling take-home products offers a whole host of benefits for restaurant franchise owners that shouldn’t be overlooked:
- Low overhead
- Less storage space requirements
- Fewer use-by dates
- Easier specialization
Use off-premise sales to your advantage, and remain top of mind to your customers by being known for your specialty. Achieve higher customer turnover by attracting customer traffic that wants to do business with your restaurant franchise!
Are you looking to join a strong restaurant franchise? St. Louis Bar & Grill offers many proprietary products as part of our strong off-premise sales strategy. We’ve grown to over 70 franchise locations from coast to coast, and we’re looking for talented individuals who can help us expand. Become a franchisee with St. Louis Bar & Grill – Apply today!
