The lunch hour probably spells happiness for everyone involved in the ‘eating’ business but the same might not be the case for those who offer the ‘eating’ experience. Confused? Well, let us clarify this for you.

Everyone loves to eat and when it comes to lunch breaks during office hours, it can be such a relief from all the monotonous work regimes. However, are you doing enough as a QSR to pull these people to your outlet? Probably not.

People have become health conscious and QSRs are known to serve food that is far away from anything related to ‘health’. This might not be true but the perception lives on in the minds of your potential customers. Moreover, they refrain from going out and about for lunch. People prefer their ‘dine-outs’ more than their ‘lunch outs’. So, how can you break this cycle and urge them to walk in to you in the afternoons? Here is what will help you.

Market what you already have

Think about it. Employees, owing to the paucity of time during lunch, look for quicker options. You are exactly that. A QSR! You already have the biggest USP to drive people in during lunch time. All you need to do is to focus on this very quality of your kind of restaurant and let people know that you’re just what they need.

For example, communications like “Grab our scrumptious pizzas on the go” or “’Have you tried our 2 minute burger yet?” will definitely grab eyeballs and of course, profits, but make sure you are marketing this at the right place via the right channel. Flyers around office spaces and social media are your key media options for this.

Promote healthy

This one can never go wrong. If you wish to change that rigid perception that QSRs serve ‘only’ junk food then this is your chance to hit two birds with one stone. Change that mindset and rake in the profits during lunch hour!

Promote the already existing healthy options that you have like salads, sandwiches and the likes. If you don’t have too many options, create a couple of brand new healthy dishes or juice options and market them. Remember, the words ‘detox’, ‘organic’ and ‘low calorie’ are highly attractive to the health conscious audiences you are looking to lure.

For instance, a ‘low calorie’ burger, a liver ‘detox’ juice and an all ‘organic’ salad will have a huge impact than just a burger, juice and salad. The health of your patrons is directly proportional to the health of your profits!

Multi cuisine is the way to multi profits

Don’t just stick to the old and boring ‘burgers’, ‘sandwiches’, ‘pizzas’. You are a QSR and of course you can’t change that format all of a sudden and start a buffet system. However, you can do the next best thing. Add some ‘world’ to your existing menu.

This is easy to do. You offer a burger that has some beans in it? Change its name to ‘The Mexican Delight’ and offer it with nachos. You already have a sandwich that uses barbecued cottage cheese and is spicy? Call it the ‘Indian tadka sandwich’. Try and rename some of your food items to encompass a sense of global cuisine. Update all these names on your restaurant software to avoid confusion between the old and new names.

If you don’t already have any such items that you can rename, create some new food items but slightly altering existing ones. It really is that simple. Don’t give people the chance to say ‘This is a QSR, it will be serving the same old burgers and shakes. I want some other flavor today’. They want another flavor? Give it to them.

Deploy the power of pricing

Well, yes. This is a no-brainer. However, you still have no idea about how big its impact can be on your lunch hour profits. When you have been standing there waiting for at least one patron to walk in, things can get hard. Make this an easy daily exercise. A new discount for every new day!

For instance, “Monday Madness – Order an all American Meal between 2 pm and 3 pm to get 20% off on your order!” or “Twisted Tuesdays – Go for our Fusilli salad between 2 pm and 3 pm to get 10% off on your order!”.

See that restaurant floor getting dirtier in the afternoon and your bank accounts getting plumper.

Well, lunch hours are only as dull as we make them to be. There is nothing that a QSR can’t do. Since the speed of service is already on your side, make these changes and see everything falling into place. Marketing it the right way will bring in all the profits that you desire without you having to break your head. Just make sure that you are doing everything the right way and there is no chance of anything going against you. Keep at it. It is time for you to get your act and your revenues together!