If you’re looking for ways to increase guest traffic and sales, consider running one of these 5 cool promotions…
Speed Dating
Are you familiar with speed dating events? They are very popular and can fill your restaurant for a few hours. Participants sign up, then as the event starts they spend a certain amount of time at each table, such as 3 minutes. They make their quick introductions to each other and see if a connection is made for a real date later. After a couple minutes, a bell rings and they have to move on to the next potential date.
There are groups that put these events together, or you could plan one yourself. A little marketing to put the word on the street, and you could have an eager crowd filling your restaurant. During the speed dating event the participants don’t have time for a meal, but the idea would be for them to find their match and stay for dinner. You could also expect to sell a lot of drinks to the participants, just to take the edge off!
Job Fair
Even if the economy stinks and many of your customers are unemployed, you can do something about it and be the hero! Invite the state’s employment division and local companies to set up a job fair at your restaurant. If your location can’t handle that many people, just create a Food Service job fair. Invite area restaurants (yes, even the competition) to set up tables where they will accept applications and interview prospects. This will show your community spirit, as well as the support of our industry during troubled times. Local media will be glad to help you get the word out about your job fair!
The side benefit to this is that you might find some new employee gems in the process. When the job market is weak, it’s the perfect time as an employer to lose the losers and hire the winners. Quality employees will also help drive traffic, as customers will enjoy a much better experience as they dine at your restaurant.
Happy Hour
Happy Hour is not just for bars and pubs anymore. You can drive sales by creating your own happy hour no matter what type of concept your restaurant is. A prime example of this is Dairy Queen. You certainly don’t think of them as a place for a happy hour, but when they introduced a beverage happy hour from 2pm till 4pm, it helped their sales. Those were typically slower hours, so the additional traffic from discounting more than made up the loss from the discount itself.
Happy Hour doesn’t have to be all about beverages either. There’s a little restaurant in the south that offers a pie and coffee happy hour. In the middle of the afternoon, the place is packed with people enjoying their pie and time of conversation.
Seniors are another great group to target with a happy hour promotion. It’s true that many seniors like to eat their dinner early. By giving them a reason to come to your restaurant, you’ll increase sales and have one table turn done before the dinner rush even starts.
Prix Fixe
A prix fixe menu is simply a collection of pre-determined items presented as a multi course meal at a set price. For instance, one evening, a restaurant may offer a prix fixe menu of escargot for the first course, beef bourguignon for the second course, a cheese platter for the third course, and crème brûlée for the dessert course. Most Parisian restaurants will actually offer two or three prix fixe options to diners.
As a traffic driver, a Prix Fixe menu is attractive because consumers can know what their price will be. If they perceive it as a value, it will drive traffic. Another option is to provide a set price for 2 diners. You could promote it as “Date Night!”
Some cities have seen Prix Fixe promotions among many restaurants, where they all team up to offer specially priced menus for a week and promote the special “go out to eat” week to help the whole industry.
Park and Ride
What’s the big game in your town? Whether it’s college football, professional basketball, or another sport, the biggest pain of attending is fighting traffic and dealing with parking. That’s where you can become the hero! Offer a bus from your restaurant to the big event. Customers come and eat prior to the event, then get on the bus to the big game. Then afterwards, they’re delivered right back to your restaurant for their postgame partying.
Another variation is to offer a bus up to a ski area. Customers come for breakfast, then head up to the slopes for the day. Of course this plan works best if you have a big parking lot with available space for their parked cars, plus space for additional customers that come to eat during the day.
