Peter Ilic launched his first restaurant, The Lantern in 1982, followed by Just Around The Corner and then the Little Bay restaurant in Kilburn in 1992, serving up European food with a French influence. Known for his innovative and daring marketing ideas, including letting people pay what they want for their meal, Ilic’s focus is on value for money, great service and a good atmosphere. There are now three more Little Bay restaurants across London. Here, Ilic shares his recipe for running successful restaurants.

1. Get good publicity
When I decided to let people pay what they thought the food was worth at the Little Bay restaurant in Farringdon, London, I knew it would be talked about and would increase the number of customers. I also knew it was the right time and right place to do it – during the current credit crunch. The promotion ran for a month and my website went from 300 hits to more than 7,000 a day at one point. I was turning away hundreds of people a day at the restaurant. Over the course of the promotion, the number of covers went from 1,100 to 2,000 and each customer paid on average £17.25 – nearly 30% higher than the average spend of £13.50.

2. Give the customer something to talk about
Every year in my restaurants I surprise customers by doing a half-price day. They then talk about it to their friends and family, and it makes the following week even busier. I’ve also done a 1p starter and 1p dessert promotion when buying a main course.

3. Good service is very important
Be friendly and remember to greet customers with a smile and wish them good night, too. I am always emphasising the importance of this level of care to my waiting staff.

4. Offer good-value, tasty, fresh food
In 1982, my restaurant was one of the first to offer a small menu – seven starters and seven mains. Other restaurants at the time used to have long menus so it couldn’t all be fresh and homemade. Fresh is what I prefer, along with good portion sizes and excellent value for money.

5. Local marketing is important for neighbourhood restaurants
Whenever I open a new place, I ensure we door drop 20,000 leaflets in the locality and then repeat this every two years to catch people who move into the area.

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