Are you running a restaurant but looking for a better way to entice new customers?
With the social distancing rules in place (Covid-19), you may need to find a way to generate revenue for your restaurant - and fast.
Selling gift experiences is a great way to not only welcome new customers to your restaurant, but it’s also a great way to keep loyal customers returning time and time again.
If you don’t sell gift experiences for your restaurant yet, then take a look at our post, Make More Restaurant Profit With Vouchers.
However, if you’ve already introduced vouchers, then you may be looking for something more.
This post is dedicated to restaurateurs who already use vouchers but are looking at marketing promotions that will skyrocket your sales.
Let’s explore the importance of gift card promotions for restaurants…
‘Why do I need restaurant gift card promotions?!’ I hear you ask. It may seem that implementing a system is all you need to do to watch the cash roll in.
But, to generate higher revenue on gift experiences you need to go one step further and implement smart promotions to make your gift experiences really pop.
As the gift experience industry grows, people want more than just monetary value. (e.g. £50 for use in your restaurant).
We have found that people are chasing experiences, not just for themselves, but to give as a gift. That’s why as a restaurateur, you need to stay ahead of the curve and create fantastic promotional experiences that will entice people to your restaurant.
Sidenote: if you want to find out more about why people are looking for experiences, check out this post here. What is the experience economy?
Restaurant experiences are easiest to sell with the use of prepackaged experiences selected by you which can be purchased as gifts.
Many people may think that gift experiences for restaurants are limited. But, thinking this way is what separates the successful from the mediocre. By creating truly unique and memorable experiences, you will stand out from the crowd.
Here are some desirable ideas, and hopefully we can inspire you to create your own renditions of these restaurant gift experience promotions:
Creating themed dining experiences are limitless. You can focus on holidays, seasons, countries and their speciality dishes. Is there any local inspiration to you that you could incorporate?
People love to feel special, and what can be more special than having your very own personal chef for the evening. Sell an experience where a dedicated chef can cook at your table, demonstrating entertaining skills. That would make an unforgettable dining experience.
Bring in a sommelier and provide a wine tasting experience to remember.
Think about the different groups of people you can sell experiences to. A hit with bridal parties is cocktail making experiences.
Cooking demonstrations and classes are a great way to provide wonderful experiences related to food. You can even expand these offerings by creating a beginner or intermediate cookery gift experience.
Can you have live pianists or a jazz band to play light music as a background to the dining experience?
This is a simple but attractive way to enhance a gift experience, as it can draw in people attracted to a certain type of music, or even for those who like entrainment while dining.
If you do have themed dining evenings, maybe you can introduce dancers to entertain every hour or so for a short song or two. For example, if you put on a Spanish themed evening, maybe you could have Flamenco dancers intermittently perform.
Is your restaurant part of a hotel?
Creating a dinner, bed and breakfast package will entice guests looking for an experience to last all night, or even for a few nights! Combining your restaurant with other services is one of the easiest ways to create desirable experiences.
With the recent closure of all services and unnecessary businesses due to Corvid-19, it’s no doubt that many businesses are suffering. But through difficult times comes great opportunities.
Reach out to a local business or service to you and work together to create a fantastic experience like no other.
Do you have a local vineyard? Farmers Market?
Combining each of your services together can draw in so many guests wanting to not only support local businesses but delight in a different experience too.
Maybe they can handpick all in-season vegetables or fish for salmon or trout at a local activity experience. Then come along to your restaurant for their selected goodies to be cooked up by your chefs and served in your beautiful restaurant setting.
This idea is very popular in eastern and middle eastern markets where it is commonplace for shoppers to buy their meat at the market and take it to a local restaurant within the market to be cooked for them.
As part of our system, we offer a feature called product add-on where we allow our clients to sell ‘add-on’ items to enrich an experience. For example, a 3-course dinner voucher can have the option of a bottle of Champagne, Red or white wine as an add-on which the shopper can choose when purchasing the gift.
Remember, when it comes to selling gift card promotions for restaurants the more memorable and unique the better.
We hope you enjoyed our post on gift card promotions resturants. Good luck on creating your own promotions, and if you’re looking for more gift experience advice please get in touch! We are Enjovia, a global gift card platform, where we can easily set up your own store in minutes.
Contact us here for more info.