How to Increase Sales by Embracing Solo Dining at Your Restaurant

Solo dining is a growing trend in the restaurant industry. Whether it’s lone travelers or locals who want to have a great culinary experience by themselves, the number of customers who ask for a table for one

is substantially growing. As a restaurant owner, you have an opportunity to grow your sales by welcoming solo diners. In this article, we’ll show you the benefits of accepting solo diners and how to attract more lone customers.

Why solo dining is beneficial for your restaurant

Serving large groups of people is great because they spend a lot of money at your establishment, but it can also be a challenge to provide good service. While you should keep encouraging group reservations by utilizing deals, there is no reason to ignore solo diners.

There is a large number of people who want to dine on their own, so why shouldn’t you profit from that by becoming a staple restaurant for solo dining? Here are the benefits you will enjoy:

• More loyal customers: by treating solo diners with respect and making them feel welcome at your restaurant, you encourage them to come back. Every loyal customer represents a steady income which ensures your business will keep making a profit month after month;
• Easier to manage: when servers handle a big group, it is easier to mistake orders and it can often overwhelm the kitchen. Solo diners make the work easier for your employees, allowing them to concentrate on offering irreproachable service;
• Increased sales: embracing solo dining at your restaurant is a great way to fill your seats and increase your overall sales.

How to attract more solo diners to your establishment

Most customers will research restaurants online before visiting them, including solo diners. Therefore, you must promote your establishment as a friendly space for lone customers so that when people search for “solo dining + the name of your location”, they will find your place.

1. Make it clear online that you accept solo dining

The key to ranking on solo dining restaurant searches is to include this information in as many relevant places as possible, like:

• On your website: you can easily include a sentence in your “About us” description, mentioning that you welcome each and every customer, no matter the party size. It will be helpful to have an SEO-optimized website that will help you rank higher in searches where many more people will notice it;
• On your Google Business Profile: on top of other important information such as working hours and a link to the website, you can also mention that your restaurant accommodates solo diners. This way, you will attract people who are looking for places to eat directly on Google Maps;
• On social media: create a restaurant social media content plan that includes several posts where you invite customers to visit your establishment, no matter if they are alone or in a big group. Tempt them by using mouth-watering pictures of your food and interior décor that showcases your seating;
• On review platforms: create an account on the review platforms available in your area such as TripAdvisor and Yelp and encourage single diners to leave a positive review. The good reviews will build trust with potential customers who want to dine alone, especially tourists.

Read more: The Importance of Online Reviews for Restaurants & How to Get More

2. Adapt your seating to accommodate solo diners

Some restaurants frown upon accepting solo diners because they believe they will keep a two-top occupied. But would you rather have a free table with no clients, or a table half occupied that still generates money?

To overcome this problem, you can come up with additional seating that is specifically designed for solo dining. Here are a few examples:

• Bar dining: create an inviting area along the bar where lone customers can comfortably enjoy a meal;
• One-top tables: replace the traditional two-top with smaller tables that will accommodate a single person. This option also allows you to unite to one-top tables in case you need to serve a party of two. More flexibility and easier to manage;
• Communal table: some restaurants use long, communal tables, where each customer gets seated, no matter if they are alone or with company. This is best suited for restaurants that encourage communication between the diners, often centered around the food.

Read more: How to Create an Effective Restaurant Seating Strategy

3. Train employees to offer great service

Your employees might be used to serving parties of two and higher and may unknowingly treat solo diners in a way that deters them from having a great example. For example, continuously asking them if they are waiting for someone else or checking on them less than they do at other tables.

Have a special training session with all employees working front of house and teach them how to be welcoming to people who eat by themselves. Great service will turn you into the most coveted spot for solo dining.

Here are a few tips that also give you the opportunity to upsell:

• Ask clients if they would like recommendations: give them the option to say yes or no and don’t be pushy. If they accept, you can convince them to buy high-profit menu items that are to their taste;
• Don’t rush the clients: just because they are alone, it doesn’t mean they want to eat and leave as soon as possible. Offer them a coffee or a dessert at the end of the meal. This will increase the average check while still creating a great environment for the solo diner.

Read more: Restaurant Staff Training 101: How to Improve Efficiency with Practical Training Methods

4. Make ordering a breeze

If you are worried that serving more customers in a day will overwhelm your servers or drive up your labor costs, the simple solution is to rely on technology.

With little effort and almost no investment, you can allow customers to order using their phones as soon as they are seated at the table. Here is what you must do:

• Create an account on GloriaFood and fill in your restaurant’s information;
• Make a menu no client will be able to resist;
• Enable on-premise dining;
• Generate a QR code restaurant menu;

Print the QR code and stick it on every table so you take some of the workload off your employees. When clients scan the code, they are directed to the online restaurant menu where they can browse, order, and pay in just a few clicks.

The order is automatically transmitted to the kitchen so there are no errors in the process. Therefore, you get to enjoy a seamless operation while also increasing client satisfaction.

5. Utilize promotions to encourage loyalty

If you want to encourage repeat solo dining at your restaurant, you must give clients an incentive to come back. For example, you can create a reward system where clients can access specific promotions once they have placed a certain number of orders or spent a set amount of money.

You can do so easily using the Promotions module from GloriaFood. You will only need a couple of minutes to set everything up:

Final words

To be successful in the food business industry, you must be open to the latest trends and be able to adapt. Embrace solo dining at your restaurant to create a welcoming environment for people who prefer to eat alone and experience an increase in sales!