The busy holiday shopping season provides a golden opportunity to increase in-person and delivery business for fine dining and quick service restaurants alike.
No matter what type of eatery you own, you need to take advantage of the increased foot traffic and higher numbers of special events to delight your existing customer base and entice new guests to sit down at one of your tables.
The following tried-and-true strategies can be effective in bringing additional business to your restaurant this year.
1. Employ sales and promo codes.
More than any other time of the year, the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas represent a time when customers are looking for a bargain. Respond to this priority by making your products and services even more financially appealing than usual.
After determining the items that you want to highlight, your most important job is to advertise your initiatives across all marketing channels. These should include postings on your website, in-store displays, via email, legacy radio and television, and social media.
The more you create a buzz about your special promotions, the more likely it will be that people take advantage of them.
These special deals can take a variety of forms. You could offer price discounts on particular highlighted products.
Alternatively, you could entice organizations in your area to take advantage of your catering packages by offering lower prices for people who sign up before December 1. In order to increase your order sales, consider giving customers one-time free delivery.
2. Capitalize on data about your diners.
Your POS system for restaurants does more than facilitate easy and secure payments. Its customer relationships management tools also enable you to collect a treasure trove of useful details about your guests.
These include patron names, phone numbers, and email addresses as well as order history and frequency. Using these order details in conjunction with specific diner information, you can divide customers into segments which you can leverage in your next intelligent marketing campaign.
For instance, you can harness this data to create subgroups of customers that include one-time, infrequent, occasional, and regular diners. For each of these segments, develop marketing messages that are tailored to their ordering and dining behaviors.
You might, for example, divide diners into two groups: those who bought gift cards last year, and those who did not. You could then design one email campaign that thanks last year’s card buyers and lets them know that you are continuing to offer gift certificates as an option this season.
The second group might get a different message that offers a discount to these potential first-time gift card buyers.
3. Institute automated marketing campaigns.
You might be wondering how you could possibly have time to implement these complex segmentation strategies, particularly during the frenetic holiday season. The good news is that full service POS solutions have the complete set of capabilities necessary to make these processes effortless.
Their capabilities include the ability to generate automated marketing campaigns that send promotional emails to diners throughout the holiday season without any work on your part.
You simply need to configure the system to generate emails at set intervals after the first order. Depending on how your initiative is performing, you can adjust the frequency on the fly.
There are several types of emails that you can configure your system to send. A welcome message thanks patrons for coming in and might offer a time-sensitive discount that encourages repeat business.
Subsequent messages can be generated seven days, two weeks, and 30 days after the initial visit to keep your restaurant at the top of mind during the busy holiday rush.
As you come up with an automated strategy, don’t forget about your ongoing customers. The point-of-sale system provided by your merchant account company also has software that enables you to quickly set up a loyalty program that rewards your best customers.
The system keeps track of the number of visits made as well as the amount spent on purchases and automatically sends congratulatory reward messages when patrons reach pre-set milestones.
Loyalty programs are highly effective in keeping people engaged and connected with your brand by encouraging them to have continued dining experiences at your eatery.
4. Leverage last-minute gifts.
Your establishment is famous for its delicious entrees and desserts, but it also can be well-known for additional items. The holiday season is a perfect time to market your other merchandise, whether that consists of clothing, specialty mixes or sauces, or gift certificates.
Unless you make an effort to promote your branded merchandise, time-crunched buyers might not even be aware that they can complete their gift shopping at your eatery. Spread the word about your curated selections by featuring links on your social media pages that take visitors directly to your website’s shopping cart.
Send text messages notifying customers of last-minute gift cards and merchandise offerings, and use geolocation technology to entice customers who are in close vicinity to your restaurant to stop by.
5. Celebrate New Year’s Eve with your customers.
Once Christmas is over, it’s tempting to think that the holiday season has ended. However, New Year’s Eve can be a highly lucrative way to celebrate with your customers that you should not overlook.
There are different ways to approach these events. One strategy is to take reservations in advance for a New Year’s Eve party. This requires spreading the word and finding ways to entice people to attend, including a specialty menu or a party package with a meal, champagne, and entertainment.
Alternatively, you could rent out part or all of your restaurant to a group that has paid for the space. Then offer a special event according to agreed-upon specifications. With their advanced ticket sales and often premium price points, these types of events can be highly profitable and can help you build traditions with your most valued patrons.
The holiday season might only encompass a few weeks out of each year, but it can be extremely lucrative.
More importantly, it provides you with added chances to enrich your offerings, appeal to your current customers, and spread the word about your brand far and wide. Don’t squander away the potential that lies in this year’s holidays.
