Be it a pizzeria, a cafe, a food truck or a casual dining restaurant, Valentine’s day sure is one of the busiest days of the year. With pictures and posts going up on social media with the fairy-tale love stories about how romance is in the air with everyone’s loved ones, the trend is for most couples to eat-out at a fancy picture-perfect restaurant. A movie followed by delicious food and a perfect glass of red wine is definitely what most people call for and the rest of them, simply walk into the closest place possible to indulge in the goodness of the Valentine’s day recipes!

For a restaurant owner, this would be the ideal opportunity to introduce themed offers to drive more guests on the day. This would help the owner boost sales on the day and enjoy free online marketing while the guests commemorate Valentine’s day.

According to statisticbrain.com, the average spend of a customer on Valentine’s day is $116.21. Now you certainly don’t want to miss out on that do you? So make sure you’re well-staffed and all set for the rush!

Valentine’s day is just two days away and if your reservations are already full, then you can sit back and relax knowing that you are one of the go-to romantic dining places in town. Well, on the other hand, it’s not the end of the world if all your tables are not reserved because the smallest effort makes the biggest difference. Here are the things you can try to fill up those vacant tables in no time!

Think about the ambience

Make sure you decorate the restaurant for Valentine’s Day in the most romantic way, to make all the guests feel warm and romantic. You can either do the decorations by yourself or leave this in the hands of a professional event planner. Either way, be sure to have a consistent theme with a lot of red or pink details, heart-shaped items and a simple red-rose table decor to give it some aroma. If you are thinking of going the extra mile, you could opt to ask your customers for any preferred table decorations on their table when they are making the reservation. E.g. decorate the table with his/her partner’s favourite flowers.

Elements like red roses, petals of red roses and scented candles, are symbols of love and a girl’s best friend on Valentine’s Day. You can light up the mood of the restaurant by playing some classic love songs, subtle melodies or even a live band to help your guests take a walk down memory lane.

But what can you do to fill up the tables? You have to tease your customers with some sneak-peaks to how your space is going to look like on Valentine’s day! Use a good picture on your instagram story, it will surely help.

Customize your menu

A special day calls for a special menu. For Valentine’s day, have a cheesy set of menu descriptions and make time to sit with your head chef to create the most exciting dishes for the day. For example, you can make your muffin in the shape of a heart and name it “Naughty Muffin” or “Kiss Me Muffy”. Your primary motive is to make your customers feel special on this day so make sure you advertise your free offers such as champagne, dessert or complimentary dishes, a day ahead!

Work with all your special offers

On Valentine’s Day, every other restaurant gives special offers. If you want customers to walk into your restaurant the offer you are giving has to be more attractive than your competitors. Ensure that your restaurant’s special offer is romantic, attractive, and unique. You can come up with your own special offers but you need to be creative and add a touch of romance to it.

E.g. Bring your valentine and get 50% on their meals. / 25% off for the first 30 reservations for Valentine’s Day.

It’s important to use a few different methods for restaurant marketing. At this point, you must promote your offers through all available advertising channels, your restaurant website, social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and most importantly through your mobile app. By sending personalized notifications about your offers to your customer base, you psychologically trap them into making a reservation. Sounds like you can increase your conversion rates, this Valentine’s day doesn’t it?

Get your customers to Order Ahead

Customers are always looking for convenient fast ways to order their food and restaurants offer a convenient experience will always come as one of the first picks. If you have a mobile app for your restaurant, you just have to send a couple of catchy compelling messages and notifications to your customers to book their favourite table at your restaurant. Allow your customers to get extra discounts on a particular offer when using online ordering or mobile app. For Valentine’s Day, when you expect a lot of guests, having a mobile app or online ordering is a big relief and it can double the traffic in your restaurant. Every successful restaurant now uses online or mobile apps for food ordering.

Let them skip the line

You only have so many employees for a given shift, and with only one manning the cash during your valentines day, it’s inevitable your line is going to build up. Without adding extra employees for the day and making it more congested and crowded, use your self- ordering kiosk. Simple! A self-ordering kiosk allows your customers to order and pay at their own pace, relieving that long line at your cash. It will directly impact the sales of your restaurant, and increase the number of orders faster than ever before.

Bring back you Valentine’s day customers! Use the tips to make more bucks this Valentine’s and be sure to get your customers to follow you on social media for future updates.

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