Finding restaurant promotion ideas that work can take a lot of hard work. If you’ve ever wondered how to keep customers coming back to your restaurant, then simply use these 12 promos to get more customers in your restaurant.
Over time, you’ll learn which free marketing ideas for restaurants are the most appealing to your clients.
Breakfast Promotions to Try at Your Restaurant
Toast’s Q1 2024 Trends Report found QSRs were busiest for breakfast in Q1 2024, Wednesday through Saturday, with transactions peaking on Friday (17%). FSRs were busiest for breakfast Friday through Sunday, with the highest number of transactions (19%) occurring on Saturday.
Even if you have a packed house during lunch and dinner, you may find it difficult to attract customers during the morning hours. Try these tips on how to promote a restaurant’s breakfast menu to increase your morning sales.
1. Create a Coworking Space for Freelancers
The growing number of freelance workers in the United States creates an opportunity to fill your restaurant during slow mornings.
Freelancers who work from home may find it difficult to focus on tasks, especially right after they’ve gotten out of bed. There’s a strong urge to stay under the covers instead of tackling projects.
You can attract more people to your coworking space by:
- Offering free coffee refills.
- Providing a limited menu of breakfast and brunch foods.
- Giving customers access to free wi-fi.
Related: Attract More Customers by Turning Your Restaurant Into a Coworking Space
2. Attract People With Morning Drink Specials
Socializing can include alcoholic drinks on any night of the week. The next morning, imbibers look for ways to curb their lingering hangovers. Your restaurant can pull in customers by publicizing drink specials. Use your online restaurant system for restaurants to let people know that they can save money on Mimosas, Bloody Marys, and other beverages known for curing hangovers. You can also offer a menu of greasy breakfast meals that people believe heal their stomachs and brains after a night of indulgence.
3. Provide catering for businesses or events
Few people like morning meetings. It’s a hard way to start the day. Encourage more people to visit your restaurant during the morning by turning your restaurant into a meeting room. Professionals will feel better about their morning meetings when they get to enjoy a delicious breakfast buffet. As more people experience morning meetings at your restaurant, your reputation will grow among companies that don’t mind spending extra money to keep their professionals happy.
Easy Lunch Special Ideas for Your Restaurant
Restaurant marketing doesn’t have to be overly complicated to work. Creative restaurant ideas often don’t take a lot of effort. Focus on quick, easy lunch special promotions that increase sales.
1. Grab-and-Go Lunches
Some of the best food promotions for lunch focus on the needs of busy people. With grab-and-go lunches, you have prepared items from your menu that customers don’t have to wait for. They just come in the door, choose what they want, and leave within minutes. It’s a great way of serving more customers without facing bottlenecks.
2. Free Lunch Delivery Promotions
Some employees and managers don’t have time to leave their offices during lunch. Delivery has become increasingly competitive now that apps will pick up food from participating restaurants. You can keep more of your profits by avoiding those apps. Instead, offer free lunch delivery to people near your restaurant. Use your online restaurant system for restaurants to let people within a certain radius know about the deal. When you’re looking for good advertising ideas for restaurants, you won’t find many options better than “free delivery.”
3. Use a Loyalty Program for Repeat Customers
People have a lot of lunch options. Starting a loyalty program gives them an incentive to choose your restaurant over others. When you reward people for eating at your restaurant, they’re more likely to come for lunch. You also get the benefit of tempting people to choose your restaurant just so they can accumulate more perks. You can find out more about the topic here: [How To] The Best 6 Restaurant Gamification Tips & Secrets
The Most Successful Happy Hour Promotions
Happy hour usually means that you knock a couple of dollars off the prices off select appetizers and drinks. Do more with your happy hour promotions by making every day special and sharing the event on social media.
1. Take Advantage of Holidays
Every holiday gives your restaurant a good reason to promote its happy hour discounts. Obviously, you should attach your business to holidays like St. Patrick’s Day and New Years. But you can make things more interesting with drink and appetizer specials on:
- Star Wars Day (May 4)
- Swap Ideas Day (September 10)
- Repeal Day (December 5)
Make the day as fun as possible by promising extra discounts to people who celebrate the obscure holidays. You can find out more about some of the most successful restaurant holiday promotions here.
2. Book Happy Hour Entertainment
Make happy hour more fun by booking entertainment at your restaurant. Successful happy hour promotions can include entertainment like:
- Live music
- Trivia challenges
- Karaoke
- Etc.
Related: How to Market a New Restaurant: 10 Bulletproof Tips
3. Use Social Media to Spread the Word
Get more from your restaurant promotion ideas today by spreading the word on social media. Free restaurant marketing ideas for happy hour can include posting on different social media channels:
- Pictures of people having fun during your happy hour
- Information about your drink and food specials
- Attractive images of the food you sell during happy hour
- A link to your happy hour menu
Business Lunch Promotion Ideas to Turn Slow Days Into Busy Afternoons
New restaurant ideas can struggle to find an audience. Whether you operate a new restaurant or one that has been in the community for years, you can use the following promotion strategies for restaurants to fill seats during lunch. With business lunch promotion, you may also boost the number of customers that come for dinner.
Make sure you advertise your Sunday dinner promotions, breakfast menus, and other options during business lunch promotions. Some of the people coming to your restaurant for lunch may become regular customers.
1. Provide for Free a Coworking or Meeting Space
Lunch meetings give professionals opportunities to eat while they work. Provide a free meeting space or coworking area where people can discuss business without bothering other customers. This promotion works especially well for restaurants that have multiple rooms.
2. Provide Box Lunches for Professionals
Not everyone during a lunch meeting will have time to eat. Instead of serving from your regular menu, provide box lunches for professionals. Those who don’t have time to eat can take food with them.
3. Host Fundraising and Charity Events
Contact your local nonprofits and charities to let them know that they can use your restaurant for fundraising events. The organizations will get a free event area, and you can make money selling food and drinks. It’s a win-win. Plus, the event will attract people who normally wouldn’t visit your restaurant. If you impress them, then you will gain customers. More on other tried-and-tested-restaurant marketing tips here.
Start Using Restaurant Promotion Ideas That Work!
Generally speaking, it’s all about trial and error. Test different promos and see which ones of these can help you increase your sales and grow your customer base. Including social media in your restaurant marketing is also another great way to make more sales.
This article is a guest post.
