Restaurant Subscriptions: Benefits & How to Enable Them

Making a name for yourself in the food industry is a huge challenge. You have to manage the rising food costs, the constant hiring crisis, and the large amount of direct competition.

A surefire way to succeed is to get many returning customers who keep spending money at your establishment. An easy to increase client retention is to enable restaurant subscriptions.

Check out this quick guide that covers the benefits and the setup of subscriptions for restaurants:

What are restaurant subscriptions?

A subscription is a service model where the customer makes a commitment in the form of a monthly fee (it can be weekly, yearly, or another period) in exchange for products and services, usually with a discount.

Some common examples are entertainment services like Netflix and Hulu that provide access to movies, TV shows, and games and gyms where you get access to fitness rooms and classes.

Restaurant subscriptions have been on the rise since the Covid-19 pandemic when food businesses were looking for new revenue streams to ensure their survival.

For restaurant owners, subscriptions are a way to increase customer loyalty and have a recurring income, while clients can enjoy delicious food at a better price.

The benefits of introducing subscriptions

No matter the restaurant subscription model you choose to use at your business, you will enjoy the following benefits:

• A predictable revenue stream: as opposed to regular business where you just hope that you will have enough clients each month, subscriptions allow you to plan because clients pay a monthly fee. This way, you can better organize your inventory to maximize profit and eliminate food waste;
• More loyal customers: getting a person to place their first order is easier than persuading them to come back time and time again. Once you hook them, you can rely on their constant support;
• Increased number of new customers: loyal clients that enjoy your subscription model, are more likely to become business promoters and recommend your restaurant to friends, and family, and even write positive reviews that grow your reputation;
• Opportunity to improve your business: your subscribed clients are the best testing subjects when you launch new menu items. You can give them first access to the new dishes and ask for their opinions to identify which of them should make it onto the final menu.

Read more: 7 Innovative Restaurant Revenue Streams to Expand Your Business

Restaurant subscriptions models

While the main goal of restaurant subscriptions is to increase the number of loyal customers, they differ from loyalty programs. Customers perceive subscriptions as better value for money and are committing to keep spending their money at your business.

There are a variety of restaurant subscription models out there. If you want your new revenue stream to be a success, you must create a personalized one that caters to your target audience. Here are a few examples:

Meal plan subscriptions

There are two options for this one:

• Option 1: you deliver clients the ingredients and the recipe and they get to prepare the meal. This is better suited for clients who have a lot of free time and are passionate about cooking. Don’t forget to include thorough instructions so even beginners can prepare a tasty dish;
• Option 2: you deliver pre-selected cooked meals. These could be a hit if your restaurant is near office buildings because workers want to enjoy a delicious meal during their busy day without having to take time off to order it.

Membership events

If you have an active community supporting your restaurant, they may be interested in participating in the events you organize. By making events subscription-based, you make them more exclusive and attract people who have FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Here are a couple of event ideas you can try:

• Multi-course meals where you let your chef experiment and create a unique menu for the event;
• Cooking classes where participants learn cooking techniques from your chef;
• Music nights where you teach people how to pair food and beverages.

Promotions subscriptions

By paying a small monthly fee, you can guarantee subscribers that they will enjoy a special promotion that changes each week or month to add some diversity to the mix. Here are a couple of deals to play with:

• Free items such as coffee, wine, appetizers, or dessert
• 20% off the whole order
• 30% off a selected category in the menu, such as pizza

For an easy way to create restaurant promotions in seconds, check out this video tutorial:

VIP access

Make clients feel special by creating a restaurant subscription program that gives them VIP treatment. You can choose what that includes. Get inspired:

• Reservation privileges: VIP clients can get a free table whenever they reserve one;
• New menu item tastings: subscribers get invited to taste the new menu items before everyone else, at a discounted price;
• Surprise discounts each month, both for in-location and online orders.

Best practices for the best restaurant subscriptions

If you want to enjoy the benefits of restaurant subscriptions, you can’t just randomly select a model and hope that it works out for you. Start by researching your direct competitors. Are they offering subscriptions? If yes, what type?

Moreover, read their reviews to notice if their customers are satisfied with the implemented model. After identifying what your competition does best, do the following:

Tailor your restaurant subscription model to your target audience

Launching a restaurant subscription is best done after your restaurant has been open for some time because you need to build a loyal clientele that might be interested in participating.

Not all your clients will want to become subscribers, so you need to find the ones that are most likely to participate and find their preferences. What model would they be more interested in? What type of meals do they like? Or what price are they prepared to pay?

You can find out these and more by:

• Doing focus groups;
• Creating an online survey that you send to your list of clients. It will be helpful if you have the online ordering system from GloriaFood installed because you can access your database of customers;
• Ask followers directly on social media. If you want the answers to be private you can post a story on Instagram and receive the answers through direct messages;
• Look over restaurant analytics, like the ones provided by the Reports module from GloriaFood. For example, most ordered dishes and number of returning customers.

Offer high-value rewards that don’t affect profit

You need to find the perfect balance between offering a very small price that doesn’t allow you to make a profit and a big price that deters people from participating.

To increase your profit margin, you can include menu items that have a high-profit margin in your deals and even make the portions smaller.

Read more: 7 Most Profitable Menu Items to Include in Your Restaurant Menu

Invest in promoting your subscription program

After you set up all the details of your restaurant subscriptions, it is time to get the word about it to encourage people to sign up. There are two main ways to do this:

• Post an announcement on your website: it would be best if you already have a sales and SEO-optimized website, like the one provided by GloriaFood because you will rank higher in Google searches and reach more people;

• Share it on social media: add this new type of service in the bio of each platform and create a post a week where you encourage people to sign up by highlighting the benefits they will enjoy.

Final Words

Restaurant subscriptions can be a great new revenue stream for your business if you use a model that is catered to your audience’s preferences. You can always look over your restaurant statistics and update the model until you create the perfect subscription that both attracts clients and increases your profit.