12 restaurant holiday promotions to gear up for the season

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As the year winds down (yes, really) and the festive season fast approaches, restaurant owners gear up for the holiday season. The final months of the year, especially December, offer a golden opportunity to drive sales with restaurant holiday promotions and end the year on a high note.

This is the time of year when people come together to celebrate, making it the perfect occasion for restaurants to do what they do best: Unite people over yummy food and good times. Whether you’re running a small local eatery or a large chain, the right holiday promotions and restaurant marketing strategies can get guests in the door.

Let’s look at creative and time-tested ways to boost your restaurant’s holiday marketing.

1. Show off your brand with a holiday menu

The change in season is the perfect opportunity to introduce a holiday-themed special menu. We’ve discussed seasonal menus before, where menu items are rotated to reflect the freshest produce of the season and changing desires of customers’ taste buds. Holiday menus are a more specialized version of a seasonal menu.

Get creative with all sorts of menu items, from appetizers to entrees. Think about food items and flavors that are popular during the fall and early winter holidays:

• Turkey or ham
• Cranberry sides, desserts, or holiday drink specials
• Mulled wine or eggnog
• Pumpkin-spiced everything
• Gingerbread
• Sweet potato
• Apple or cider
• Chestnut
• Peppermint
• Maple, cinnamon, and nutmeg
• Pecan

Whatever the style of your restaurant, you can find a way to work holiday themes into your menu. Keep it more traditional or get creative. Serve well-known classics, like cranberry sauce, cornbread stuffing, pumpkin or pecan pie, or green bean casserole. Put a spin on favorite flavors and ingredients with eggnog bread pudding, Thanksgiving shepherd’s pie, or seasonal drink, like a Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins Latte inspired by the movie Elf.

The holidays are an excellent time to bust out a prix fixe menu, complete with a wine pairing. Give customers an opportunity to splurge while keeping their options simple and they’ll thank you for it.

Keep in mind the many dietary restrictions in our ever-more diverse and health-conscious society. You’ll want to offer vegetarian and vegan holiday dishes as well as dairy-free items. Consider adding these items to help all customers feel included and make large group gatherings like holiday parties more viable.

2. Create holiday special offers

Discounts and special offers are classic restaurant holiday promotions that attract new customers and reward loyal ones. Some options include:

• Discounts: Offer discounts on specific dishes or a percentage off the total bill to motivate customers to dine at your restaurant.
• Free dessert: Give a free holiday dessert with an entree purchase.
• Holiday happy hours: Attract more customers during slower hours with happy hour specials on holiday-inspired appetizers and drinks. Happy hours don’t have to be early, either. If you’re slow late at night and stay open late, consider a reverse happy hour that livens the mood and gets customers merry.
• Gift cards: Gift cards are an excellent holiday gift, especially for people who are hard to shop for. Plus, gift cards boost immediate sales and encourage future sales by giving customers a reason to return at a later date. Offer a deal such as “Get a free $5 gift card with a $50 gift card purchase.”
• Mailed coupons: Sending coupons through the mail is still an excellent way to spread the word about your brand and bring customers in the door.
• Loyalty program: Give customers extra points when they purchase certain menu items or visit certain days or times during the holiday season.

3. Showcase your holiday decor and menu on social media

No restaurant marketing campaign is complete without a solid social media push. It’s an absolute must. Advertise your restaurant holiday promotions or offer exclusive deals specific to your social media followers for maximum benefit. For example, you could give a discount to followers who show the social media post—or use a code word for fun.

In addition to social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, promote your holiday promotions on Yelp. Yelp reaches 8x more consumers online than OpenTable.

If you as a business owner either aren’t super talented at social media or you find it a hassle, consider delegating the task to one of your younger staff for extra pay. Alternatively, you can hire an outside social media marketing manager.

4. Add a festive ambiance

One of the most important steps in attracting customers during the holiday season is creating a festive atmosphere full of holiday cheer. Whether it’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year’s Eve, decorations are a must. You’ll want to decorate your establishment with specific holiday-themed items, like lights, wreaths, ornaments, or anything else that’s appropriate to the specific festival.

Christmas, especially, needs a warm and festive vibe. The glow of Christmas lights or flicker of candles can create an inviting atmosphere. Your exterior and signage will need decorations as well since eye-catching decorations can draw in passersby and increase foot traffic.

Good decorations can help with your social media marketing plan as well, since attractive photos will be easily shareable and visually appealing.

In addition to physical space, you’ll want to decorate your online space. Update your restaurant website and social media platforms with holiday-themed graphics that align with your in-house decorations.

5. Offer catering and takeout specials

Not all restaurant holiday promotions need to be for in-person dining. While you have limited space in your restaurant, there are essentially unlimited customers available for off-site eating. It’s become a popular option for many people to order Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner in, for example, to save the hassle of cooking a large meal. Make sure to get orders in early for special occasions to plan your inventory and staffing. A large catering order can significantly boost sales while circumventing the physical limitations of your dining room.

6. Send out holiday greetings

A personalized touch can go a long way in building customer loyalty. Sending your customers a holiday card is an easy and inexpensive way to remind them of your restaurant.

Alternatively, use your email list to get some good ol’ email marketing done for the season. Use your unique brand voice to engage customers and make your brand stand out in their minds. You can include images of your holiday menu items or special offers to help motivate customers to walk in the door.

7. Host holiday events

The holidays offer fantastic opportunities for hosting unique, fun events that drive more guests and sales, such as:

• New Year’s Eve party: Take reservations in advance, have a prix fixe dinner menu, and count down to midnight, and have a champagne toast.
• Special holiday brunch: Host a brunch during the holiday season that goes beyond featuring unique menu items. Turn it into an event by taking pictures with Santa, making it a fundraiser for a local charity, or featuring a local vendor that sells gift items.
• Live music: Bring in local musicians and bands to play holiday sets. It adds to the holiday atmosphere and the performers will cross-promote the event.
• Holiday trivia: Host holiday-themed trivia nights, such as trivia about seasonal movies or music. For prizes, give away merch, like mugs, hats, tote bags, or tees, which will serve as word-of-mouth advertising for your establishment.

8. Partner with local businesses

Partnering with other local businesses can make for a united front in a restaurant holiday marketing drive. For example, if in-house baked goods aren’t your thing, it’s a great time to pair up with a bakery. Each business can provide limited-time offers for the other’s services to drive sales and build a cohesive network. The same goes for florists, decorators, entertainers, and more. A combined effort in marketing can amplify your voices and reach overlapping customers.

9. Give back to the community

Getting involved with a local charity is an excellent restaurant holiday promotion idea. It fits with the giving vibe of the season and lets you support the community you care about. Consider a raffle as a fundraiser, a donation drive for a local food bank, or pledge a percentage of sales on certain days of the week. Customers will want to support your business to help you reach charitable goals.

10. Recognize the hard work of your staff

Set up staff goals for the holiday season and offer different bonuses or rewards to the team as a whole as those goals are met. For example, perhaps you reward them for upselling a certain number of appetizers or cocktails to help drive sales.

Also, offer free meals during busy services and plan a holiday party to let them unwind and celebrate together. When your staff is happy and feels appreciated, they will better serve guests and champion holiday promotions.

11. Consider celebrating diverse holidays

Cater to your customer base and local community with restaurant promotions that target a broad range of holidays beyond Christmas or Thanksgiving. Consider Diwali, Lunar New Year, Hannukah, or Kwanzaa, depending on the demographics in your area. This provides yet another opportunity to create themed menus, decorations, and events that can attract a wide customer base.

Restaurants who want to note holidays without going all-out can give tasteful recognition. A Diwali-themed dessert or a Lunar New Year tasting menu can promote inclusivity.

12. Leverage technology for holiday efficiency

The holiday rush is no joke! While it can be great for a restaurant’s bottom line, long lines, jammed waiting areas, and hungry diners can leave staff frazzled and kitchens frantic. Luckily, leaning into the right restaurant tech can keep service humming and diners satisfied.

Encourage reservations via front-of-house management platforms like Yelp Guest Manager. Customers can make a reservation with the push of a button via the Yelp app, from your website, or from widgets on Google search or maps. Restaurateurs can boost their restaurant’s visibility with unique online booking links shared via social media—free for Yelp Guest Manager users.

Waitlist management is just as easy. Customers can see your restaurant’s wait times—updated automatically and accurately—either by visiting your page or using the “restaurants near me” feature on their Yelp app. When they hop on the waitlist, they’ll receive automated SMS updates about their wait time and table availability. Customers love this service. Waitlist guests have 1.6x the repeat visit rate compared to walk-ins. Set a good example over the holidays, and watch customers become regulars.

Imagine integrating reservations and waitlist management directly with your table management system, POS system, and even third-party delivery apps. That’s exactly what Yelp Guest Manager does, streamlining service and saving your staff time and energy so they can focus on the human aspect of the job. Smart table management and easy payments make table turnovers seamless and service smooth. It’s a win all around.

Keep restaurant holiday promotions running smoothly

The holiday season offers restaurants a prime opportunity to boost their bottom line and create memorable customer experiences via strategic promotions and festive ideas. By introducing holiday-themed menus, offering special promotions on gift cards and loyalty programs, and creating a warm, festive ambiance, restaurants can attract new and loyal customers alike.

Social media amplifies these efforts, drawing customers to holiday events. Partnering with local businesses and giving back to the community can further drive marketing efforts, while recognizing staff ensures smooth service and high morale.

If things go well with your holiday marketing ideas, you’ll get a rush of customers. You’ll definitely want things to go as smoothly as possible in your service, so you’ll want the best in the business for your front-of-house service.

Consider a system that does it all: online ordering integration, customizable floor plans, online reservations, check-ins, and waitlists, POS integrations, and more. Does that put you in a cheerful mood? It certainly might once you see it.

If you’d like to see what it’s like to have a crisp software suite that makes front-of-house management a breeze during the holidays, reach out to us for a free demo. We’d love to be there in time to help you navigate the holiday season and come into the new year feeling fresh.