Small Business Description of the Business

The business is an Italian restaurant in a small town. The name of the restaurant is Vesuvio, the famous volcano that overlooks Napoli. The restaurant has wood pizza oven, and has been certified as an authentic producers of Neapolitan pizza. Furthermore, there are many other dishes on the menu, focused on pasta and salads, but also incorporating some classic Italian seafood and meat dishes. The restaurant has a focus on the cuisine of Naples and the surrounding region on Campania. To that end, the restaurant makes its own mozzarella di bufala, with milk from a local farmer. Some Sicilian and Roman dishes are also among the meals that rotate on the fresh sheet. There is an extensive wine list, and the restaurant makes its own limoncello and amaro liqueurs.

Customer Relationship Management

The restaurant is in a small town, and there are basically two markets that it serves. The first is the local area, where it is the only Italian restaurant. There are other pizza places, but this is the only full-service Italian restaurant. The second market is larger, and extends out around fifty miles in radius. Vesuvio is one of the only high end restaurants in the area, in terms of the quality of its food. Because of its pizzas are better than any others, and the rest of the menu, too, it draws from a much wider area than most small town restaurants in the state. There is a small but loyal customer base from the nearest big city, though these customers tend to visit less frequently than the local audience.

There are two main forms of customer relationship management used, the formal and the informal. The informal is a matter of the front of house staff getting to know each customer on a personal level. In a small town, this is an important aspect of CRM, and the employees are to be trained on the importance of learning people's names, chatting with the customers and getting to know them on a personal level. This should be done each time the customer comes in, so that the front of house staff can get to know the customers over time. Small town customers expect personal relationships with the businesses that they patronize regularly. Everybody knows everybody in a town of this size, and the front of house staff have to reflect this in the way that they deal with the local customers.

But CRM is more than just getting to know customers. In fact,...

If a server leaves, the new server should be able to carry on the relationship with the customer without much dip in the service level. That requires CRM. The restaurant will use CRM software to gather information about the customers, especially the regulars and semi-regulars. This means learning about their purchase habits and key information that can help the restaurant to market them. If a couple only comes in once a year, on their anniversary, we need to know that so that we can ensure that they have a special evening, enough to convince them to return more often. Servers will need to be trained on what information that they need to gather. Then, they will need to be trained on how to use the system. They can check before their shift the reservations list and learn about those customers. They can also reference the software when customers arrive, so that they know that if Mr. and Mrs. Jones walk through the door, that Mrs. Jones doesn't eat gluten and Mr. Jones like Tuscan reds. This type of knowledge allows the server to customize the service experience for that customer, even if that particular server is new and has not seen the customer before.
Moreover, CRM can be used by management to help keep in touch with the customers. For example, the CRM will have birthdays, anniversaries and other key events logged. If a customer has not visited in a while, maybe less than usual, the restaurant can send an email with an offer, to entice them to return. This is particularly useful for the out-of-town customers, who might need to be reminded to visit the restaurant. Vesuvio can even tie in with local events, to create a specific draw for the out-of-town audience. Keeping in touch with the customer base is a great way to ensure that people visit more, and can be worth anywhere from 5-15% extra sales, just be encouraging one or two extra visits per year. This is especially valuable if the restaurant encourages loyal customers to bring larger groups with them. For example, if a couple who comes monthly is motivated to bring their entire family for a major occasion, that is worth a lot of business. In a small town, a lot of information can be gathered about regular patrons, like when their children are graduating high school, or coming back from military service -- things like that can be important marketing opportunities for a restaurant seeking to…