By Zach Williams
Summer is a lively season for restaurants, overflowing with promotional possibilities. The daylight is long, the weather is fine, kids and teenagers are off school, and the revenue potential is huge.
Now that the season is winding down, though, you might feel that you’re running low on marketing ideas.
Have no fear, though, because the return to school is just around the corner, and with that time of year comes plenty of promotional opportunities.
Here are 10 ways to capitalize on this marketing gold mine.
Student discounts
Encourage student business by offering a discount upon presentation of a Student ID card from a local school. You could even create a student menu, offering dishes on the smaller side at considerably cheaper prices. This could further incentivize students to choose your restaurant as an after-school hang and study spot.
Commencement day catering
Many schools host a commencement event on the first day for kids and parents to kick off the new year. Crowds of kids milling about, participating in activities and working their appetites is a perfect catering opportunity. Get in touch with local administrators to see how you can help enhance their commencement day celebrations with your food and drinks.
Trivia event
One of the few downsides of summer is that when the school year nears, kids find themselves needing a refresh on their subjects. Put a fresh spin on summer learning by offering a trivia event for kids (parents welcome too) that is centred around integral topics like Math and English. Add a few choice prizes to encourage participation.
Field trip food
Field trips represent another great opportunity to score a little extra catering business. What is a fun field trip without some good eats, anyways? Partner with your local schools to be their go-to for field trip food.
Pizza party
There’s nothing quite like being a kid and showing up to school, expecting a long day of classes, and being surprised with a pizza party instead. Allow your business to be a meaningful part of these memorable experiences by advertising a pizza party package for schools to purchase. Put your own spin on it by stretching the definition of “pizza party” — throw in some specialty sandwiches, maybe some shareable pasta dishes, and a few drink pitchers to sweeten the deal.
Sports celebrations
A favourite pastime of school sports teams is celebrating after a big game at their favourite restaurant. Create a special event package for sports teams that bundles shareable menu items like pizzas, drinks, and desserts. Eventually, kids will want to win just for the post-game celebration at your establishment!
Library card discounts
Similar to the student discounts above, but this time around discounts apply when a student presents their library card. This gives students another reason to keep up on their summer reading.
Back-to-school loyalty card
Introduce a loyalty card that’s themed around the reopening of schools. That way, students will make going to your restaurant a part of their school day routine. For design inspiration, check out these professional loyalty card designs.
Packed lunch package
Create a bagged school lunch package that’s relatively cheap, nutritious, and composed of some of your menu items, like a sandwich and some sides. Kids in a hurry and busy parents will appreciate this option.
Spelling bee
A similar event to a trivia night, but done in a format that’s more familiar to kids. Kids will compete in a traditional spelling bee to test their spelling prowess, with awesome prizes for the top placers (a great idea for first place would be a pizza party voucher that the winner could take back to their class).
Armed with these kinds of promotional ideas, you can help your restaurant avoid an end-of-summer slowdown by ensuring you capture and recapture an audience of students and parents even as schools open again.
Zach Williams is a staff writer for MustHaveMenus who is studying English at USC.
