Ghosts, Vampires and Jack-o’-Lanterns, Halloween is here.

The spooky season brings fun for everybody around and a lot of opportunities for restaurant owners in the country. Restaurateurs pay attention! The National Retail Federation says Halloween spending is expected to cross $9 billion this year.

Halloween is not all about kids and candies. It is the season where people come together and celebrate the fall weather. Restaurant owners can benefit hugely from Halloween marketing and grow their sales manifolds. The season is a great time to promote your restaurants, coffee shops, and bars.

Want to introduce your restaurant to more hungry patrons this Halloween?

Off-premise marketing is your out of the box key to success. Now that restaurants are operating at one fourth the occupancy, and most are moving operations online to capture the current demand, Halloween is your chance to leverage on marketing strategies that would again put your business on the map.

Halloween-ize the Menu

Many successful restaurants such as Chipotle offer special menus for Halloween and the holiday season. This is where your chef can bring creativity in! Restaurants can come-up with an exotic Halloween-themed menu. Anything that could be taken for blood, goes on the menu.

Don’t forget to add some special Halloween cocktails to the menu. Zombie Cocktail, Bloody Mary, and Black Currant Punch are all killing the trends.

The menu should serve off-premise customers well. Restaurant owners must know that you’re open for delivery, takeout and curbside orders. Create some spooktacular Pumpkin Cheese Ball, Chocolate Witch's Hat, Candy Corn Cheese Tower, or Spider Web Guacamole to entice as many people as possible. But whatever you do, make sure that all the items on the menu are easy to deliver and travel well. Our previous story on menu changes you need to make for delivery orders will help you understand the menu trends suitable for off-premises offerings.

Packaging that Promotes

One of the best ways to provide a premium off-premises dining experience to patrons is through thoughtful packaging. Halloween themed packaging for your takeout, delivery and curbside pick up orders can spread word of mouth like a fire. The colors, aesthetics, shapes of the package all matters. This has the potential to create an ultimate marketing formula.

Some tips to take a cue from:

• Include social media addresses, QR codes on packages to make the user-experience more expressive
• Print a minimalistic Halloween menu on the packet
• You may also include discount coupons in the Bar or QR codes for their next purchase

Halloween Goodies & Free Drinks

The festive season is all about sharing happiness. Restaurants can bring-in special discount offers to woo the people around them. For instance, post the ad telling patrons who visit dressed as a Goblin or Demon will get an extra 10% discount on takeaway orders.

Or, you can take the game to a whole next level! Put a post asking foodies to tag you in their Halloween pictures. In return, they will earn a special discount. Social media can be your showstopper this fall. Get more holiday marketing ideas here.

Social Media Advertising for Halloween

For instance, every Halloween, Starbucks take their marketing to the next level by posting images of new Halloween special drinks. Don’t shy away from flaunting your Pumpkin Cream Cold Boo, Ghost Pizza, Witches’ fingers, and Mummy Brie.

Besides posting lush glimpses of exotic foods, you can also post a series of holiday promotions on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat to reach out to more patrons. Remember to show your creativity with Halloween puns, themes, colors, spooky images, and illustrations. Promo codes like “Pumpkin”, “Getmytreat”? Why not?

Restaurateurs can also use popular hashtags such as #halloweenparty, #trickortreat, #halloweenfood, and more to leverage the reach of popular hashtags of the season.

Branded Spooky Video

Halloween gives you a chance to show off the playful side of your business. Posting Halloween videos on social media can get incredibly high engagement. Halloween DIY ideas, countdown video, costume ideas while promoting daily deals are some of the things you can do to amp up the engagement.

Planning to give-away special Halloween discounts and goodies? Don’t hesitate to promote it in the video. Demons, devils, goblins of all shapes and sizes can entice people like never before. A scavenger hunt is also a great idea for the video. Hide Halloween treasures at random places and leave clues for your teams and film it.

Acing the festive season should be a no-brainer if the right marketing strategies are used by restaurants. Halloween is important! Tailored menus, cocktails, food creativity can take your establishment to another level.

It’s true that The Halloween of 2020 is different due to the ongoing pandemic. But, fun shouldn’t stop, right? Host online costume contests, put some extra thoughts into delivery bags, prioritize the safety of everybody around and you’ll find yourself sailing the right boat, voyaging across the ocean of success.

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