It’s Christmas time, and we can already smell big feasts, love, and friends getting together.
Everyone is all hyped up for the holiday season and has begun their search for the restaurant that resonates with their Christmas spirit the most. Let them know that your restaurant is their perfect choice.
Promoting your restaurant during wintertime pays off, especially around Christmas, when food is on everyone’s mind.
Here’s how you can do that:
Incorporate a New Christmas Menu
Christmas is just incomplete without plum cakes, gingerbread cookies, wine, and hot chocolate. If your menu doesn’t consist of any of these, then add a few of them. Show your chef’s skills in preparing holiday favorites. Not only will you attract a whole new crowd, but also, if these items are a hit, you can feature them more often and keep the crowd coming back for more.
You can also cross-sell by creating fun combos of these items with the dishes that customers are most likely to order. If your restaurant has a digital menu, it becomes easier to add new items and create combos last minute. It lets you save the cost, time, and effort involved in printing and planning a whole new paper menu.
Add Christmas decor
Add a little Christmas feel to your decor by setting up a Christmas tree, a string of fairy lights, and tinsel inside your restaurant.
You can also introduce Christmas takeaway cutlery or napkins which, could prove to be a huge customer magnet.
Starbucks introduces new Christmas cups every year, and I would be lying if I said I was not there just for the cups!
Run Christmas campaigns on Social Media
Instagram feeds are always hungry for pretty looking Christmas feasts and decor photos, and that’s your perfect chance to attract more customers as a lot of diners first look up their social media to decide where to dine out! So, do some fancy photography of your flattering Christmas decor and the special feasts, and post them out.
You can do targeted marketing by sending out a round of SMS and emails to your customers, informing them of your latest Christmas offers. Campaign apps that enable you to do all that effortlessly with just one tap are going to be your best tool for this.
Play the Secret Santa
It’s that time of the year when the kid in you is waiting for Santa Claus to visit you with gifts. No matter how old you are, everyone deserves a gift from Santa! Engage customers by playing the secret Santa for them:
- You can give away gift cards to selected diners as a part of your restaurant’s loyalty program, which will keep them coming back for more.
- Send fortune cookies at your diner’s tables with Christmassy notes and blessing to keep the festive spirit alive!
Organize Christmas Events
Diners often go out for regular dinners, but it’s not just any other Saturday – it’s Christmas, so give them a little something where they can engage, and have fun.
To make the night interesting, your restaurant can:
- Host Christmas carol karaoke: A festive soundtrack of all the best Christmas songs is essential to set the mood.
- If your restaurant regularly hosts live music events, you can call artists to sing jazzy Christmas music.
- You can host breakfast with Santa or even midnight buffets for celebration nights we wish never ended.
Donate leftover food
“Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.”
-Charles M Schulz
As we said, everyone deserves a visit from Santa on Christmas, do your something extra for the poor by making a feast happen for them by donating food.
It’s not a promotional strategy but something that Christmas calls for!
Your restaurant is going to be filled with memories of families getting together, friends reuniting, and kids discussing their Santa stories. And just like Santa Claus does, you would bring a smile to your customer’s faces by providing them a mesmerising customer experience.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
