The holidays are coming and going, and everyone is out and about shopping (doing returns), visiting friends, and checking out the awesome decorations and activities around town. These people all need food during their outings, making this the perfect time for your restaurant to pull in some new customers and make an extra buck or two.
So how do you go about increasing your revenue during the winter holidays? There are many ways you can do this. By implementing one or all of the tactics below, you are due to see an increase in both revenue and customer satisfaction.
Sell Gift Cards
Everyone is looking for perfect gifts for everyone on their list during the holiday season. If you have a loyal customer base, they are likely eager to share their favorite eatery with those they love.
By offering gift cards, you give your customers the opportunity to share a meal. This is also an excellent way to get new customers through the door. Want to see those cards fly off the shelves? Offer incentives such as coupons to anyone who buys a gift card during their visit.
Offer Online Ordering
The winter holidays often leave people bogged down with long lists of things to get done. There are gifts to buy, a big dinner to cook, and the kids all need costumes for the school performance.
Make life a little easier for your customers by offering an option to order food online. Online ordering eliminates the need for your customers to wait in long lines, and helps ensure a warm meal is waiting for them as soon as they walk through the door of your establishment. This makes online ordering the very best gift you could possibly offer the people of your community, and with happy customers comes more business—something every restaurant owner loves.
Sell Prepared Holiday Meals
Remember that big dinner we mentioned earlier? Well, what if you could provide your customers with even better service by taking that time-consuming task off their to-do lists?
To help your customers out (and add to your holiday revenue), consider offering prepared holiday meals for customers to take home and serve to family and friends on the day of their holiday gathering. This takes the weight of cooking off your customers’ shoulders while still giving them the opportunity to serve a delicious meal to their loved ones.
To make it even easier, be sure to include the prepared meals as an option on your mobile ordering website and app!
Offer Catering
During the holiday season, the number of celebrations and events in any given area skyrockets. Why not take advantage of these events by offering catering services? Catering is a great addition to any restaurant business. It gives your loyal customers a chance to share your food with friends and family, it brings in profit you would not have seen otherwise, and it is a great way to get the word out about your awesome food.
Of course, the ability to schedule their catering service online makes the whole experience hassle-free for your clients, so you will want to make sure mobile scheduling is an option.
Offer Special Deals
Want to increase traffic at your eating establishment? One way to do this is to offer a special deal or two in celebration of the holiday season. This could be something like a buy-one-get-one-free deal, a kids-eat-free night, or a discount if a customer shows a receipt from a specific shopping establishment.
Other deals could include a free gift card or food item when a customer buys a prepared holiday meal, a coupon or $5 gift card for every party you cater, or a free item when a customer uses mobile ordering. These are all good ways to get people to take a break from their shopping frenzy and join you for lunch or dinner.
Conclusion
We hope that this article has helped you in finding ways to expand your customer base and profit this holiday season. As you can see, many of the very best ways to increase your revenue involve setting up mobile ordering for both catering and individual orders.
If you would like to learn more about mobile ordering, please contact us at 9Fold.
