Introduction:

I want your restaurant to become the community hub because community hubs attract people without too much effort. Think about Facebook, it’s a place that people go everyday to get and share information.

Facebook charges for advertising but did they didn’t this way…  They built a hub (a community) where people come from all over the world multiple times a day and now they have earned the right to charge advertisers to share information with their users. Think of that the same way with VRBO, Airbnb, Uber and all these places that are creating hubs for other places to do business.

Build a community, build a hub:

I always had the goal when we built our wine market and Bistro to be the community hub. The food was secondary, that was the natural product. If all you’re doing is building a restaurant it’s too easy for others to compete with you.  Some new restaurant will open and can take some of your business. But if you build a community hub where people come to meet others, make memories, form bonds and to be a part of the greater community – the food sales will come naturally, that is the easy part.

So start thinking about a couple of ways that you could influence this idea and make your restaurant a little bit more of a community hub. What hobbies are you into and can you invite your friends from those hobbies into your restaurant. Do you have a lot of business connections and can you do business networking events in your restaurant. Are you a charitable person? What charities can you partner with and invite them in to have their events, meetings and fundraisers at your restaurant.

Final Thoughts:

Restaurants are a lot more than just places to serve food, they’re community hubs. The stronger you build a community the stronger your restaurant will be.