Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy for helping leverage relationships with current customers so that they keep coming back instead of going to the competition. The idea is to create greater value for the customer so that there is a greater emotional preference for one business over another when a buying decision has to be made.

It is commonly estimated that a business may spend five times as much to attract a new customer as to keep an old one. In light of this fact, restaurateurs are recognizing the importance of turning causal contacts in the course of restaurant operations into real, long-lasting relationships.

For the restaurant industry, the goal becomes to get a current customer to come back even one more time per month rather than going to another dining establishment. Repeat visits from current customers can dramatically increase sales, while obtaining new visitors can be a costly venture with little return.

Since traditional media like radio and print advertising have been expensive and ineffective at developing lasting bonds with consumers, restaurant owners are turning to less conventional methods such as guerrilla marketing tactics to help foster repeat business.