The right daily or weekly specials can transform your restaurant from a place that people like to visit into part of people’s routine. From increasing retention to giving your restaurant a larger potential audience, specials have a wide range of benefits.
Specials also allow you to benefit from the economies of purchasing ingredients in bulk. With just one or two dishes to focus on instead of several, the right special is ideal for improving your restaurant’s focus and generating a great income.
Many restaurants offer specials, but few market them as effectively as they could with the right combination of marketing materials and sales. In this guide, we will share four effective ways to market your restaurant or café’s daily specials.
Use table tents to list your specials
There’s no better way to market your specials than by listing them in front of your customers. Table tents let you list your specials menu right there on the table, in a location that’s extremely easy for customers to access.
Prepare a list of your daily or weekly special offers and add it to your tables, making it easy for customers to read. Table tents allow you to easily swap out new lists on a daily or weekly basis.
The biggest benefit of using table tents is visibility. Since your specials list is right in front of your customers, the chance of them ordering something from the menu goes up, as do your restaurant or café’s orders.
Make a specials board with daily offers
The specials board is a staple of many restaurants, and there’s no need to remove it simply because you also use other marketing methods. Add a specials board to your checkout area or inside your restaurant to make your specials visible to customers.
The advantage of a specials board is that it allows you to avoid replacing menus on each table. With a centralized list of specials, all that’s required from you is a quick revision every morning or Monday to list the day or week’s new items.
Ask service staff to read your specials
Your restaurant’s service staff can often also be great sales staff. By asking service staff to read out your daily or weekly specials, you can significantly increase orders and encourage customers to take action.
Asking service staff to read your daily or weekly specials has two benefits. First, it increases the rate at which people order due to increased awareness of the special dishes you’re offering.
Second, it allows your service staff to provide useful answers to any questions your customers might have about your special dishes and offers. Many customers have a range of questions that can’t be answered by a menu or specials board alone.
Post your specials on social media
Does your restaurant use Facebook or Twitter to promote itself and keep in touch with its customers? If you have a following on social media, try using it to promote your daily or weekly specials.
Social media is a particularly useful tool for promoting seasonal specials, such as a dish that’s only available for part of the year. By raising awareness, you increase the number of people that will visit your restaurant and order from your specials menu.
