l have a friend who runs an Indian restaurant in the UK. The food and the service is great, and I am not just saying that because it is my friend is restaurant. They are finding it difficult to book tables.

Any ideas, e.g. theme nights, that could help attract customers to the restaurant? There is one other Indian restaurant in the area which is always busy. The people living nearby and in the surrounding area are mainly in their 30s and 40s.

Free booze?

advertise.place pamphlets in the surrounding neighbourhood offering discounts or 'buy one get one frees' people are more likely to come and try out the restaurant then.

Hi offer family meal child under 5 years of age free meal people all ways want something for nothing all so try party bookings.
good luck

some free meals on the weekend will get the restaurant some publicity

Advertising is a great way, distributing flyers, ad in the paper.
You can also have promotions like a set price for a meal for 4, or free deserts, or free bottle of wine with a meal for 2 etc..

l do like an ''Indian'' meal, to put it mildly.
To draw me to a particular place the prices have to be reasonable & l like to see a few moderately hot dishes about the strength of a Dhanzak or Madras. l would love to see somewhere offer Goat as a choice of meat ingredient too, even at a slightly increased price on a dish, but l admit l love meats that r a little different.
A good sweet Lassi after the meal is aways welcomed too!
A traditional Asian live act would be good too.

Maybe if you try to get returning customers it would help so say you have a couple that come in and have a meal. when they get the bill you can give them a coupon which gives them a percentage discount for the next time or like nandos have a stamp collection where when you have had 3 meals you get 10% off your next meal and a few more after that you get 20% and a few more after that you get 50% etc etc

Compare the prices.are they more expensive? Can you park easily at the restaurant? Happy hour cheap prices would be good to attract earlier diners. If their food is good once people try it they will come back so attract them with a deal. Sending leaflets to houses is a great idea..especially with a discount voucher!!

People feel they have done enough before they reach the level of sucess. If l was ur Friend with a situation like this, l would do everything & anything that takes to beat the other business across the street. Here r the ideas

1) Try a loyalty program, this helps in getting repeated customers. For example - Give a card to the customers where u punch ever time they come for dinner. 9 Dinners on the card with get them 10th dinner for free

2) Find out the reason, why people prefer going to other restaurant? Implement the changes.

3) Advertise little more, keeping in mind a budget of restaurant not running good is very limited, Advertise only using low cost resources for now. l am sure there r few people who do not even know about this place so advertisement will help everytone at least give a shot.

4) FOOD QUALITY - Food is one thing people will pay as much as u like if they like the quality. Specially, Indians in US & UK r very fond of typical indian food, so make sure ur quality is on the upper hand as compared to the other restaurant across the street.

l guess, thats pretty much. l will do much more than this if l knew the whole situation but again. Until an unless other restaurant is going good, ur friend shoud not have a problem running this.

Leaflets,
Increase the variety of Food,
Have classical sitar music as opposed to the annoying cheesy bollywood songs,
Have a membership scheme (like the guy said)

Add all the Mughlai food in menu & great Mughlai cooks if they arent there..keep South Indian food too for breakfast & lunch atleast. Theme nights is not so much a great idea. Add a couple of ghazal singers & expert musicians in the staff to sing all time during dinner hours . Indians love it.No cheap dancers or loud songs- people cant stand those..Ambience lit in traditional style with not much light but with lamps & diyas & moderate yellow light. Ethnic interior . Tables at distance with one another. All this because Indians love such serene atmosphere, calmness, soft music, Mughlai food, privacy & such an ethnic ambience. Any loudness , noise or too much rush will not do unless the food is too alluring.South Indian helps but without good Mughlai u cant attract enough Indian customers.Keep off on Tuesdays & Navratras -atleast Indians should remember this much of thier culture.

But the key is 'food ' remember - Indians love to go to bar be que is & even roadside Dhaba is if food is good otherwise they wont go to a place even if it offers best ambience. So work on food most & first. Other things come later. The other restaraunt still runs better probably because its food is liked more

Offer free home delivery- it will atttract customers & increase sales like bees coming to honey. Dont keep food too expensive ofcourse- be reasonable

Distribute a lot of pamphlets offering free home delivery bcos people often like to try food in the begining & it gives them opportnity to decide if the place is worth visiting & initial discounts or schemes might help

Free unlimited Lassi on orders over £xx.

Bollywood karaoke??