Here’s Why Restaurants Need Regulars — and How to Attract (and Keep) Them

This means that roughly 90% of restaurants rely on local and nearby patrons for the bulk of their business. As such, building a network of local patrons and increasing the frequency of their visits (i.e. turning them into regulars) is paramount — and there are a few strategies restaurants can use to do this.

Over the course of my 20-year career in hospitality, I have opened, operated, managed, licensed and consulted over 30 food and beverage venues. I am a board advisor to several companies and executive director of industry relations at ICE, where I instruct students in Restaurant & Culinary Management.

I’m also fortunate to eat as many as six meals a week “in the field,” where I track trends and evaluate the quality and consistency of the dining experience.

I’m thus well aware of the challenges restaurants face when engaging new patrons and the strategies that can be used to convert them to regulars.

Below are tips to help restaurateurs build a local following.

What does local mean?

To gain a local following, the first step is to determine who your locals are.

When it comes to sprawling suburban or rural areas, where people typically drive to dine, this could be someone who lives within 10 miles of the restaurant.

In New York City, it’s more like five blocks in any direction. Even with a job that takes me all over the city, about half of my dining still happens within a five-block radius of my home.

By my estimation, there’s a 75% chance the average person will choose a venue in their area when dining out. And, while a local may be a regular, a regular may not be a local. Furthermore, while a non-local may become a regular, the chance of that lasting for years isn’t likely — which is why I emphasize the importance of a local customer base.

Who are your locals?

With this criterion for who locals are, the question becomes: how do we identify them?

First, restaurants should track who’s walking in the door. If you aren’t using your point-of-sale (POS) system to track this traffic, you are missing an opportunity to understand your customer demographic.

POS systems can track spending, customer likes and dislikes, and how often a patron visits, among other things. (This usually works in tandem with reservation systems for data capture, and is something I cover in the tech stack integration class for my Restaurant & Culinary Management students.)

Second, your host, maître ‘d, servers and bartenders should act as the restaurant’s eyes and ears. Advise them to ask, “What brings you here tonight?” That usually gets a conversation started. Save this information and share it in your nightly reporting with staff.

It’s also important to consider the restaurant’s location when thinking about locals. This came up in an interview I conducted with Gavin Kaysen, the chef/owner of Soigné Hospitality Group in Minneapolis. He noted that restaurants near the city’s lakes have wealthy locals who own multiple homes. Because of this, profits are often high in the summer, and low in the winter — when locals flock to their other homes. (Listen to the full conversation below.)

How do you turn locals into regulars?

After a while, who your locals are will be clear. The goal is to keep them coming back — here are a few tactics to try.

Community Involvement

Get involved. Locals like to see restaurateurs in their community. Whether that means sponsoring a local sports team; supporting a neighborhood charity or participating in local industry events, showing the community you care is always appreciated.

Plus, the external marketing helps get the word out to locals who aren’t aware of or haven’t yet visited your venue.

Star Treatment

From the first venue I opened in 2004, I learned this phrase and have lived by it ever since: “Treat regulars like VIPs and VIPs like regulars.” (VIPs include famous folks, renowned restaurateurs, chefs, etc.) Here are a couple of ways to make people feel extra special.

Quality and Consistency

Treat locals well, no matter how frequently you see them. It always surprises me how often I see regulars taken for granted. Perhaps restaurateurs expect them to come, and therefore put more effort into wooing other diners. But, this is a big mistake.

Also, your regular might order a hamburger every visit, but the first time it’s grossly under-cooked may be the last time you see them — and they won’t tell you, they just won’t come back. (Diners can be very fickle.)

Complimentary Items

Many famous people frequented my first venue which opened in 2004. And though we accommodated them, we did not roll out the red carpet. Last-minute reservations? Yes. A good table? Indeed. Do they care about a free drink or starter? Not really.

On the other hand, locals appreciate the occasional free drink while they wait for a table. A complimentary amuse-bouche or dessert typically means more to a local guest than a celebrity.

Special Privileges

Never take for granted that locals are coming back. Treating them like VIPs, by offering special privileges like priority seating or a late reservation, can go a long way. Another perk restaurants can offer? A dedicated phone number for the venue — one that is always answered and that accepts reservations that can’t be made online.

Acknowledgement

Address locals by name, know their favorite drink and acknowledge important occasions — though these actions may seem small, they make any diner feel special.

When a local comes in, always “touch” their table. This is when the manager, owner or chef visits a guest’s table to personally check on their experience — this act nurtures the relationship between the local and the restaurant.

Connecting with local patrons doesn’t require a grand gesture. It comes from consistency, acknowledgment and genuine hospitality — which can turn locals into regulars, and if you’re lucky, friends.

For more in-depth restaurant management know-how, check out ICE’s Restaurant & Culinary Management program.