Restaurant Promotion Ideas: See How Easily You Can Attract Customers Even During The Recession

I know these are tough times, with the recession and a worldwide pandemic going on. And both are perfectly good reasons to stay home and have dinner in the safety of your own kitchen.

As an entrepreneur, you need to step up your restaurant promotion ideas. You need to be able to grab a megaphone and tell your customers, “Here’s ten reasons why you should eat out at my restaurant rather than stay home and eat meatloaf.” When business is slow and shops are closing down for good, as the Pantene commercial puts it, it’s your time to shine.

I’m thinking why not develop low-cost yet delicious menu choices to attract diners to your place? It won’t be easy, but with less and less people eating out, you have all the time in the world.

I got this wonderful idea from Must Have! Menus when it announced that it was developing recession specials menus for cafes, bars, grills and restaurants looking to serve budget-conscious customers.

Jim Williams, the president of Must Have! Menus, says this about their new restaurant promotion idea,

“The idea behind our recession special menus is to provide a marketing vehicle for daily deals that will appeal to those of us with less discretionary spending money right now.”

I personally think it’s a great way to try and keep your restaurant business afloat during slow times. If there’s anything we learned from Ms. Diane Chiasson, it’s the use of bright, eye-catching colors and food sampling that’s the key ingredient in making this new restaurant promotion idea work in your favor.

It should be noted that simply preparing inexpensive meals isn’t going to be the end of it. You need to get the word out. You need to be able to come up with a good marketing plan to advertise this new restaurant promotion idea as much as possible.

If you already have an email newsletter campaign in place, use that to your advantage. You can also offer free dessert coupons to patrons for referring your place to their friends who ordered one of your recession specials.

The recession specials menus highlight a daily deal for every day of the week, promoting food that people love to eat at prices that are lower than they are used to seeing.

These times are tough, I know, which is why I think offering budget-friendly meals to your patrons is a fool-proof strategy for your restaurant business. It’s only a matter of time before other restaurants realize the beauty (and potential profitability) of this idea and begin to follow suit. Go ahead and milk this restaurant promotion idea while you still can.

Restaurant Promotional: Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Email Newsletter?

My grandfather owned and operated a small restaurant. He did it for many years, and back then he didn’t need to worry about restaurant promotionals, such as email newsletters, that kind of thing. For my grandfather having good food and sometimes running a small ad in the local paper was all he needed to run a good business.

We all wish it was that simple.

Today restaurant operators need to worry about restaurant promotionals. Period. If you want to keep your patrons interested, maybe even encourage some new customers over, a monthly newsletter is the budget-friendly way to do that.

Here are some tips on what not to do with your restaurant newsletter.

1.    Don’t be a cheapskate.
Subscribers will get tired of your newsletter quickly if they think of it as nothing more than an advertisement.

Solution: Don’t give them a reason to think it’s just a virtual ad. Instead give them something they wouldn’t find at the restaurant—dessert coupons, invitations to special events, chef profiles, exclusive recipes, etc.

Co-owner of Niche Restaurant Jody Richardson says,

People love feeling like they are getting insider info and a sneak peak behind the scenes.

Simply put, give your subscribers an offer they can’t refuse.

2.    Don’t be boring.
Subscribers aren’t going to bite your promotions if they’re the same old same old.

Solution: Get creative with your restaurant promotionals. In my experience, the funnier the promotions, the better. I remember receiving an email from Four Corners bar inviting me to join their “Merry Moustachemas” event party. Anyone with a moustache gets a free beer, even women with hand-drawn facial hair.

3.    Don’t be brief.
Subscribers are like selfish children. They’ll walk away as soon as they get what they want from you.

Solution: Build anticipation for events.

Ali Mackani is the managing partner at Restaurant 55 Degrees. She tries to build excitement by focusing on just one or two events per newsletter, no more. The method paid off. Their monthly newsletter currently has an open rate of 400, just about, out of 2,200 subscribers, well above the average rate for online newsletters.

4.    Don’t send newsletters like there’s no tomorrow.
There really won’t be any tomorrow for your newsletter campaign if you keep sending spam every other day.

Solution: Send at the right time. Most restaurant operators send their online restaurant promotionals in the evening when mail servers aren’t loaded. Big mistake. Think about it. What’s the first thing you do when you open your email in the morning? Clear out the spam. There goes your funny and creative newsletter.

I found that sending newsletters in the morning achieves the highest open rate. Elliot Feldman agrees.

I would launch campaigns between 9:30 and 10:30 in the morning, to avoid being grouped with overnight spam.

Feldman is the owner of Nova Bar and Restaurant establishment in San Francisco.

If you’re looking for a cheap, efficient way to market your restaurant—I mean come on, who isn’t?—then the path of email newsletters is the way to go. But here is the thing. Email newsletters are definitely inexpensive, and they are very effective ways to promote your restaurant too, if used right. Keep that in mind.

Here’s my final tip. Don’t make these mistakes with your online restaurant promotionals.