Businesses in the restaurant industry constantly adapt to thrive and stay alive. Dining experiences and client interactions changed overnight during the pandemic. Some of these adoptions, like adding takeout and delivery, are here to stay for good. Why? Because the consumer demand continues to shift, triggering new restaurant revenue streams to jump on to stay relevant and competitive.

At Foodee, we’ve helped countless local restaurant owners and operators across the U.S. and Canada increase sales and brand awareness in our post-pandemic era of dining experiences.

Based on our findings—and the successes of so many restaurateurs—here are our top five low-cost revenue stream ideas to consider for 2023.

5 Low-Cost Revenue Streams for Your Restaurant in 2023

1. Offer catering services for special events

You’re busy running a restaurant, so opening up your own catering business on the side may not be a good idea. Most restaurant owners don’t have the time, resources, interest, or know-how to start their own event catering. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t add special event catering to their restaurant revenue streams.

There are great alternatives that still allow you to reap the benefits of offering catering services.

One: look for specific event opportunities to join. These are parties, festivals, markets, conventions, and other local special events that are a good fit for your brand and availability.

Tips:

• Join opportunities that will market your brand on their channels
• Find events that target new and existing clientele
• Define event success to you: increased profits, brand exposure, new client visits, etc.
• Start small and expand based on success and your availability
• Limit your menu to showcase your restaurant but simplify your workload

Or, two: partner with a third party that specializes in event catering, such as Foodee.

Foodee has corporate catering opportunities for local restaurant partners—spanning from office celebrations, events, and pop-up dining experiences to daily meetings, team lunches, Happy Hours, and more. By partnering with Foodee, your restaurant gets added to Foodee’s online ordering platform where we help you reach our corporate clients, boost your brand visibility through our marketing channels, and increase restaurant sales.

Learn more about Foodee’s corporate event catering opportunities.

2. Offer digital and physical gift cards

Another low-cost and easy way to boost your restaurant sales is with gift cards, digital or plastic. By offering digital gift cards on your website, customers anywhere can buy and send them easily as gifts. Plus they’re more cost-effective, convenient, modern and eco-friendly than branded plastic gift cards. Gift cards are a great way to spread brand love about your restaurant as loyal customers may gift them to others and bring in new clients.

Tips:

• Check out canva.com to create a digital gift certificate
• Add an expiration date if applicable to digital gift cards
• Set up a system for tracking or add a watermark to help avoid fraud
• Offer dollar amounts that work with your restaurant’s menu pricing
• Make it easy for people to buy and share digital gift cards

3. Offer meal kits to the cooking enthusiasts

Cooking at home is the new normal post-pandemic. In 2021, 73% of Americans said they genuinely enjoy cooking at home more than they used to. They have more confidence in the kitchen and are eager to learn. That’s where your restaurant comes in.

By offering meal kits, customers can prepare your restaurant meals on the days of the week that they don’t otherwise eat out. Meal kits are a unique way to increase your restaurant revenue streams while saving on labor costs and time. Need inspiration? Check out these stunning meal kits curated by local restaurants.

Tips:

• Choose simple-to-make dishes that showcase the best of your restaurant
• Do trial tests at home before the launch
• Include your branding in the meal kits
• Make the recipe very easy to follow
• Measure, cut, prepare, and package all necessary ingredients
• Offer them for pickup or delivery—or see if you can get them into local shops
• Include secret sauces and housemade dressings (people love that!)

4. Sell merchandise on your website or in store

Selling merchandise is another great way to bring more income to your restaurant. Plus it’s great for increasing your brand reach and enticing new clients to eat in-house. If your restaurant already has a great brand and loyal customer base, they will be happy to buy and rock one of your tote bags, t-shirts, or hats, for instance. Customers who wear or use your merch (with your logo) are essentially walking advertisements for your brand!

Here are some merchandise ideas to consider:

• Tote bags
• Hats
• T-shirts, sweaters, and long-sleeve shirts
• Secret sauces, jams, and original housemade dressings
• In-house spice mixes
• Aprons
• Mugs, tumblers, and water bottles
• Branded cookware
• Recipes and cookbooks

Tips:

• Choose merchandise that makes sense for your brand (like BBQ sauce for a BBQ joint)
• People love to buy local goods to take home as gifts or souvenirs
• Choose designs that are creative and unique to your restaurant’s brand
• Consider the cost to make versus sell
• Think useable, reusable, and eco-friendly
• Consider hiring a designer to help
• Find a local print shop that offers merchandising services
• Sell merchandise online and in your restaurant

5. Offer online delivery and takeout

To stay competitive and meet the growing online demand, offer delivery and takeout service. In 2022, the number of Americans using apps to order food and groceries was expected to rise from 27.9 million to 30.4 million. Offering online delivery and takeout is a great way to boost revenue and recover or supplement any lost income from dips in in-house diners. That’s where Foodee helps.

Foodee delivers and serves your local restaurant meals to our corporate clients. We handle the entire online delivery and takeout service from the online ordering platform to sales, customer service, marketing, logistics, and invoicing. We get your restaurant’s brand and dishes in front of our clients for breakfast meetings, staff lunches, company celebrations, dinners, and more.

All you have to do is focus on making delicious food.

Increase Restaurant Sales and Brand Awareness with Foodee

Foodee’s restaurant partners make more revenue per order than other third-party delivery services. Why? Because most deliveries are large orders from some of America’s top corporations. Don’t worry. Your restaurant gets plenty of notice, plus pickups are always before or after peak times.

Take San Francisco’s Healthyish Republic, for instance. During the pandemic, the restaurant only operated as a delivery kitchen but struggled to reach more customers. They needed help getting the word out about their mouthwatering burgers and bowls. After searching online for “how to increase restaurant sales,” the owner became a Foodee restaurant partner.

Likewise, when AAamazing Salad in Toronto joined Foodee, they grew their business up to 30%.