Special Report
Halloween & Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas for Restaurants
Turn your slowest holiday nights into your busiest — proven strategies from 35+ years in the restaurant printing business.
Make This Your Best Holiday Season Ever
Are you sick of the same old thing every year? Halloween night you're packed with trick-or-treaters just coming in for free candy and not ordering any food, then Thanksgiving weekend rolls around and you wind up slow because everyone is eating leftovers for 3 days straight. This can all change if you follow these simple restaurant marketing ideas.
Halloween Is Anything But a Dead Night
The scary celebration brings people out of their homes for trick-or-treating, parties, dances, and spooky gatherings — and everyone needs to eat and feed their family. But how do you extend this monstrous mélange of business into November to keep your momentum up for the holiday season?
Get to Party Organizers Before Your Competition Does
Do a little local research and find out who is doing what in your area. Visit local schools, churches, and clubs. Read your local newspaper and check bulletin boards at supermarkets and laundromats. Find out how you, the restaurant owner, can provide your food and services to better these organizations' Halloween parties and Thanksgiving gatherings. 95 percent of the time, the party organizers visit the restaurants — get to them first. Place a large sign in your front window or purchase an outdoor banner announcing you can cater to any holiday function. If you work out special deals with these organizations it could bring you a lot of repeat business for future functions.
Give Out Coupons Instead of Candy
In these days of health and safety concerns, it seems less and less wise to give out candy to kids on Halloween night. When I was a kid I remember getting a fast food coupon for free kid's French fries — that was better than the whole bag of candy. I knew my parents would take us for sodas and burgers. You can print these coupons on orange paper and photocopy them to sell to your customers for fifty cents each in 10-packs. Keep in mind you are not going to make money on the coupons at first. When the children redeem them they are more likely to come in with paying parents and siblings. You are also building your brand with the children, whom studies have shown have a large part in deciding where families eat out.
Drive Traffic Right Into Your Restaurant on Halloween
Hold a costume contest right in your restaurant on Halloween. Give one grand prize for the best costume. Have all participants fill out a small half-page form so you can capture their information for future marketing — get their name, mailing address, etc. Everyone who signs up should receive a coupon or certificate valid starting November 1st towards a future purchase. Remember to take lots of pictures and make sure all your contestants and their friends know that you will display these on your website and Facebook page. Ask your customers to like your restaurant's Facebook page and invite their friends to like it also.
You Cook the Bird — We'll Do the Sides
Thanksgiving has long been a slow weekend for the restaurant business. It doesn't have to be like that anymore. You can go a little off the ordinary and offer to cook pre-ordered sides for your customers' Thanksgiving dinner. The first week of November, place a large sign in your front window. Make a small flier or box topper and place it in every takeout order, doggie bag, and check presenter. Offer what I call the 'sides solution' — half and full tray portions of the Thanksgiving sides of your choice. Everything will be pre-ordered so you will know how much food to order from your supplier. Make your cut-off date the Monday before Thanksgiving so there is no last-minute chaos. Have your customers pick up their order Wednesday afternoon so you can close early and enjoy your holiday with a pocket full of money.
Build Community Goodwill and New Customers
Contact some local charities and hold a food drive. Any customer who donates a canned good or clothing item receives a coupon for a future restaurant purchase. Have the charity pick up the donations daily so it does not clutter your restaurant. This looks good for your business and builds good community awareness. Contact your local newspaper for some FREE publicity announcing what you are doing. You can also build a relationship with these charities for future catering jobs for their fundraising functions.
Go Where the People Are
The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year in malls, stores, and shops — but the restaurant business is always slow with people eating leftover turkey all weekend long. You have to go where the people are. Go to all your local malls and shops the first week of November and offer to cater lunch to their workers on Black Friday. Explain to them that if their workers are hungry it could affect their bottom line and they can give bad service. If the workers are well fed with a nice meal paid for by the boss, they will sell, sell, sell. Also offer free coupons to the stores to give to their customers when they purchase an item. Don't forget Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday — both have become huge shopping days as well.
Ready to Make This Your Best Holiday Season?
Call or text us 10am–10pm EST, 7 days a week. We'll help you design the holiday menus, postcards, and flyers that make these strategies work.