How To Maximise Revenue Over The Christmas Period
The hospitality industry is stepping into its busiest season of the year making now the perfect time to maximise your revenue. Christmas presents huge income opportunities for restauranteurs with large groups of colleagues, friends and families looking for restaurants to host their celebrations. The average spend per head tends to be higher as companies max out their business cards to commemorate a busy year and people get into the festive spirit by opting for the add-on beverage package. But with so many restaurants taking bookings, how does yours stand out from the crowd?
There are several ways to prompt your existing customers to make their bookings, as well as put your restaurant on the radar of those looking for somewhere to celebrate. We’ve rounded up our top marketing tips to help you maximize revenue during the Christmas period.
Upload Functions Package To Website
If people are considering booking a table at your venue for a large group, chances are they will jump online and see what you can offer. Functions packages are a great way to showcase your dining options and how best you can cater to large groups, e.g. private dining options, set menu experiences, beverage packages. It is crucial this is available on your website and easy to access through the navigation bar. See example here
Add Offering To Website ‘What’s On’ Page
Data shows us that ‘What’s On’ pages on restaurant websites are in most cases, the highest clicked page once someone is on the landing page. This means it’s a huge opportunity to showcase upcoming restaurant events and special offerings, e.g. weekly specials, one-off wines dinners, special Christmas packages. Put together a few sentences of engaging copy along with a relevant image to help drive bookings. This is also a great way to drive people to your website for marketing purposes as you can link this page to social media posts. See example here
Create Special Set Menu
Since the average spend for diners is higher around Christmas, you have more leverage to create a menu with a higher price point to drive more profits. Chefs should design a set menu experience that is easy to deliver around the fast-paced Christmas period and won’t diminish your quality of product or service. It’s also important to think about your add on options, e.g. beverage packages
Higher Spend For Private Dining
Private dining rooms are in demand around Christmas so it’s a missed opportunity if you don’t use it to your advantage. We suggest putting a minimum spend on that area or having a set hire fee. The way to market this is that it’s an ‘exclusive area’ and includes a bunch of exclusive opportunities for the guest, e.g. your own dedicated host, cocktails on arrival
List Your Events Space On Local Directories
If your restaurant has a dedicated area for special events and large groups, make sure to list it on local event space directories. Make it easier for companies to choose your venue for their celebrations by listing your restaurant along with what you can offer. If you’re in Sydney, the most popular event space directories are Hidden City Secrets, Venue Now, Tag Venue, The Fresh Collective and Event Birdie.
Share Offering With Relevant Media
Media are always looking for exciting new offers to share with their audience. Put your restaurant at the front of their mind by sending them a concise pitch with your best imagery attached and the link you’d like them to use in the feature (this can be the ‘What’s On’ page). If your offering is enticing enough, it might be considered for an editorial piece or a roundup article like ‘Best Christmas Offerings’. If you have extra budget, you can always look into paid advertising on these platforms which guarantees your coverage. The major media outlets in Sydney are Eat Drink Play, Broadsheet, Urban List, Concrete Playground, Sitchu and Time Out. You can find contacts or email forms on their websites.
Digital Comms In The Lead-Up
With Christmas being a competitive time for restaurants, it’s crucial you share your offering with customers as early as possible (we’d suggest early November). Once you’ve packaged up a compelling offering, get your communications ready and share it to your database via email, on social media platforms and on your Google My Business page. These posts will reach the people who are already following your business, which means they’re most likely to take up the offer. Make sure you repeat your communications in the lead-up, as well as share when you have reached capacity.
In-House & Collateral
Inform the staff on the offerings and strike up a conversation with diners about Christmas and what the offerings are. You can also include collateral on the menus to remind people, e.g. “Thinking about Chrismas already? We’ve got a special package to treat you this year. Scan the QR code below”. The QR code should scan to the ‘What’s On’ page to drive people to the website to find out more. You could also create a poster and have collateral put on the back of toilet doors or walls of the venue if this suits your brand.
Facebook Advertising
A lot of our suggestions involve Facebook advertising and that’s because it’s effective. If you have extra budget, we’d suggest putting it behind Facebook ads and creating a tailored Christmas carousel ad showcasing what’s on offer, e.g. private dining options, set menu options, drinks packages, etc. Link these offerings to their corresponding page on the website to help drive bookings. Make sure to use compelling imagery that says ‘Christmas’ and engaging copy. For the highest conversion rate, we’d target your customer database, the website traffic and social media engagement.
Promotions To Get People Back In Off-Peak Season
We suggest incentivising your most valued customers to come back during the quieter months. A great way to do this is with a ‘pay it forward’ offer where you allow your database to give vouchers to your restaurant, e.g. gift your friend a free cocktail to use in January to say Merry Christmas. This not only adds value for your customers but it rewards them for being loyal. Another idea is to gift a physical calendar to your best customers and include all your upcoming events for the year. This means you have to be organised, but it also means your customers have a reminder in their home to visit again.
Bonus Christmas Tip
Vouchers can make up huge revenue around Christmas if your customers know they’re available. Make it easy for customers to grab an e-gift card for your website. A great idea is to package up a few experiences people can select from depending on what is available at your restaurant, e.g. set menu experience with matched drinks – $150 voucher, bottomless lunch experience – $90 voucher, romantic dinner for two – $180 voucher. Make sure to remind people that these are available through your communications – social media, email marketing, Google My Business. You can also incentivise these gift cards by offering a $25 gift card for every $100 you purchase. This has netted restaurants hundreds of dollars around the Christmas period.
