restaurant promotion ideas to boost sales
10 Restaurant Promotion Ideas to Keep Customers Coming Back
Why Most Restaurant Promotions Fail A promotion can entice a customer through the front door, but what will bring them back for seconds is the question. The best restaurant promotions will not only boost sales for the current evening but also create loyal customers who return again and again and spend more each time. The best promotions are ones that both gain new customers while also converting first-time visitors into returning customers. Check out this 10-point list of restaurant promotion hacks that have been battle-tested to gain new customers and retain existing ones. 1. Give Happy Hour a Twist Instead of simply lowering prices for everything, try creating a Happy Hour Combo of a drink plus a snack or small plate. For example, you could offer a beverage with a starter at a set price during low hours. This will drive traffic to your restaurant during slow times while also introducing your customers to new dishes on your menu. A POS system will help you keep track of what is selling well and if this promo is driving up your average bill. 2. Make Loyalty Rewards Easy to Use Traditional punch cards are easily lost. While mobile apps could be used, this would require the customer to take up the additional task of finding and downloading an additional application. Instead, a business should tie their customer loyalty program to the purchasing process itself. For example, your customers could earn points based on how much they spend, which could then be turned into rewards with every visit. When purchasing an item, a customer could also use any rewards that they have accumulated. Employees could also view rewards during the sale process so they can keep track of what rewards are available. A customer's purchase history can also be used to determine their preferences.
The customer management features of Reecost can be used for purchase history, preferences, loyalty programs, and offers to develop a relationship based on purchasing behaviours with your customers.
3. Create Birthday Month Offers Birthdays are significant and are a great chance for restaurants to re-engage with customers. If the customers provide the relevant information on their own accord, a simple birthday offer could be created like: “Celebrate your birthday with us and get a complimentary dessert.” The main point here is to make the offer personalized. The use of customer information and purchase history could be implemented to create relevant offers as opposed to a generalized offer. These tactics could be managed with the help of Reecost as they have the tools and features to help manage customer outreach and engagement.
4. Build Better Combo Offers Combos are a great way to increase the value of each order without having to offer a significant discount. Instead of having items sold separately, bundle together products that are often purchased together. For example: Burger + Fries + Beverage = Combo Price The customer benefits from the convenience, and the restaurant benefits from the opportunity to increase the average ticket size. Use your point of sale data to determine which items are commonly purchased together. This will help you maximize revenue from combo meals.
5. Offer a Weekly Chef’s Special Customers do not always want, or need, a discount. Sometimes they just want an excuse to come in. A limited time Chef’s Special offers both new and existing customers an opportunity to try something different. You could feature: A weekly special dish A seasonal drink A monthly dessert A regional special A chef’s tasting plate Whatever you choose, keep it limited. Report on the sales of your special to help decide what your next one should be. By introducing a special that only lasts a short period of time, you are also able to keep your menu options fresh without committing to a permanent addition.
6. Reward Visit Milestones Not necessarily tied to the amount spent, they can also be designed to reward customers for their visits. For example: 5th visit – free drink; 10th visit – complimentary dessert; 20th visit – special dining reward. The purpose of this strategy is to encourage customers to return and attempt to reach the next level. In this case, the customer’s purchasing history can be used to identify their behavior and treat them accordingly. Reecost’s CRM features included the customer’s preferences and purchase history, which allows for implementing the described strategy.
7. Create Corporate Lunch Packages Nearby offices can be a goldmine for repeat customers, so it is time to think about creating some corporate lunch packages. Instead of asking every employee to order individually, think about a lunch package that would be beneficial for the whole office. Create package options, such as: 10 meals package, fixed lunch menu, weekly office package, booked group meals, special pricing for repeat offices, etc. You want to make it convenient for them to order multiple meals on a regular basis rather than think of it as a cheaper option. Be sure to assess which packages are the most popular and which days of the week tend to be the busiest for corporations before expanding your package options.
8. Create Seasonal and Festival Menus Festivals are a great opportunity for restaurants to create unique seasonal experiences. Indian restaurants could include special seasonal menus during the following festivals: Diwali Holi Eid Christmas Onam Pongal The local regional festivals. Instead of adding tens of new products to the menu, pick a few seasonal specialties. Make sure to promote your seasonal menu before the start of the festival and analyze the sales figures from your point of sale after it ends. This data will provide you with valuable insights to plan the next season’s menu.
9. Leverage Early-Bird Offers to Cover Quiet Hours Not all restaurants are hectic at the same time. If lunch hours are particularly busy at 1:30 p.m. but scarce at noon, a restaurant can offer an early-bird promotional offer. For instance, Early Lunch Special, available before 12:30 p.m. The idea is to use such promotions to shift customer traffic to less busy hours. Reecost’s restaurant solution also helps in analyzing the restaurant’s performance through table and floor management plus table turnover reports to understand how the tables are utilized and provide insights into the restaurant’s ability to serve customers.
10. Encourage Customers to Bring a Friend Word-of-mouth can be one of the easiest ways to attract new clients to your restaurant. Try to implement a referral program “Bring your friend who visits us for the first time and both receive a complimentary dessert.” A referral program does not have to be anything substantial; it just needs to give an existing customer a reason to recommend you to a friend. After that, you will be able to analyze your acquisition numbers and compare them to your existing customer base and see if it has made a significant difference in attracting new clients. How to Measure which Restaurant Promotions are Working Right Offering promotions is only a part of a restaurant’s marketing strategy. The more relevant question is which promotions drive traffic. Rather than simply tracking the number of coupons or discounts used, measure: Promotion redemption rate Total sales generated Average bill value Number of new customers Repeat visits Sales of promoted items Customer purchase frequency Revenue during promotional periods Performance by day and time That’s where a POS system is far more valuable than a traditional billing machine. Reecost’s restaurant point of sale software bundles billing, customer management, sales management and inventory with powerful, real-time reporting, while delivering deeper insight into sales, tables, covers and service. This means you can go significantly beyond the “how many offers did we redeem” type of question and move to a much more informative and actionable: “Did this promotion create customers who came back?”
Final Thoughts A successful restaurant promotion is not necessarily the one that promises the highest possible discount. It is the action that creates the motivation to return, triggers a new purchase, and provides the restaurant with vital information about customer behaviour. Start with a couple of ideas, measure the results in your POS, find the most effective actions, and systematize them in a promotion schedule based on the customers' purchase history. With customer management, loyalty programs, purchase history, target offers, and sales reporting, a restaurant can turn from a chaotic discounter into an organized business that knows exactly how to retain customers. Reecost offers POS and CRM for restaurants and SMEs that provide these functions.