Grand Openings can give a new restaurant much needed momentum, and overcome the most difficult restaurant business objective, obtaining new customers. Since most restaurants suffer loses for the first 2 years, restaurants cannot afford to not make their presence felt in their community immediately. If your Grand Opening accomplishes what it set out to do, people will become aware of your restaurant, and you will gain a healthy pool of customers to build on. Besides, a steady cash flow makes all the difference in the world for a young restaurant. Put simply, the Grand Opening is your chance to impress the community and the media, making your restaurant necessary rather than just there.

You need months to prepare for a truly successful Grand Opening. Even with ample time, Grand Openings present special challenges. First, juggling all the things your restaurant needs just to open makes planning a Grand Opening a daunting task. As it may not take priority in the initial stages, you may want to delegate part of the responsibilities to a trusted employee so when you do turn your focus to the Grand Opening all the pieces are ready to fall into place. Either way, you should set benchmarks, from VIP invitations to a dress rehearsal of the staff. The following are a couple themes and issues that should be at the forefront of your mind as your Grand Opening approaches.

Soft Opening and Preparations

Customers and media expect more from a restaurant during a Grand Opening, and coming up short can set your restaurant back right from the beginning. A restaurant owner, therefore, should do everything they can so that the event goes smoothly while introducing customers and media to quality and your unique concept.  Your watchful eye on the day of the Grand Opening cannot replace thorough planning as you cannot be everywhere at once, including in the heads of your customers. Always side with caution as the unexpected cannot be eliminated. Accordingly, it is always better to be conservative with staffing, etc. for a Grand Opening even if it costs somewhat more.

In that spirit, rather than the excitement, extra entertainment or décor, a Grand Opening is mostly reliant on your staff providing excellent food and service. Rehearsals are not enough to ensure that they are ready for a packed restaurant of influential people. Training without real customers doesn’t cut it either.

The time tested solution is a soft opening, where for two weeks to a month you slowly transition into full operation. This improves the likelihood of a successful Grand Opening. Chefs will get a reasonable amount of hours under their belt in your kitchen, preparing themselves for the stress and pressure of a Grand Opening. Servers will be able to better coordinate with each other and the kitchen. Everyone will get a grasp of the menu and where things are. You will also be able to establish members of your staff who are best ready to handle a Grand Opening and represent your restaurant when it’s center stage.

Two weeks to a month of operation will add to everyone’s confidence level.  Also, it buys you time to focus completely on the Grand Opening as many of the primary opening issues will be in order. It may even leave you enough time to devise and implement an idea that makes your Grand Opening the talk of the town. Whatever your hook is it needs to make the press releases you send to the press several weeks in advance.

Public Relations

As this is the debut of your restaurant, the bigger the stage the better. Media brings the attention your restaurant receives to a new level. Press coverage of a Grand Opening is never guaranteed especially in areas with lots of competition, but every restaurant should give it a shot. Even if the media does not cover your opening in a news or feature story, a press release gets the word out to the food critic about your restaurant, leading to potential reviews.

For traditional media, you need a well-written press release (see templates online) about your restaurant that reaches their desk weeks beforehand. You want to highlight what is unique about your restaurant (do all you can to make it newsworthy while keeping a matter-of-fact tone). Along with that, your Grand Opening’s success relies on incorporating elements that make your restaurant stand out from the crowd. Do not wander to far from your restaurant’s concept though. A media stunt is not appropriate for most restaurants, but every restaurant should spice things up. Give your customers something that creates anticipation, curiosity and excitement: essentially what they wouldn’t get on a normal day.

Now once you get the media in your restaurant, a few things are required. Journalists partially count on press kits for information, whether its menus, biographies, press releases, etc. Be prepared to give a tour of your restaurant where the media can take pictures and witness the workings of your restaurant. In particular, giving out samples to the media helps them get more enthusiastic about your restaurant.

It helps to think of media in the wider sense. More and more, Internet based media, such as Patch.com, is playing a bigger role in local issues. Accordingly, all media should receive notice about your Grand Opening through press releases and be invited to write a story about your restaurant.

Invitations

Important people, such as elected representatives, bestow attention and prestige on your restaurant if they come to the Grand Opening. Inviting these people (but not necessarily controversial figures) makes it an event that everyone wants to attend. You’d definitely be more likely to attract politicians if you somehow attach the Grand Opening with the common good, such as involving a local charity (if it relates to your restaurant all the better). By sponsoring a local charity, your business quickly joins the community, and persuades public figures and the media to pay attention. For a restaurant, Grand Openings, or a period of Grand Openings, happen only once so you shouldn’t be afraid to call in a favor to get a familiar face at your Grand Opening.

Logistics

You want your Grand Opening to be the talk of the town/neighborhood.  Much of that is based on presenting something that creates curiosity, beyond the promise of great food and service. Customers like a degree of spectacle particularly at events. With that in mind, as a new restaurant normally has nothing to lose, you shouldn’t be afraid of taking some risks in gaining people’s attention, unless it is a given that your restaurant will absorb new customers (say because you are located in Times Square). For most, however, marketing risks come with the territory, especially as it gives you a chance to introduce a strong brand.

The other thing is that you should make the event fun.  That may mean live music. That may mean other entertainers that fit the culture of your restaurant. In general, the more you turn your attention to the customers who make it to your Grand Opening (opposed to yourself), the more likely it is for the customer to feel a vested interest in your business’s success. It’s inevitable that during your Grand Opening, as much as the food and service, you will be at the center of everything in a way you may never encounter again. So it is good if you get customers to root for you. The opposite can happen too so at all points, when you interact with customers at your Grand Opening, you should act generous, kind and thankful.

Reasons To Come Back

Just as you are aware that Grand Openings are made to create brand awareness and convince customers to return, so are customers. You don’t want to create the impression that you are bribing those who show up to return. A modest THANK YOU coupon for those who patronize your restaurant during your Grand Opening is a nice surprise. If you can get customers’ emails address and permission to market to them, you give yourself a viable way to communicate promotions and just stay in your customer’s consciousness. A small gift may even highlight how appreciative you are and place a reminder of your Grand Opening somewhere in their house.

The Grand Opening is a elaborate mix of planning and creativity, so covering here in this short of space would not do someone service who is looking for a step by step approach. Check out later for more resources on Grand Openings, including our upcoming book.