Christmas promotion is a lot of fun and can be very lucrative, too. When you're trying to lure in customers or remain afloat during this trying time in the world, a few ideas can go a long way to generate sales.
While there are a lot of great Christmas promotion ideas to choose from, here are our top choices.
12 Restaurant Ideas for Christmas
1. Add Menu Specials
Festive menus are a great start, but a lot of eateries are already working on their Christmas restaurant menu ideas. Adding month-long specials is a great option that can drum up business during the holiday season.
A few of the specials to add are:
- Appetizers
- Drinks
- Desserts
Be sure to decorate your menu with a lot of Christmas-themed items. Your menu is the gateway to people ordering, and a strong Christmas promotion means adding in fun graphics and icons.
2. Promotions for Couples
Couples are always looking for holiday magic. Promotions geared towards this demographic are a great way to generate revenue. The options that you can include are:
- Two-for-one deals
- Larger "plate" upgrades
- Shared meals options
Christmas restaurant promotion ideas can also include specials for kids.
3. Multi-course Specials
Christmas promotions for restaurants rely heavily on multiple courses. You'll find that consumers like to splurge on the finer things in life during the Christmas season. A lot of people will bring their families or parents out to dinner or lunch.
And people are willing to spend a lot more on three-course meals.
The three-course meal will include:
- Appetizers
- EntrГ©es
- Desserts
Diners will often spend a little less for their three-course meal than if they purchased all of the items on their own. Even if the savings is just a dollar or two, most people will never sit down and do the math to see how much they're saving.
If you want to increase the average bill amount, adding in multi-course options is a great option this holiday season.
4. Fun, Exciting Drink Ideas
Christmas drink ideas can be found at the world's most popular restaurants. There are a lot of options here, including:
- Creating your own festive beers or alcoholic drinks that you brand with its own special name
- Dessert drinks are a good idea for kids and family-friendly eateries
Make sure to promote these ideas on your new menu and in all of your holiday promotional materials. The addition of exciting drinks, especially when they're limited time offers, is a great promotional tactic that works in almost every restaurant type.
5. Special Catering Options
Businesses are always looking for ideas for Christmas parties. Catering is a great opportunity to bring in high sales volumes and boost your revenue before the end of the year. You should be creating packaged deals that are promoted heavily to commercial businesses in your area.
The idea is simple: offer a complete package.
It's important to try and offer everything, from drinks to entrees, appetizers, and even plastic utensils and cups. When you take the burden off of the event organizer, you'll lure in more revenue year after year.
Create a list of Christmas catering menu ideas with your chef and promote them well.
6. Gift Cards Add to Revenue
One of the easily overlooked Christmas promotions should be one of the most obvious: gift cards. You'll have a lot of people dining in or taking out this year. If your business is still thriving, you'll want to add gift cards to your menu.
Customers will buy these cards for their friends and family, allowing you an additional opportunity to impress patrons.
If you want to be even more ambitious, offer multiple card packages, such as a set of three gift cards.
7. Email Marketing Madness
Christmas email marketing restaurant ideas are fun and highly effective. When you build your list, you'll be able to market to people that convert at extremely high rates. The goal is to start your promotions early with:
- A special series for Christmas
- Mentions of specials and deals
- Showing off new drinks and gift cards
Be sure to take this time to also set up event triggers. The trigger options you choose can be abandoned cart options for gift card purchases or reaching out to people that haven't read your emails or been to your business lately.
8. SMS Marketing
If you've been collecting SMS information from your customers over the years, you have one of the most valuable lists at your disposal. These lists can and should be used to send out highly targeted messages that offer:
- Christmas specials
- Limited time offers
- Personalized deals
While SMS marketing remains costly, it's one of the restaurant Christmas ideas that people are really narrowing in on this year.
9. Decorate your Restaurant to Bring Out the Holiday Cheer
Restaurant decorating ideas for Christmas are almost infinite. You can decorate your establishment to be the talk of the town. How? It really depends on your location and demographic.
A few of the many ways to really use decorations to promote your business are:
- Christmas lights
- Wreaths
- Garland
- Trees (fake works fine)
You can even go the extra mile and offer a small "gift" to guests, which could be anything from a keychain to a small stuffed animal for guests with kids.
And don't forget to have your waiters and waitresses dress up for the occasion. If you can get your staff to be festive the entire month, you'll be surprised at how many patrons will keep coming into your restaurant.
People want to forget about their daily lives, so decorations offer a nice distraction from ordinary life.
10. Reservation for Special Dates
If you don't take reservations yet, you need to start taking them this year. People love being a part of a special event. Christmas is all about being part of something bigger. Local events are a great choice, especially for people that are having their loved one's over for the holidays and want to go out to eat.
A few of the events that you can hold are:
- Pre-dinner meet-and-greets with Santa
- Christmas-themed dances
- Christmas Eve and Day dinners
Reservations allow you to create a sense of urgency and should be promoted both in your store and also online. Social media ads and marketing are a good option to get the word out that you're taking reservations while there are still openings.
11. Give Back to the Community
It's the time of giving, and you'll find a lot of people who are in need this year. There are many ways to try and give back to the community. A few of the Christmas promotions that go overlooked but shouldn't are:
- Donating a certain portion of your sales to the local food pantry or homeless shelter
- Offering to provide Christmas dinner to random people in the community who are in need
- Giving locals a special discount for coming into your restaurant
Community giving is all about helping others, but the promotion will also put your eatery in a good light - something everyone wants.
Feel free to also partner with others in your local area for cross-promotion and the opportunity to work together in a unique way.
12. Image-Rich Social Media Marketing
Social media is a great means of marketing to locals. When you're promoting this year, be sure to make everyone "part of your story." Take pictures of customers (with their permission) and add them to your social stories.
Videos also work very well.
The goal is to get everyone talking about your business. Rich images and videos boost engagement and keep people talking. Be sure to use social media, especially Instagram and Facebook, to enhance your promotions this year.
Christmas promotions make for a fun, inventive way to start generating buzz for your business. Spend time on your promotions this year and create dazzling dishes and menus that make patrons keep coming back.