Sending a standard press release about a new menu may result in a small write-up, but to cut through the clutter and generate extensive exposure you need a newsworthy angle. Challenge yourself to think what you do have to do to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records. Come up with ideas that tie into what your Restaurant, bar or club stands for, if you create events that have only local appeal, you'll be limited with your media exposure potential and may not even make the local news.

If you think much larger, you won't have to worry about getting coverage, well thought advertising can be worth its weight in gold in terms of positive exposure, everybody wants to be associated with a winner. 

 
If your restaurant/bar is not in a "location, location, location" area, or you are far from the center of town,  located in a secluded spot, you can use that to your advantage, play on it, slogans like "the place to get away from it all", "The great kept secret" and "Out of the Norm" can help attract costumers looking for something different. Las Vegas is in the middle of a desert, yet a few managed to get millions of people to travel there to make it what it is today with slogans like "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". Be creative!

Does your Chef sing in the kitchen while he cooks? I know of this successful restaurant in Boston where the Chef comes out to the dining room and sings a couple of traditional Italian songs accompanied by the Host, his wife. Maybe your Chef or Other staff member could sing for the clients after the rush? It would be an attraction you could be known for, and would keep clients interested in staying little longer, as well as spending a little more keeping the place alive while awaiting for the show. Use your staff's creativity, promote them as they are the face of your image. 

Does your bartender love to spin bottles? use a plastic bottle and have him/her teach your other bartenders to do so as well, but have it done during business hours and in front of the clients, have the clients participate! Get your clients involved in fun training activities! Sooner than you think all your bartenders will be spinning bottles and coordinating shows, it could be the image your looking for, soon you could have people in the neighborhood saying "I love that place where the bartenders do that show with the bottles" Your Place! You ARE in the area of entertainment when in the service industry. 

If you own a Tex-Mex/Mexican restaurant with an open kitchen how about having the tortillas frisbee-ed by the cooks to trays held by the servers? I personally ran a successful restaurant where this was the main attraction, people would stop outside the restaurant and look through the windows just to get a glimpse of the tortillas getting tossed, until I had a line of people outside looking to get a seat in the restaurant. A tortilla does not cost more than a few pennies and if one happens to hit a client 99.9% of the time they're going to laugh.

  I know of a successful restaurant where the clients orders are taken by the staff pulling a chair and sitting at their table with them, with picnic style tables giving the client a more personal touch, clients meet clients, and you clients have the ability to know your staff a little more on the buddy level, and therefor you to know your client a little bit better, what they like and dislike.

The Little Things can work as well. Have great deserts? Show them off instead of handing the client a menu, Put a few on a tray and hold the tray at eye level (of the client) while you walk through the dining room, nothing sells like showing the product itself, especially nice deorated deserts, if a client orders the desert menu(Tray) at the same time other clients can see them as they go by. Done well little steps like these can boost your sales considerably. 

Public relations has been called advertising that you don't have to pay for. For this to work though, you'll need to create newsworthy stories! Create angles that are unique and make your place stand out. Some higher-end restaurants are understandably concerned about publicity stunts and other marketing activities that seem to fly in the face of the exclusivity of their establishment. My answer to that is simple, these tactics won't be appropriate for everyone, that being said, if you are one of the restaurant owners that cringes at the thought of creating buzz in the community at large, I urge you to think about your position. Everyone wants to be associated with a winner. For some of your regulars, the whole reason they belong in the first place is because it is exclusive and their being a part of that is an extension of their self-brand and identity. Creating buzz won't distract from that, it will reinforce it in many cases. They key is how the publicity comes across. If done correctly, it supports your position in the market, exclusivity and prestige. READ MORE...