The festive period is one of the most intense and strategic periods for the restaurant industry. To fully take advantage of this lucrative time, it is essential to implement an appropriate strategy. Here are our top tips for attracting new customers, retaining them, and making the festive season a real success for your restaurant.
Changing your menu during the holiday season is an essential strategy to attract new customers looking for a unique and festive experience. Add some magic to your menu with seasonal ingredients and traditional holiday flavours: add truffles into a dish, use foie gras in an original way, enhance your drinks with Christmas spices such as cinnamon or Tonka beans, etc.
In addition to these special offers, we recommend creating a special ‘holiday menu’ that will be exclusively available at certain times, such as New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. As a matter of fact, the number of people eating out on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve is on the rise in numerous countries.
Two options are available! If your establishment is closed on these significant days, offer customers the opportunity to book this holiday menu in advance and collect it the day before to enjoy it home with their close ones. If you're open on festive days, this special menu can be offered on-site as part of a themed dining experience. Don't forget to create a unique and magical experience for your guests: shows, live music, fancy dress, activities, anything goes!
To ensure the success of your establishment during this period, leverage your online presence! Create a comprehensive communication campaign to promote your special offers and exclusive events. Use a variety of channels to reach a wide audience, such as newsletters, social networks, online advertising, etc. Highlight your special offers with festive visuals that match holiday colours. Entice potential customers to come to your restaurant by publishing trendy and engaging content: the setup of Christmas decorations, behind-the-scenes footage of menu creation, your staff's enthusiasm for this time of year, etc.
The holiday season often brings heavy crowds to city centres and restaurants. Technology is an excellent solution for managing these peak times and ensuring exceptional service.
HandyPay, Trivec's 2-in-1 ordering and payment solution, allows you to avoid unnecessary trips by sending orders directly to the kitchen and recording payments without needing to return to the central POS system. HandyPay significantly improves service quality by reducing waiting times.
You can also automate certain tasks with integrations connected to your POS system. Table reservation solutions are one of the restaurant owners' favourite integrations! This helps you better anticipate the number of customers and reduce customer wait times. Other integrations can help you improve the payment process by offering online payment options or QR code payments.
Hurry up! Get out the cinnamon, the holly and equip yourself with the right tools to ensure a holiday season that lives up to your expectations.