How To Increase Your Cafe’s Appeal To Students

We may have previously written about such subjects as how to boost your restaurant’s online presence to attract more people through the door, but for some food and drink businesses, it’s the student market that they really want to go after.

It seems that pretty much every town these days is a student town, so if you want to get more of these potentially very lucrative and loyal customers, here are some great things to do.

Introduce a ‘chill out’ space

People tend to associate ‘chill out’ spaces with offices, but with the boundaries between workspaces and ‘play’ spaces blurring more than ever these days, many successful coffee shops have also embraced them.

Consider providing bean bags and low tables in an open-plan area where students can discuss their assignments, browse on their iPads or simply while away the hours before leaving your cafe for their next lecture.

Provide super-quick, free WiFi

On the subject of Internet browsing, it’s true that today’s ‘Millennial’ generation does it almost more often than they meet face-to-face.

Although many cafes provide WiFi these days, many of them may fail to provide reliable WiFi, or may set it up so that students have to pay to use it. Word gets round quickly about such things in the student community, so be careful not to unnecessarily drive away this cash-strapped demographic.

Host local student events

Students aren’t just interested in cheap beer or free WiFi – they also love to be nourished culturally and intellectually, and to have the opportunity to interact with fellow students.

So, why not make your cafe the hot spot for local poetry readings, music performances, ‘open mic’ events, quizzes and other ‘happenings’ that draw in the trendy student set? Many cafes turn into bars by night, serving alcohol and taking on an entirely different atmosphere.

Relocate to attract student foot traffic

Is your cafe located ‘en route’ to the local university’s biggest lecture hall? If so, brilliant. However, your establishment may be located in a less conductive part of town for luring students, in which case, you may need to be more inventive or aggressive with on-campus promotions.

Can’t afford the rents on the best location? Research  the areas that students already frequent, as well as where the local university may be planning to build a new campus or expand an existing one.

Offer student-friendly deals

It’s not rocket science – students like to be able to eat and drink cheaply. If there’s a certain dish that’s making a lot of fuss around town, offer it at half-price for a limited time to those who show their student card.

Put up a poster in the window about these student-oriented deals, promote them at freshers’ fairs or similar university-based events and tell the world about them on your cafe’s website and social media page.

Indeed, you only require those two latter things in order to also take advantage of our highly rated merchant solutions here at Groupon. Join similar businesses, such as Open Kitchen, that have seen much-increased business as a result of their association with us.