Restaurants are opening up again, but after a pandemic and more than a year of ordering take-out, do people want to come back? Of course they do! They just need the right motivation and a reminder of how much they loved dining out.

At Organic Restaurants, we know that diners are ready for the restaurant experience again. Taking these steps could easily help to lure them back.

Focus on Safety

After the year that we had, safety is going to be the top priority of every diner. They want to know that your restaurant and every one of your staff members are taking safety seriously. This means that you’re giving your staff protective equipment, like gloves and masks. This means putting a safe distance between the tables and resisting the urge to pack as many people in as possible. Offer hand sanitizer and put up signage that makes note of your safety initiatives. All of these moves could help put these diners at ease.

Appreciate Your Employees

Many employees in the restaurant business have been under tremendous amounts of stress. Make sure that you’re checking in on your employees to see that they are doing okay, and let them know that they are appreciated. Happy employees are more likely to make a good impression on diners, and your customers will keep coming back if their first post-pandemic dining experience was a happy one.

Offer Discounts for In-Person Dining

One way to pull in more diners is to offer exclusive deals that you can’t get by ordering food for pickup or delivery. A discount could entice more people to come into your restaurant to eat, instead of taking your food home or waiting for it to be delivered while they check out what’s on Netflix.

Emphasize Healthy Menu Items

Many of us coming out of this pandemic are placing a new emphasis and importance on our health. One way that you could lure back diners might be by emphasizing your healthy menu items and showing that dining out at your restaurant is a safe and healthy option. If diners know that they’ll feel good after leaving your eatery, and not like they just ate too much or consumed a meal that they’ll have to work off, they will be glad to come back.

Remind People That You’re Around

Some restaurants were lucky enough to be able to transition into doing more delivery and pickup orders, which had multiple benefits aside from the obvious one of helping eateries keep their bills paid and people employed. If you were delivering food or doing take-out orders, people kept your restaurant in mind. If you weren’t, people might need a reminder of your restaurant and how much they like your food. Take to social media, pay for an ad or fliers, or otherwise do something that can get you back to the front of diners’ minds.

For More Ways to Attract Local Diners

Whether you’re running an organic restaurant in Austin or a vegetarian eatery in Nashville, we hope that these tips help you bring those diners back! Visit the Organic Restaurants blog and website for more ideas, and see which ones work best for you and your customers.