The holiday season is the best time to reflect on our blessings and make life a better place for everybody around us.

It’s that time of the year again where the crowd is huge, and people are all excited. For restaurants, the holiday season is probably the most important, and busiest time of the year. This is the time or perhaps, an opportunity, for them to generate huge profits and upscale the business.

But, the holiday season of 2020 is different!

For the entire hospitality industry, these are the testing times where Coronavirus is still looming at large. Now that the restaurants are reopening with social distancing and other safety measures in-place, restaurateurs need to incorporate out-of-the-box strategies to capture holiday season sales. The strategies that worked until last year won’t be applicable this year.

Let’s move ahead and explore new marketing strategies to make the holiday season 2020 work in your favor.

Reopen with Safety as Priority

This is only applicable to those restaurants that are reopening their dining space for walk-ins and reservations. But this year, getting people to your restaurant during the super busy holiday season would require you to be more vigilant of the safety regulations. Follow all the necessary safety precautions laid by authorities to keep your staff and customer safety. And while you are at it, make sure that you put up posters or standees at all the right places ensuring customers that they are safe at your restaurant.

Below is an example of one such restaurant:

Roll out the Best Sellers

Here the best advice would be to go with the classic! Your customers are really missing the “normal” holiday treats and experiences, and this is the right time to help them catch up on their nostalgia.  

So introduce or reintroduce the best selling holiday menu items from all previous years. Let your customers relive the normal, happy times, especially when they’ll be all trapped inside their homes to avoid spreading the virus.

Boost Social Media Presence

Do we really need to explain this one? 70% of your orders will be through digital channels and having an active social profile could really boost holiday sales. For one, the customers are spending an enormous amount of time on social media. This is your time to create content that your customers can resonate with and feel tempted to engage with your brand. Most of all, remind them with regular posts, Instagram stories, and reels that you’re open for serving their favorite holiday specials at special prices.

What more? Enable online ordering on your Facebook page so your customers don’t have to leave the social media experience to order food from your restaurant. They can do it right from the platform they are on. Want to know more about Facebook Ordering Tool? Read the blog here.

Need more ideas?

Run an online contest

Here are some contest ideas for the upcoming holiday season

•  Halloween Photo Contest- Encourage your fans and followers to share their Halloween costume. The photo with the maximum likes will get Flat $50 off on their online order.  
•  Encourage Customers to share their food delivery experience with the photos of the food ordered from your restaurant. Giveaway 5% off to all participants on their next order with you.  
•  Share a holiday recipe and win up to $10 off on your next order.  

Likewise, you can experiment with different deals, giveaways, and offers to stimulate participation.

Get Online!

If you don’t have it yet, you’ll be losing out a major chunk of the market to your competitors. Delivery orders are expected to surge this holiday season. Customers would preferably deal with restaurants that offer a seamless off-premises dining experience.

Having a website with an efficient online ordering system ensures that your customers are able to directly connect with your brand. Most importantly, you get to keep 100% of the profits as opposed to getting orders via a third-party aggregator.

With a website and online ordering system in place, you can maximize your ROI, expand to new territories, and automate compliance without putting-in extra efforts.

Family Meals and Combos

This is the time of the year when families and friends get together to celebrate festivals. Since catering to a large gathering becomes a challenging feat, customers often look out for family packs and combo deals that offer big savings. Come up with family-size meals and offer them for delivery, takeout as well as curbside pickup orders.

Don’t know where to start? This article can help you create exciting bundled family meals..

You can also take a cue from some of these offers:

•  10% off on all Halloween combo  
•  15% discount on orders made on the website  
•  Free delivery for all online orders  
•  $399 Meal Kit for a family of 6  

Preparing for the holiday season may seem like a lot of work, but always rewarding. Amidst all the chaos of the pandemic, help your customers make beautiful memories with delicious food and impeccable delivery service.