It’s the holiday and everybody is excited. 

There is an opportunity to increase your revenues and your guests count when you follow a marketing plan for promotions.

People may not go out as much because of the pandemic and because many of them prefer family gatherings at home.

You can still spike your sales when offering well thought out promotions for both dine in and delivery. 

What are some promotions that you can try during the holidays?

Holiday gift card promotions 

Many people are hard to shop for so what’s better than offering them the option to indulge in a delicious meal while creating memories?

Studies show that gift cards will bring you an increase in check size.  

Offer them incentives on getting multiple gift cards.

If they buy 2 or 3 with a minimum amount of $50, offer them a gift card of $25 to encourage them to purchase more cards.

Use emails, social media and messages to spread the word about your holidays promotions.

Make sure you make festive designs for the holidays.

Social media giveaway

It’s the easiest way to share the joy while boosting traffic.

Social media increases revenues and spreads awareness so you better benefit from it. 

Social media giveaways can be as basic or as creative as you’d like them to be. 

Ask your followers to tag their friends for giveaways.

You might ask them to share their memorable moments at your restaurant for a chance to win if you want a more engaging contest. 

You can ask them to post the funniest pictures with ugly Christmas sweaters or beside the Christmas tree to win a gift card.

Treat your VIP customers 

Who’s on your nice list for Christmas? 

Who are your loyal customers that deserve a special treatment?

Gather information about your most loyal customers from the POS reports.

Send these customers messages or festive notes offering them a free bottle of wine on their next visit.

You can even send them holiday cards with coupons to spend.

Family meal promotions 

Family comes first during the holidays so encourage your customers to visit your restaurant instead of gathering at home.

Offer them bundles on family meals or discounted prix fixe menu.

This menu should also cover your delivery orders so think ahead of time of meals that travel well with festive packaging.

Issue a coupon book

You can start your coupon book on early November so people can have time to visit you multiple times to collect more coupons.

You can select a free item with each purchase for every week or 2 weeks they pay you a visit.

Week 1: a free appetizer with the order of an entree 

Week 2: a free dessert with the purchase of a certain meal

Week 3: a free special holiday drink

Week 4: a discount on the next visit

And so on.

Include different free items and meals to appeal for everybody. 

Host holiday-themed happy hours

While you might already have your own happy hours, make sure that you include drinks and meals to confer the holiday spirit.

Alter the happy hours of operations depending on your slow time during the months of December and maybe January that aren’t necessarily typical to other months' slow times.

Refer to the POS to track these changes from the previous years.

Help your community 

It’s time to take action towards your community. 

Encourage your customers to spread joy through their contributions.

With every purchase they make, a designated amount of money goes to support a certain organization.

Collaborate with a shelter to gather food and clothes for them or medications.

Promote your charity events and hire an influencer to spread the word about the event.

Benefits of holidays promotions:

• Fast cash flow

• Bigger revenues 

• Attract new customers

• Increase customer loyalty

• Spike of sales during the holiday season

Tips to sell your gift card promotions:

• Train your staff to sell the gift cards and inform your customers about them

• Promote it on social media

• Promote it with online orders and delivery 

• Sell your gift cards digitally through your website 

• Incorporate them into your holiday marketing campaign

It’s the season we’re all longing for. Turn the music up, play those festive songs that bring joy to people. Throw some decorations and benefit from this season to increase your revenues.