Winning customers as a restaurant or café

In gastronomy you are selling occupancy, not only food — and the decision happens on a phone in seconds, based on photos, stars and “are they open, can I book”. The big predictable revenue sits in occasions like company Christmas parties and the Schanigarten season. This page ranks the levers by their real effect on a full shift.

Everything below applies to any restaurant in Austria. The section after next covers what changes when the kitchen, the team or the owner works in another language — and unusually for this site, most of what changes is in your favour.

The starting point: you sell occupancy, not only food

What carries the business

Occupancy decides: On thin margins, a full shift versus a half-empty one is the whole business. Regulars and bookable occasions beat walk-in luck.
Maps, photos and reviews are oxygen: The decision happens on a phone in seconds: photos, stars, “open now / can I reserve”. Food is inherently shareable — that is your largest natural advantage.
Occasion business is seasonally huge: Company Christmas parties, terrace season, Mother’s Day and New Year’s Eve concentrate revenue into a few windows. Plan late and they go to whoever was visible earlier.
Your background is an asset here: Unlike most trades, where being a non-native is something to work around, a cuisine you actually grew up with is a credential. It is the one thing a competitor cannot simply copy.

Running this business in English

Gastronomy is the one trade where coming from somewhere else is an outright credential. A cuisine you grew up with carries a credibility that no competitor can buy, and Vienna’s diners actively look for it. Lead with that rather than working around it.

The trap is the profile, not the food. Someone two streets away opens Maps and types “italienisches Restaurant in der Nähe” or “Frühstück 1070”. If your business category and description are English-only, you are not in that result at all. This is the single most common reason excellent international restaurants stay empty on weeknights.

Two practical consequences. Reviews will arrive in German, and a brief, plainly written reply reads far better than a long machine-translated one — guests can tell, and so can the person who wrote the review. And the menu should carry both languages, German first for anything a local would search for. Where a dish name does not translate, keep the original and add one short German line explaining what it is; that line is frequently what makes someone order it.

What first? The order that works for this trade

Priority	Action	Why here
First	Google profile and Maps with real, well-lit photos	Opening hours, how to reserve, appetising pictures — this is where the choice is made, and it is free.
First	Make sure the profile is findable in German	People search “italienisches Restaurant 1050” or “Frühstück in der Nähe”. Category and description in German decide whether you appear at all.
Then	Manage reviews actively — collect and reply	The most visible trust signal there is. Future guests read your reply to criticism especially closely.
Then	Make occasion packages visible early	Christmas parties, groups, terrace season — the predictable revenue that gets booked far in advance.
Then	One visual platform with the plate in focus	Daily specials and stories keep you in mind. Photographs need no translation, so this is level ground.
Later	Paid local advertising or reservation tools	Once profile, photos and reviews are in place. Before that you are paying for guests who click away from an empty profile.
Not now	Building the revenue base on delivery commission (for a classic sit-down restaurant)	The commission eats an already thin margin, and the guests belong to the platform, not to you. Delivery-native concepts are the exception — see the questions below.

Positioning: what sets you apart

A cuisine with a clear hand: A recognisable signature — a region, a specific cuisine, one dish worth crossing town for — instead of “something for everyone”.
Authenticity you can actually claim: If you cook the food of the place you are from, say so plainly and show it. Vienna’s diners actively seek this out, and it is the most defensible position on this list.
Occasion: Business lunch versus date night versus families and groups — what is your place the place for?
Terrace and location: A Schanigarten, the setting, the atmosphere as a visible reason to come.
Time slot or format: Breakfast and brunch specialist, late kitchen, weekend brunch — occupy a window others leave empty.

Where is the gap in your neighbourhood? Which cuisine or time slot is missing depends on how dense the district already is. The market check shows how many food businesses serve how many residents, from official GISA data. It counts businesses, not cuisines — which cuisine is missing you find out by walking the street.

Content that fits this trade

Not format names — actual topics, each with a strong opening line:

The plate — The appetising dish, close and well lit — the core asset people save and share.
Behind the pass — “This is how your favourite dish comes together” — kitchen and team at work. People eat with people.
Today’s special — “Today we have…” — the concrete reason to come now.
The occasion — “The terrace is open” / “Christmas parties with us” — posted in exactly the right window.
The origin story — Why the place exists, where the signature dish comes from, where the ingredients are sourced.
The dish explained — “What this actually is, and how it is eaten at home.” If you cook a cuisine unfamiliar to Vienna, this post does more work than any advertisement.

Timing: when this trade has momentum

Not every month needs a campaign — these moments are strong here:

When	Occasion
Mar–Sep	Schanigarten and terrace season → announce early, make the seats visible (a major revenue driver)
May	Mother’s Day → one of the strongest reservation days of the year; open bookings early
Sep–Nov	Christmas party enquiries begin — companies book long in advance
Dec	New Year’s Eve → communicate the menu or event early
Feb	Valentine’s Day → a date-night offer

Your first 30 days

Realistic for a small Austrian business with no marketing department:

Four weeks, each one doable

Week 1: Get the Google profile and Maps entry right: real, well-lit photos, correct opening hours, a simple way to reserve. Set the business category and description in German.
Week 2: Start a review routine — ask politely, and reply to existing reviews, including the critical ones.
Week 3: Three to five strong plate and room photos plus a story routine for the daily special. A phone is enough; the light is what matters.
Week 4: Set up the next occasion window — Christmas parties or terrace season — as a visible offer, before the competition does.

Mistakes that are common in this trade

Bad photos, or none — the decision is made on the image; a dark snapshot costs guests.
A profile only in English — invisible to the neighbourhood searching in German. Being an international restaurant is a strength; being an invisible one is not.
Not replying to reviews — future guests read the response to criticism most closely of all.
Outdated hours or reservation details — someone checking “are they open?” who finds no answer goes elsewhere.
Offering occasions too late — company groups book their Christmas party early; by November the window has closed.
Building the base on delivery commission — volume in the short term, margin gone in the long one.

What a market check answers here How many food businesses in the neighbourhood serve how many residents, and how the offering is distributed — many similar places, or free niches and time slots. That tells you whether you need a sharp cuisine or occasion niche to stand out, or whether a location or a time window in the district is still unoccupied. The market check pulls those numbers from official GISA data. It gives you the picture, not a finished campaign — that you build with the steps above.

Common questions

Does my restaurant need German-speaking staff?

For the trade licence, no. In practice it depends on who you want at the tables. A place aimed at the international community works in English. A place that wants the neighbourhood needs someone who can take a phone reservation in German — that call is still how a large share of tables get booked in Austria. The honest middle ground most successful international restaurants land on: the front of house handles German for bookings and basics, everything else runs in whatever language the team shares.

Should the menu be in German, English, or both?

Both, with German first for anything a local would search or ask for. A menu only in English signals “not for you” to exactly the neighbours who walk past daily. A menu only in German loses the international guests who came looking for you specifically. If your cuisine uses names that do not translate, keep the original name and add one short German line explaining what it is — that line is often what makes someone order it.

How do I handle a bad review written in German?

Reply in German, calmly, publicly and briefly. Future guests read exactly how you react, and a short honest sentence beats a long machine-translated paragraph — people can tell. Do not argue and do not try to have it deleted. If the complaint is fair, name it and say what you changed.

Do delivery platforms like Lieferando pay off?

It depends on the model. For a classic sit-down restaurant: often useful as a supplement, rarely as a foundation — the commission takes a good share of an already thin margin, and the customers belong to the platform. Use it to fill quiet hours, but build regulars and reservations through your own channels. For delivery-native concepts — pizza, sushi, a dark kitchen — delivery is the legitimate core; there the thing that matters is pricing the platform cost in from day one.

When should I advertise Christmas parties?

Earlier than feels natural. Many companies book in early autumn. If your offer only becomes visible in November, the groups are long gone. Open each occasion window as soon as the previous one closes.

→ Getting found on Google and Maps · → Collecting and answering reviews · Legal side: → registering this trade

Marketing practice, not legal advice. These are experience-based recommendations, not a guarantee of results.