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Everyone will have a unique answer to this question. Here is mine.
I've worked in restaurants in a quaint resort town (west coast, FL) for 10 years. No matter the cuisine, they all have one common denominator -- lots of empty wall space. Where I live, it's very common for restauranteurs to link up with local artists. It's a mutually beneficial package: the restaurants get "real art" on the wall without a capital investment, and the artist gets a "one man show" with a smaller commission expense than going through an art consultant and certainly fewer hurdles than going through a gallery. Of course I'm talking fine dining, where the client is already focused to a certain demographic, the one you would market as a portrait/general artist.
There are important factors to consider, of course, and a contract should include provisions for theft, damage, mysterious losses. Perhaps the only reasonable protection from vague losses is an insurance policy along the lines of one Peggy Baumgaertner suggested in one of her posts on this Forum (use your Forum search if you're interested), but because I know the restaurant business in this town so intimately, I haven't had to bother with anything catastrophic, YET.
So, in summary, I hang six to ten paintings, with labels, in several restaurants. I cut the servers a percentage of the commission - a great motivator, and again, much cheaper than the fees charged by galleries or agencies. I install the art myself so it's hung at the correct height, and provide business cards and brochures.
The paintings will sell, and people will call for commissions.
I am curious what works for everyone else.
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