Restaurant Marketing Ideas for December: How to Maximize Profits at Christmas

 

 

Owners and managers need effective restaurant marketing ideas for December to maximize the profits the season can bring.

Usually at Christmas the halls are decked up with rows of hollies, silver bells are jingling around, Santa’s busy pulling his sleigh around and the air is filled with excitement!

While Christmas is a jolly time for almost everyone, if you own a restaurant business, it’s quite the opposite!

This season is undoubtedly the busiest time of the year.

And while you are busy preparing to cater to your guests, you end up forgetting the most important aspect – marketing.

How would people know the special offers you have for Christmas and New Year if you don’t talk about them enough? This is exactly where marketing comes in.

Now, the word marketing may sound complex to so many business owners. But here’s the deal – marketing is not complicated at all.

In fact, it’s all about finding unique ways to bring the spotlight on your business.

So, if you’re wondering how to get started with marketing your restaurant, here are some restaurant marketing ideas for December to help you!

 

Restaurant marketing ideas for December, how to maximize profits at Christmas

 

1. Festivals call for grand decor
2. Announce advance bookings
3. Food and drink – the soul of December
4. Sign up to platforms like Bloc
5. Create an impactful social media presence
6. Host holiday themed events
7. Come up with a Christmas special blog series
8. Connect with your loyal patrons

 

1. Festivals call for grand decor

 

The best part about festivals is that you can never run out of decor ideas.

You can come up with something unique and fresh every single year, without needing to get repetitive.

Decor is an important part of festive vibes, and if you nail it, there’s nothing like it.

Just imagine someone walking past your restaurant and there is a huge, life-size snowman (just an idea!) right at the entrance to greet them. Wouldn’t that intrigue them enough to want to find out what more is inside?

This is exactly why you need to ensure that your decor game is on-point.

 

 

Do remember that you don’t need to spend a lot to deck up your restaurant.

There are a lot of DIY ideas on the internet; you can find the ones that can be made quickly with affordable material and minimum effort.

Once you have visualized the result, it would be easy for you to pick the perfect decor items.

If you have a bigger budget, you can always choose to hire the services of a decor company.

They can do up your place in no time, giving your restaurant the festive makeover, it deserves.

Keep the ambience of your restaurant in mind as you choose the decor theme. If you want to go all out, opt for the flashy, glitz and sparkly decor.

If you want your restaurant to be a quiet corner where people can relax and unwind during the festive season, you can opt for a subtle, fairytale-ish, and Christmassy theme.

 

2. Announce advance bookings

 

You can update your social media platforms and websites stating that you’ll be taking advance bookings through the upcoming festive week.

Right from Christmas Eve to New Years, you can open the reservations well in advance so that you are better prepared to cater to the guests.

 

 

With advance bookings, you can plan everything from the food, drinks to the events in a proper way.

Additionally, with reservations, you will have the details of the guests.

This would also help you plan different types of events according to different age groups. Just make sure that people are aware of your pre-booking policy.

 

3. Food and drink – the soul of December

 

What’s the point of festivals if we don’t indulge in the best food and drinks?

That’s exactly what you have to offer to the people visiting your restaurant during Christmas and New Year.

Now that you’ll be going all out on decor and events during Christmas, why leave the food and drinks menu behind?

All you need to do is curate a Christmas special menu that features food and drinks with a Christmassy touch.

Again, the food on your menu totally depends on the theme of your restaurant.

So, if you’re a French-themed restaurant, dig out age-old Christmas recipes from France and add them to your menu.

People love it when you serve them authentic festive foods from faraway lands!

 

 

It may take some time and effort to find these recipes and incorporate them in your menu, but it’s all totally worth the effort.

You could also seek help from moms and grandmothers (of your staff, loyal customers or friends) to get ideas about Christmas specials passed down through generations.

There’s nothing like warm food that takes you back to your childhood; and if you’re able to recreate that magic for your patrons, there’s nothing like it!

While we’re on food and drinks, also keep the little kids in mind.

Christmas and New Years are all about family bonding, and kids will definitely be part of the group visiting your restaurant.

With a kid-friendly menu, you actually get brownie points.

You can come up with food that’s shaped and coloured differently (and is also healthy for the kids) so that they can gorge on it while the adults are sipping on their drinks.

Additionally, it goes without saying that there should be a few kids friendly fruit juices!

 

4. Sign up to platforms like Bloc

 

Whether you are a new or an established restaurant, you may want to sign up on platforms such as Bloc.

Bloc will help you get the exposure you deserve, ensuring you have guests coming in throughout the holiday season.

Bloc incentivizes people to attend venues and events by rewarding them with cash or cryptocurrency if they visit.

 

You can try our free trial to see if it works for your restaurant, and once you are convinced of its benefits, you can switch to the paid plan.

Your advert is pushed to every single user within a 10 mile radius of your restaurant, and you’re only charged if someone actually attends. So it’s win-win marketing.

 

5. Create an impactful social media presence

 

Merely having social media accounts on all platforms isn’t going to help.

You need to make sure all of them are up and active; and the festive season is the best time to do it.

Picture this: you’ll be planning different events, a special menu for the holiday season, among many other things for your customers – but what’s the point of it all, if they aren’t even aware about all these festive special arrangements you have planned at your restaurant.

This explains why you need to be super active on social media, constantly updating the masses about the amazing festive line-up at your restaurant.

You have thousands of competitors out there who are also using social media to boost their reach and pull in potential customers.

 

 

So, make sure your posts are strikingly unique and not something that people come across on every other page.

There are many ways to ace the social media game. Make the posts interactive, conduct polls, ask for feedback, reviews, and opinions; keep your color scheme and feed organized.

Do keep in mind that every social media platform has different requirements and yield different results.

You have to be careful about the content you post on them; similar content will not fetch you excellent results on every platform.

Understand what Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat thrive on, and then come up with a content schedule for them all.

This would help you stay at the top of your content game, garner more reach and followers on your social media accounts.

This will ultimately result in more customers at your restaurant.

 

6. Host holiday themed events

 

A Carol Karaoke or a Christmas Movies Dumb Charades never goes out of fashion!

This might not be one of the more appropriate restaurant marketing ideas for December for your restaurant, but the thinking here is to think outside of the box.

So, why stop at amazing food and drinks when you can step it up and organize some fun events for your guests as well?

After all, the whole aim is to ensure they have the time of their lives at your restaurant, right? So go ahead, organize some fun games and events where the guests can let down their hair as well!

You can totally go all creative with games and events. You can have a lucky draw, some fun spot prizes, an interesting Christmas themed treasure hunt – the possibilities are endless!

So, don your thinking hat and plan something out of the box for the holiday season.

 

 

Also, keep in mind the target crowd as you decide which games and events to conduct.

If you have a crowd that consists mainly of people who are fifty-plus people, make sure you have something that would interest them.

If you have people of all age groups coming in, it’s on you to make sure each person has fun before they leave your restaurant. Something for everyone – that’s the whole idea here, so that no one feels left out during a holiday.

You can look up the internet, ask friends and family for some interesting ideas for games and events as well.

And trust us, asking always helps! Each family has its own Christmas traditions, and games are an integral part of them. So yes, if you can’t think of anything fantastic, ask around, and you’ll find amusing ideas!

 

7. Come up with a Christmas special blog series

 

Now that your social media handles are all active, why leave your website behind?

This Christmas let’s get your website going as well.

This is a good opportunity to come up with a holiday season-themed blog series. You can start it off yourself and then let guests, patrons, guest writers, and food bloggers contribute as well.

You can keep the theme open ended so that people are free to add in their inputs. If the theme itself is ‘The Holiday Season’, people can actually write about whatever makes them feel good this special time of the year.

 

 

Maybe some recipes passed down generations, family traditions, the best Chirtsmas they ever had – the list is endless.

You can also encourage people to contribute to your blog by offering them something in return – a discount coupon or a group pass would work as well!

When you keep your website always updated, it appears right at the top of the search results.

So, whenever someone Googles something like ‘restaurants near me’, your search engine optimized website will show up in the top results.

And that’s exactly what we want, right? This improves your visibility, thus attracting potential clients and more revenue.

 

8. Connect with your loyal patrons

 

Even in this digital age, people love receiving letters.

So, instead of sending out a cold email, get in touch with your loyal patrons via snail mail.

Send out your greetings well in advance along with discount coupons or vouchers attached.

This would help them plan their holidays better, ensuring they visit your restaurant.

 

 

A handmade card would be a great option, and you can also consider writing personalized notes in them if time permits.

Also, the probability of your email getting missed out on is a lot higher – but a letter won’t go unnoticed!

So, dig out the contact details and addresses of your loyal patrons and send them invites to spend Christmas at your restaurant.

 

Summing up

 

We hope these ideas have inspired you.

You can always come up with your own creative set of marketing ideas for your business since no one but you know your business best.

Consider budget and time constraints before you outline a marketing plan for your restaurants during the holidays.

 

 

Marketing is super fun during festivals; you can explore so many fun things to do and can come up with a unique marketing strategy.

This time around, let’s give people enough reasons to visit your restaurant during Christmas and New Year!