‘Tis the season to be giving! Keep in mind, however, that not every gift given is one that requires a box to be unwrapped. People love going out to eat just as much as they enjoy ripping open presents. So, remember that your restaurant has the potential to be a hotbed for holiday season celebrators. In addition to providing a joyous atmosphere to eat in, it’s important that you manufacture mouth-watering with your eatery’s holiday menu!
Promote a two-for-one meal deal.
There are few things like freebies to get consumers excited. With so much holiday shopping going on right now, you can bet that hungry consumers will find a lot of value in a restaurant that offers them a two-for-one meal deal. Many people shop in groups or as couples. Just think of how many seats you’ll fill by advertising a two-for-one special both in-store and online.
“Often underutilized by restaurants but very effective ways to promote in-house dining with friends, bounceback two-for-one incentives encourage people to bring guests and larger groups to your restaurant during the holiday season,” writes Matthew on GourmetMarketing.net, “This marketing idea is particularly effective when offered to lunch diners who often eat alone or have never visited the restaurant in the evenings.”
Add seasonal items to the mix.
Probably an obvious tip – add some holiday items to your menu, if you haven’t already! This is the season when “pumpkin spice”, “egg nog” and “candy cane” are flavours that pop up on menu boards everywhere. But you can do better than that, can’t you? In what ways can you spice up your menu for the holiday season? Marketing Vitals highly suggests you give your customers some new dishes to try.
“Hopefully, their experience with (your new dishes) will be good enough to keep them coming back even when it’s no longer on the menu,” they say on their website, “Avoiding menu fatigue is also important for your regular customers. If your menu never changes, a certain percentage of your regulars will get tired of eating with you – and there’s no guarantee that they’ll return once they’ve left.”
Offer a three-course special.
A great restaurant provides, at least, three essentials: excellent food, excellent service and excellent decor. However, the greatest of restaurants also offer excellent value. Getting more bang for your buck is something that just about every customer wants to achieve. When you offer a three-course special, you offer your patrons the chance to get more bang for their bucks!
“Offering a three-course special in December is a powerful inducement when diners can choose from several appetizers, soups, salads, entrées and desserts,” believes Matthew, “The power of holiday marketing is that you don’t have to offer a big price discount to get customers to order a three-course special because you can promote the special as a perk that’s just available for the holidays.”
Let your customers pay in the ways they wish.
In addition to making your menu more mouth-watering, you should also ensure that you make it easy for your customers to pay for their meals. At Divvia, we strongly believe there’s no better way to accept credit cards and debit cards at the table than with the revolutionary Poynt Smart Terminal. It’s just one of the many high-quality payment terminals we have available! Learn more by calling us at 1-877-748-2884 or sending us a message on our Contact Us page.
