6 Successful Restaurant & Bar Promotions
QUESTION FROM: Sonia in KS
“What’s the best marketing promotion you’ve ever done to get people in the doors?”
HH ANSWER FROM: Josh Sapienza
As Tim Carman details in his Washington Post article: there’s been a huge drive, over the last decade, to provide guests and operators alike with tools that help avoid long lines that stretch down the block and around the corner…but the truth is, a long line has always been - and will likely always be - the sign of a great product, service or promotion.
Other than great bands, special events with celebrity hosts and restaurant festivals - these are some of the promotions that drew large crowds and long lines for me so consider:
Organizing bi-weekly promotional boxed or bagged lunch drops with a handful of menus and free item offer cards (inexpensive to print LOCAL VIP business card sized vouchers on Canva or at Kinkos) for local businesses, schools, etc… to incentivize them to place bulk breakfast, lunch or dinner orders.
Offering local schools, churches and charities the opportunity to host a brunch, lunch, dinner or happy hour with a % of sales going directly to their cause (promoting the event on social and asking them to share helps and giving them the opportunity to come in up to 24hrs prior to the event to decorate really adds to the fun).
Renting a giant screen for a themed party, restaurant week or holiday and cast videos/shows that suit the theme. I once managed a retro American Comfort Food classic restaurant in Philadelphia and bought every Brady Bunch episode on DVD from Amazon and played them on a loop from open to close on New Years Eve one year for a “Very Brady New Year”. Also ordered some lava lamps, swag, DVDs and books to give away as prizes for hourly trivia and free glass of champagne or Harvey Wallbanger at midnight for all guests. People were watching from across the street. Many talked about it for days AND, to this day, it’s the only way I ever found to get rid of a bottle of Galliano.
Holding a contest can be fun…but an insta worthy menu item like “Mystery Vodka” (i.e., Guess What We Used To Infuse This Vodka) can go viral either online or by word-of-mouth. (Hint: not all candy works well…some work much better than others so this requires a bit of trial and error).
Hosting a drinking game worked well in the past and although I am frequently asked about one I hosted years ago (“Beat The Investigators” where we put on (only new) episodes of crime shows and when a guest thought they know who did it, they’d write it down on a piece of paper and the bartender would record the time on the slip.1 drink = 1 guess into a bain-marie) you don’t want your contest to cross the line by “encouraging over-consumption” so a basic happy hour where you send out free apps works a lot better…if you want to make it more interesting consider a deeper discount for teachers and nurses - both of whom seem to draw larger crowds in any bar.
As most managers know - sales volume plays very heavily into how generous reps are with swag (bar spill mats, t-shirts, signage, umbrellas & bev nap holders, etc… ) and promo pricing on bottles (i.e., temp discounts or price breaks when purchasing multiple cases) but you don’t want to order a ton of inventory to save money if it means tying up the cash with bottles that sit on the shelf for more than two weeks.
One alternative way to take advantage of volume discounts and simultaneously increase sales is to create special menu items that also increase demand like: a dish cooked in X brand beer, run promotions on X brand beer specials on certain nights or hold “X brand vs Y brand” taste tests / challenges. (e.g., in a “GREAT AMERICAN BEER CHALLENGE ”).
Holding and heavily promoting events like these can incentivize brands to not only donate more swag but also offer special pricing/free product because of the additional exposure/consumption and possibility of incredible brand placement on your menu or in your well.
I’ve run a few events like this with both beers and spirits - and they all proved to be extremely successful in terms of temporarily lowering liq costs and by bringing in enough swag to last a year! Additionally, many of these promotions grew into annual events.
I organized “The 1st Annual Tequila Taste-Off” at a Mexican concept I used to manage where guests sampled 2 mini margaritas for the price of one big one and then cast their vote (with a poker chip we gave them) into one of two branded boxes. The winner at the end of the night won the well spot guaranteed for 1 year. Due to the fact that each brand was trying to outdo the other, we had an unbelievable amount of free promotional merch to give away - not to mention free product which effectively lowered our COGS/case pricing for the year. (Loser got a mention on the menu with the addition of a new signature/branded 2nd Place margarita which was pretty popular with local pick-up leagues like flag football teams). While the huge drop in liq cost was temporary, it helped impact margins for the year.
At the end of the day the best promotions don’t need to be new, novel or totally original. They simply have to fit the budget, be fun and be organized. So, while I always appreciate something new and “outside the box”, I’d recommend you take a look at what others are doing to draw crowds inside and outside your own local market (especially corporate chains that have more people dedicated to creative marketing than the average independent)- and adjust the promotion to fit your own concept/demographic.
Josh Sapienza | Managing Partner
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