Did you know that there are more than 800 food holidays throughout the year? If you’re looking for fresh, timely ways to run specials or feature particular menu items, look no further. We’ve put together a list of ways you can take advantage of the food holidays in your restaurant marketing throughout the year.
It’s easy to forget about food holidays until it’s too late to add them to your marketing plan. That’s why it’s beneficial to look at all the upcoming holidays a few months in advance. From there, you can strategically plan ways to show off certain menu items, highlight unique ingredients, and ultimately increase guest foot traffic.
Timely Promotions
First, select the holidays you want to add to your marketing plan. Here are just a few things you can promote using food holidays.
Seasonal Items
There are tons of holidays that feature seasonal foods. In October, for instance, you’ll find National Candy Apple Day, and in December, you’ll find National Eggnog Day. These holidays are the perfect opportunity for your restaurant to feature seasonal menu items that are available for a limited time.
Unique Ingredients
Do you import special ingredients? Do you work with a local farm for fresh produce or meat? Tons of food holidays focus on particular ingredients rather than a dish, such as National Strawberry Day, National Spinach Day, and National Herb Week. Use these holidays to highlight what’s so special about your ingredients.
Best-Sellers
Is your restaurant known for a particular dish? Chances are, there’s a national food holiday for that dish. Turn it into a campaign for the week, highlighting why the dish is so popular and maybe even share a few raving reviews. This could be a great way to increase foot traffic for both new and existing customers. Conversely, you could go the opposite direction by featuring less popular menu items as a way to increase consideration with your existing customer base.
Company Brand and Values
Food holidays offer a unique way to highlight what your restaurant is all about. For example, a seafood restaurant who’s passionate about sustainable seafood would want to plan for World Oceans Day. A vegetarian restaurant would likely want to promote Vegetarian Awareness Week.
Marketing Ideas
Once you’ve selected the best holidays for your restaurant to take advantage of, incorporate them into your marketing plan. Here are a few ideas to support how to get the most out of your campaigns.
Email is a great way to promote a discount or deal you want to offer on a food holiday. If you’re promoting a menu item that would only appeal to particular guests, segment your email list based on visit behavior. A platform like Adentro makes this incredibly easy to do.
For example, suppose you’re promoting National Margarita Day and only want to send the email to your happy hour crowd. In that case, Adentro gives you the ability to send it to guests who visited your restaurant between 3-6 pm during weekdays.
Advertising
One of the most effective ways to get new guests through your doors is to market to people who resemble the ones already patronizing your business. If you’re promoting a food holiday that highlights a popular menu item, chances are, there are a ton of potential guests out there who would love to try it.
Building a “lookalike” audience for your paid social or programmatic campaigns is simple if you already have an established database of your customers and their email addresses. If you’re interested in improving your customer contact collection rate, using a WiFi-integrated platform like Adentro creates a seamless, non-disruptive experience for data exchange. Every time one of your guests logs on to the WiFi network their information is immediately captured in the marketing platform and ready for use. The platform can even segment your guests based on visit behavior, enabling more personalized communications and campaigns.
Social Media
When promoting a food holiday on social media, make sure to share it the day before or even a few times during the week leading up to the holiday. This will build anticipation and give guests time to share it with friends, hopefully making the day even more successful for you. Don’t forget to include enticing photos of your food!
Loyalty Program
Incorporate food holidays into your loyalty program as a way to increase repeat business. One idea is to promote less popular menu items. For example, a restaurant struggling to sell desserts could promote their cake to Loyalty members through text or email, phrasing it as “It’s National Chocolate Cake Day! Have you tried our chocolate cake yet? We think you’d love it.”
