Marketing a restaurant in a North Carolina college town

North Carolina has some of the best-known college towns in the country, from Chapel Hill and Durham to Greensboro, Boone, Greenville, Wilmington, Raleigh and Charlotte. A restaurant near a campus has a customer base that is large, young and concentrated, and it also has a calendar that can empty the dining room in a week. Here is a plan for the academic year. The numbers that matter most are your own sales by week.

What does the academic calendar do to your sales?

It runs your year. Move-in and the first two weeks of each term are your best chance to meet new customers. Home football and basketball weekends, which in North Carolina are cultural events, can double or triple a Saturday. Midterms and finals bring study sessions that need coffee and snacks. Parents' weekends, family weekends and graduation bring families who dine out and tip well. Winter break, spring break and summer thin the crowd. Get the dates from the registrar, the athletics department and the alumni office a year ahead, and put them on a wall calendar.

How do you plan for game day?

Treat it as a separate business. Decide your hours: will you open early for tailgaters, close during the game or stay open all day? Staff up, shorten the menu to what you can cook fast, and stock more of what sells. Consider pre-orders or a limited batch menu. Expect road closures, so tell staff and delivery drivers early. Use game-day signage and a post a week ahead. After the game, run a cooldown special for people leaving the stadium.

How do you reach students on a small budget?

Go where they are. Campus newsletters, student groups, residence hall boards and student creators on social media are cheaper and more credible than paid ads. Offer one clear deal: a lunch combo at a fixed price, a free drink on a weeknight or a discount for a group of four. Sponsor a club event with a tray of food. A student who tries you in the first week often stays four years. Ask clubs to hold end-of-term dinners and give the organizer a free meal.

What do students want?

Value, speed, space and Wi-Fi. A filling lunch for a modest price, a table big enough for six, power outlets and a place that lets them stay for an hour will beat a fancy menu. Late hours near campus matter, so consider staying open one or two nights a week until 10 or 11 p.m. in term. Students also want vegetarian, vegan and halal options, and clear allergen information. They share food, so sharing plates and big portions work.

How do you keep local customers year-round?

Do not neglect faculty, staff, hospital workers and neighbors. They keep you open in summer and winter break, and they value a calm, friendly place. Create a morning offer, a quiet afternoon hour and a weekend brunch for them. Email your regulars before each break with your hours. When students return, the locals will have kept your sales steady.

What about alcohol and age rules?

If you serve alcohol near a campus, you will meet students under 21, and you must check IDs carefully. North Carolina's Alcohol Law Enforcement agency and the ABC Commission enforce the rules, and a violation can cost you your permit. Train staff in checking IDs, keep a log of incidents and do not run promotions that encourage heavy drinking. Many successful campus restaurants build their reputation on food and coffee rather than late-night drinks.

How do you survive the summer?

Plan for a dip. Reduce your hours, close a slow day and cut the menu to what sells. Market to residents, visitors and camps. Run a summer special. Use the quiet weeks for repairs, training and menu testing. Put aside a share of each busy term's profit to cover the gap, because rent and insurance continue.

Measure each push so you learn from it. Give each campus offer a code word that students say at the counter, and count how many are used. If one club dinner brings in thirty guests and a flyer brings in two, you know where to put your time. Keep a short log of the dates that matter, such as the first day of classes, the first home game, midterm week, finals and graduation, with what you sold on each, so next year you can staff and prepare with confidence.

Remember that students graduate every year, so your base needs constant renewal. The relationships that last are the ones with residents, faculty, staff and the families who live near the campus. Cater a department meeting or a faculty lunch, and you may gain customers who stay for decades.

Do you want students to find your best dish before they find the chain?

Mosey is a food-first app where diners search by dish and mood, rate what they ate and keep lists of places they want to try. For a campus restaurant, that means a student craving a particular dish can find yours, and the ratings from other students tell the rest. Mosey also gives your business its own page and list of regular guests, so a student who loves your food stays a customer when they return as an alumnus.

More guides for your business:

• North Carolina ABC permits and the 30 percent food rule for restaurants
• North Carolina food truck permits: mobile food units and commissaries
• North Carolina's population boom: what it means for restaurants

More in the US guides for food businesses.