Top tips to make the most of your First Table partnership

Restaurants, Client success , 23 February 2024

Help your staff understand your "Why" for offering First Table

This might be generating revenue from empty tables or it might be attracting new customers into your venue at a time when you're likely to be quieter. If your team can understand your “Why” they're able to provide a better customer experience, which means that guests are more likely to return as full price paying customers moving forward, which is a win for everybody.

In this article:

Where you set your First Table guests
Having an upsell plan
Making sure staff are comfortable talking about the menu
Keeping your First Table page up to date
Downloading your customer list
Leverage your First Table reviews
Watch: How restaurants are making the most from their partnership

Be strategic about where you set your First Table guests.

We know a crowd attracts a crowd. So if you have street frontage, set them in view of the window. Your restaurant is going to look busy earlier and, in turn, more customers will walk through your door. If you don't have street frontage, seat them somewhere that they're going to be able to create atmosphere for the other guests arriving throughout the evening.

Have an upsell plan for your staff

The most successful restaurants on First Table always have a great upsell plan. You will make money off First Table, but how much you make is going to be dictated by that upsell plan. Starting with getting that first drink order in quickly, the quicker you get their first order of drinks in the quickest you’re going to get to the second order.

Restaurant waiter taking a customers order

Make sure your staff are comfortable talking about your menu

The more your staff know the menu, the better. Make sure they are confident in talking about the daily specials, recommending their favourite dishes, and talking about wine and beer matches. In theory, the restaurant is going to be quieter when you have these customers in there. So, its a great time for waitstaff to build rapport with diners and inspire them to spend more and return as full price paying customers.

Keep your First Table page up-to-date

If you've got a new menu and some new photos, make sure you upload these to your First Table page to inspire our foodies to select your restaurant for their next dining experience. If you've got an exciting announcement to share such as a new product offering on First Table, we've got the ability to showcase these things through EDM, through a range of social channels to thousands of diners in your area.

Download the customer list from your First Table account

Look through the booking process, we collect the contact details of the customers that would like to hear from you. Ensure you download the customer list from your First Table account frequently. If you're unsure how to do so, simply reach out to your First Table rep. If you utilise our integration with me&u, you dont need to do a thing! Your customers' contact information will automatically be synced to your me&u account, ready for remarketing.

Leverage your First Table reviews

First Table generates thousands of customer's reviews for our restaurant partners. These get synced onto your First Table page to help inspire and attract potential diners to your restaurant. In addition, these get synced onto your Google Knowledge Panel helping grow the digital reach and appeal of your restaurant online.

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