What do holidays and national sports championships have in common? 

Food. 

People love celebrating any big event with troughs of their favorite party foods. And in the restaurant biz, this translates to an uptick in hungry customers.

Whether patrons are dining in, taking out, or ordering delivery, restaurateurs should make each order count by implementing marketing, operational, and menu strategies.

Here's how restaurants can score big on holidays and game days.

How Restaurants Can Win BIG During Events

A winning Menu

Upsell With Menu Add-Ons

Customers are already planning on purchasing pizza for the championship watch party. Why not optimize your online menu using upselling to entice them to spend more? 

Our restaurant experts recommend offering online customers fast add-ons such as a side of fries, wings, or extra ranch. 

"Consumers love suggestions. Diners will be more willing to add an extra sauce or topping if you give them the option to do so easily!" -Kat Willis, Former Restaurant Owner and Menufy Client Success Specialist 

To identify high-performing side items, look at your sales data! Take the guesswork out by using information about past sales to increase ticket sizes. 

Offer Limited-Time Event Menu Specials

The holidays and other momentous events are the perfect time to tempt customers with limited-time specials! 

Creating specials can be easy for you and your staff. Simply changing a dish name, adding an ingredient, or increasing the size of an existing menu item will excite your customers! The more thematic, the better. 

For example, during football season, try naming your 12-wing basket "Twelve Men on the Field." Or, during Valentine's Day, update the name of a popular dessert to something like "Molten Chocolate Love-You Cake."

And because holidays and sporting events are usually a time for parties, we recommend increasing the size (and price) of select items that are already on your menu:

If you're selling wings by the dozen, add a 50-wing special at a slightly discounted per-item price. A dish that will feed the whole party will entice customers to order this limited-time special.

Themed specials like these are a great way to get your diners excited about your restaurant and, hopefully, make them want to return!

Prepare your FOH & BOH

Staff for Volume

Professional football championships and holidays can turn a normally slow Sunday into a nonstop rush. 

Do your staff and customers a favor by beefing up with extra line cooks, servers, or takeout attendants, depending on when you expect to see the most orders.

Being overstaffed on potentially busy days is way better than sinking your employees in the weeds. Besides, you can always cut staff throughout the day!

Ordering & Ingredient Prep

Does your restaurant serve popular party food such as pizza or wings? 

Consider increasing your order of high-demand items and ramping up the prep work for them. At the end of the event, any surplus items can be pushed by servers or can run as specials over the following days.

We suggest looking at your item sales and order volume data from similar events in previous years. This data will inform smart preparation decisions so that your restaurant is ready for the big event.

Menufy's restaurant partners can use their Manager Portal to quickly run reports on item sales and volume.

Marketing 

Advertise Take-Out and Delivery

What's better than watching a big game from the comfort of your own couch? 

It's safe to assume that most customers will want to enjoy your food at home, which is why it's important to remind people how easy it is to order take-out and delivery from your website!

The Menufy by HungerRush sales team are experts at helping restaurants increase their online orders. Menufy Sales Manager Sarai Lowder knows how powerful social media can be. She recommends including a "Start Order" button on your restaurant's Facebook page: "It's EASY and a great way to grow sales!"

We also suggest using free marketing methods such as social media to share any game day or holiday specials. It's a good idea to include a call-to-action (a direct order link) in your posts, so customers know how to order. 

Try posting a few days before the event and on the morning of the event to maximize customer engagement. Just make sure you don’t use any trademarked phrases when promoting your restaurant’s specials. Check out phrases you should 86 when posting about big sporting events.

Remember to add your preferred ordering website to your Instagram bio as well!

Directing and encouraging traffic to your online ordering website will also control the volume of dine-in customers.

Create Return Business Opportunities

In the restaurant world, nothing is more important than enticing visitors to become repeat customers. 

Digital loyalty programs are one way to ensure that patrons will order again and again.

Menufy restaurant partners have access to an easy-to-manage (and commission-free!) online loyalty program. This feature rewards customers who place repeat orders from your restaurant. With one quick click, operators can turn on our loyalty program within their Menufy Manager Portal!

Want to learn more about Menufy's digital loyalty program? Click here for a quick tutorial! 

Another exciting feature is Menufy's premium text message and email marketing service, HungerRush 360 Marketing. Customers who order online using your Menufy website can opt in to receive marketing messages. 

With our new automated marketing program, our experts send messages to your past customers, reminding them to order again. 

"Naturally, sports events and holidays are busy days for online ordering, which creates a perfect opportunity for restaurants to capture more customer contact info. Our marketing experts can then use that contact list (providing the customer has opted in, of course) to increase a restaurant's order volume in the future by sending these customers text messages and email marketing." -Eve Butler, Menufy Restaurant Success Manager

Curious about how HungerRush 360 Marketing can increase your online orders? Talk to Eve!

So before a football or basketball championship weekend, make sure your restaurant has a loyalty and marketing program in place!

The Takeaway

Big events can turn into big profits for your restaurant if you plan for them. 

First, optimize the ordering potential by adding themed specials to your online menu, and be sure to include upsell opportunities.

To make the shift as smooth as possible, prepare your front and back of house so that they can succeed. If you use past sales data to order products and staff accordingly, your customers will be happy and will spend more!

And, remember to let your customers know in advance of any promotions! 

Restaurant owners who capitalize on national events and holidays will grow their businesses and their bottom lines!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melissa Dimmitt, Marketing Manager

Melissa began her digital marketing career over a decade ago at a restaurant group. She worked with restaurant managers and executive chefs while coordinating seasonal menu releases, executing photoshoots, and creating fresh digital content.