I do think local restaurants can get a lot of value from social media. You need to have a local focus, but people naturally have a local network in place (friends, neighbours, schools, work, etc) -> these are all local connections.

And while 'everyone' in Peabody might already know that John's business exists, social media is great to keep the awareness alive and increase the number of times people come in to his place. If everyone in Peabody knows he is there, then that should be his focus: increase customer loyalty.

Newsletters, tweetups/meetups, are great ways to keep that awareness alive, but what makes people come back if they know something new is going on. Are you sharing your newest menu items? Maybe you could even have a couple of new-menu-item-testers.

If your location is holding you back in growing your business, you have to get your food to the place where your customers are: options have been mentioned: delivery, take-out, catering, or sampling.

Unfortunately good food and good service aren't the only 2 things you need to stay in business. You have to get to a healthy customer base first, and that will only work, if people know you exist. Then second step is to increase customer loyalty. And there you have it, your existing customers love you & keep coming back and new customers are walking in the door.

Keep feeding your customers with new content (new menu items? new events?) and reach out, and you will be one of the success stories.

I do think local restaurants can get a lot of value from social media. You need to have a local focus, but people naturally have a local network in place (friends, neighbours, schools, work, etc) -> these are all local connections.

And while 'everyone' in Peabody might already know that John's business exists, social media is great to keep the awareness alive and increase the number of times people come in to his place. If everyone in Peabody knows he is there, then that should be his focus: increase customer loyalty.

Newsletters, tweetups/meetups, are great ways to keep that awareness alive, but what makes people come back if they know something new is going on. Are you sharing your newest menu items? Maybe you could even have a couple of new-menu-item-testers.

If your location is holding you back in growing your business, you have to get your food to the place where your customers are: options have been mentioned: delivery, take-out, catering, or sampling.

Unfortunately good food and good service aren't the only 2 things you need to stay in business. You have to get to a healthy customer base first, and that will only work, if people know you exist. Then second step is to increase customer loyalty. And there you have it, your existing customers love you & keep coming back and new customers are walking in the door.

Keep feeding your customers with new content (new menu items? new events?) and reach out, and you will be one of the success stories.