8 practical Small Business Saturday ideas for restaurants

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When Black Friday comes to a close, Small Business Saturday comes on its heels, and restaurants should be prepared. This locally focused mini-holiday can bring in new customers and regulars alike who want to support a small business like your restaurant. If you’re a not-so-small business, there’s still a huge opportunity to serve hungry shoppers who need a bite to eat between stops at local shops in your neighborhood.

About 82% of shoppers will pay more to support small business, so capitalizing on that trend and/or bringing business to all your neighbors is a win-win situation.

Small Business Saturday is a specific day created by American Express in 2010 to support small businesses. It’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving and before Cyber Monday and is designed to encourage people to shop small and give local businesses a push for the holiday season. The big box retailers had their day on Black Friday, so Small Business Saturday is the logical follow-up. There are tons of Small Business Saturday ideas so you can get people through the doors of your local restaurant.

Let’s look at 8 promotion ideas to boost your in-house sales on this special Saturday. With a bit of hard work, you’ll draw a crowd and give a big bump to your bottom line and to the local economy as well. Since this is the weekend that really kicks off the holiday shopping season, it’s an excellent opportunity to turn more tables at your restaurant.

1. Special offers on seasonal food

After a labor-intensive day of cooking on Thanksgiving, you can provide customers a way to relax by doing the hard work for them. Offering specials on food and drink is a great way to motivate customers to stop in on this unique day. What this looks like can vary widely depending on your business model, customer expectations, and your location.

Consider also tapping into weekend special ideas, like a prix fixe menu including an appetizer, entrée, dessert, and drink paired at a set price. These can work well for date nights for customers, since people will know exactly what they’ll be paying before visiting.

A vital question is what to serve. Because it’s the holiday season, you may want to serve holiday classics in case people had to work through Thanksgiving dinner or didn’t get their fill (or were disappointed by dinner). Turkey, ham, all the trimmings, pumpkin or pecan pie—there’s a good opportunity to go all out and make a real family meal that satisfies taste buds and emotional needs.

You can even advertise a second Thanksgiving dinner, since many indeed just can’t get enough of Thanksgiving food. Turkey sandwiches are something many look forward to as leftovers—perhaps add a unique turkey sandwich to your menu as a way to scratch that itch.

2. Holiday weekend drink specials

Thanksgiving and wine go together beautifully. If you have a wine menu, consider pairings with meals you’ll be offering that weekend. In the fall season, hearty reds work wonderfully with chilly weather. And with the holidays kicking into gear, you can also consider offering mulled wine as a special. Mulled wine is something few people make at home, so it’s a real treat for diners and those looking to get into the holiday spirit.

Unique cocktails can certainly make their way onto your menu as well. A holiday recipe that worked well at a previous establishment I ran included equal parts of jagermeister and cointreau, served shaken with freshly squeezed orange juice. It basically tastes like Christmas. Let your bartenders experiment and see what they come up with—this can be a fun opportunity for all involved and can help with staff bonding as well.

Advertise these new beverages on social media and launch them on the weekend of Small Business Saturday.

3. Games on TV for sports fans

Saturday is often a big sports day in the U.S., especially in the fall with college football going strong. If you’re in a football-friendly town and have televisions, make sure to advertise that the game will be on and consider offering football-friendly food as well. This can look like appetizers galore: Sports fans love finger food when they’re watching the game.

For Small Business Saturday, you can dig into the team spirit of a local economy and make the point that watching the game and eating snacks—something many would be doing anyway—are a way to support the community. This day is towards the end of the college football season so tensions and excitement will be high.

The 2024-2025 NBA season begins on October 22, so look to upcoming events for that Saturday. If your team is an NBA-friendly town, this can be a big draw. Because Saturday games are often earlier in the day, this can help bring in more early-day business.

4. Update your business info

Before anything else, make sure your contact information, address, and hours are easily visible on your social media pages and website to convert online interactions to in-person interactions.

One of the best ways to boost your visibility in search results is to claim and update your Yelp Business Page and consider running ads on Yelp. Restaurants that start using Guest Manager paired with Yelp Ads experience up to 2.3x the traffic on their Yelp Business Page.*

Update your website to include information about Small Business Saturday: What you’ll be offering, special events, and who you’re partnering with.

5. Live entertainment and holiday markets

For this Small Business Saturday, getting local acts involved can make the community feel all that much more like a community. Not all restaurants are set up for live music, but if you have a good space for a solo performer or band, lean into it. Partnering with local musical acts is a good way to cement your name in your community and gain followers from up-and-coming performers.

6. Partnerships with other local shops

If you’re in an area with high foot traffic, partnering with local shops in your area is a good way to build rapport with other small business owners and attract potential customers for all. Setting up a raffle with giveaways from other local small businesses like gift cards, merchandise, or other free gifts can be a solid Small Business Saturday idea that everyone can benefit from.

If you’re going this route, contact local media and encourage them to cover the event. The more the word gets out, the better. It’s a marketing strategy that lifts all participating businesses. Work with other small businesses to publish a shop small map to encourage customers to discover a number of small businesses and even make a shopping holiday out of the day.

Partnering with a local charity will show your heart is in the right place. A raffle for a charity can work wonders to bring in socially conscious diners. This can be dovetailed into your partnership with local shops, making the partnership about more than just business. Entrepreneurs that give back to the community can become local celebrities the right way.

7. Ramp up paid and free social media marketing efforts

Plenty of people want to support local businesses, but they don’t always know what’s around. So, it’s incumbent upon business owners to get the word out there with digital marketing campaigns. Use every avenue available! Think local first, just like the day, and update your signage to make sure customers are aware something special is going on.

Take advantage of free marketing via social media. Use short-form video as your prime marketing materials since they’re the most virally shared and the most readily consumed type of content. Share videos of your food, your establishment, your staff hard at work or having fun, and customers enjoying a good time.

Using the hashtag #smallbusinesssaturday, #smallbizsaturday, or #smallbizsat on your social media posts will get you more views. Push out new content several days or a couple weeks before Saturday on all social media platforms. Be sure to push out messages to your email marketing list as well.

Join local groups on social media like your city’s or community’s Facebook group and make sure your name gets out there by regularly participating in conversations. This is an organic, indirect Small Business Saturday promotion that won’t cost you a thing.

To round out your marketing efforts, paid promotions might be on the table for you. Partnering with local influencers can help amplify your voice, while advertisements on social media platforms will get views from customers who have never heard of you. The goal is to get as many eyeballs on your brand as possible and encourage customers to take part.

8. Offer discounts

Make it worth customers’ while to visit you by offering discounts. What you’ll discount depends on your vibe, but discounts on drinks and appetizers are always a good way to start: It gets customers in the door and lets them sample your wares without forcing you to lose money.

Make the most of your existing loyal customer network and contacts. For example, consider emailing coupons to customers on your email list. These coupons can be for something like a free drink or dessert with an entrée order, or a special discount for families, valid on Small Business Saturday only (or the whole Thanksgiving weekend).

Discounts can also be offered via a discount code or a secret code word. People love to be in the know, so make customers feel special and they’ll appreciate you for it.

Because this day is intended to encourage shopping locally, we recommend making these discounts and offers for in-store purchases only. The idea is to get the local community out and about supporting local businesses like yours.

Furthermore, working with other businesses to promote these discounts can make the whole thing fall into place. For example, you can offer discounts to customers who bring a business card or other marketing material from another small business you’ve partnered with. This makes the day a sort of Easter egg hunt for customers and can make things quite fun.

Whatever discounts you choose to offer, be sure to get the word out on your platforms.

Make sure Small Biz Saturday goes smoothly

Now you have plenty of Small Business Saturday marketing ideas for the big day. People are looking to shop local, so they’ll be on the hunt for participating businesses.

If things go well, you’ll have a crowd on your hands. That can be great—as long as service runs without a hitch. If you want service to remain smooth and your employees to have high morale, you’ll want to give them the best tools available.

If online reservations, check-ins, and waitlists sound good to you, then Yelp Guest Manager might be right for you. It does all that with the flexibility of fully customizable front-of-house management.

Want to know more? Reach out to us for a free demo and we’ll show you the ropes. We’re all about supporting small businesses, and with the right platform, you can make your Small Business Saturday fun and fruitful.