Marketing Ideas 2009

Sysco Eastern Maryland

Marketing Ideas to help increase sales in any foodservice establishment

m Bounce

Back Coupons - during your busiest shift,

hand out dollar amount certificates staged as coupons to be redeemed at your slowest shift. Always discount in tangible items- dessert, appetizer, 2 for 1, firm dollar amounts instead of percents. Free lunch certificate with the purchase of dinner for two. m Direct

Mail Marketing with Marathon glossy, full color postcards. They

can target recipients by demographics with an invitation or offer. There is also www.vistaprint.com for cheaper postcards, sometimes free. m Business

Card Drop to push business lunches.

m Kids

Night - reduced kids meal & monthly drawing for a bike give away.

m Take

Advantage of the Internet - direct emailing, express service,

online reservations, merchandise sales, affiliate links back to your web site, coupons, virtual tour of restaurant, calendar of events, employment. Try websites like fishbowl.com for help. m Birthday

m Attract

Pharmaceutical Catered Business by

appealing to the receptionist at the doctor’s office: drop off afternoon or late morning coffee & goodie basket (baked goods, wraps, etc) with a to go menu. Similar system for area hotels & front desk help. Also offer room key discounts for guests.

Program (fishbowl.com) - Research shows that 50

percent of all Americans eat out on their birthday. A birthday program can be executed through new automated tools like those that are available through e-mail marketing service providers. You simply plug in the birthday and e-mail address of your members, and a secure and nicely designed e-mail is sent to them at a time you determine in advance. The system knows who and when to send the e-mail to and also tracks view rates for reporting that allows you to know how well your program is working. You can also have the e-mail include a redemption code that will allow you to track what percentage of the e-mails are bringing in guests and calculate a return on investment. Recent research has shown that retention based e-mail marketing is 300 to 400 percent higher than traditional vehicles such as direct mail and faxes.

m Toss

Up Tuesdays - Pick Tuesdays (or your slowest food day) and flip for the food tab. Guests will have a 50 percent chance of getting their food bill paid by the restaurant. This attracts your guests’ attention much more than a “buy one get one free.” Guests are also more likely to have higher check averages than normal because there is a chance they won’t have to pay. It creates a tremendous attention among your core guest base.

m Cooking

Lessons with the Chef of the restaurant.

m Limited-Time-Only

Specials - All-You-Can eat Bar-B-Q

Every Saturday in September. m Frequent

Diner/Shopper Cards - Keep customers coming

back when you provide each visit with a different discount or after a certain number of visit/purchases get a discount or a freebie (appetizer or small gift).

m

Slow Night Specials - Create traffic on slow nights by providing an incentive with a discount or promotion.

m Mystery

Envelope - diners in November/

December receive a Mystery Envelope to be opened and redeemed in Jan/Feb. Could be free dinner, $’s off, free dessert, whatever; but it must be brought back to be used. Of course if someone opens it, they’ll still honor it.

m Menu

Bingo - This is a great tactic for encouraging

frequency and getting members to try different items on the menu. You simply create bingo cards that have specifically planned menu items in boxes. Have the cards designed with five columns and five rows. You can also promote other non-food items such as merchandise, cookbooks, and gift certificates. Guests have an allotted period of time – 60 days for example – to complete a connection just as they would with a bingo card. Once they try five items in any direction, they receive a free gift basket or other incentives that are roughly equal to one of the items purchased.

m Incentivize

Employees - Create a Family and Friends Night to entice employees to spread the word about your establishment. Offer a special discount or something different (live entertainment, giveaways at door, refreshments). OR You can provide employees with coupons/flyers that are marked with their name/employee number - employees receive a prize or bonus depending on how many are brought back! 1001 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson 800-575-5521 www.nelson-motivation.com

m Celebrate

Something/Anything/Crazy Contest - Celebrate a

silly holiday (Ground Hog's Day, Flag Day), create a themed night (Arabian Nights, Mardi Gras, Cinco De Mayo), or celebrate a landmark year/month for business. Develop a contest to bring traffic to your establishment... run a coloring contest - bring in entry for a freebie/discount, have a photo contest. Once you have the idea call local newspapers to have it on their calendars or even invite them to the event. m Have

an event - create your own Reality show like American Idol

(music store) or Bachelor (singles night at bar/restaurant). Or simply host a BBQ or tailgate party. Kids finger-painting.

m For

a good cause - Do some charity work: restaurants can

donate to a shelter or even host a holiday party, clothing store can collect clothing, gifts/groceries can give gifts to families and hospitals. One good thing will do wonders for free publicity. m Support

Civic Organizations/Churches - donate a

percentage of sales if they come in with a certificate for that organization.

m Sampling

of New Items or Upcoming Events - At your

peek hours, portion up small servings of new or “testing” dishes and ask for guest feedback. m Partner-Up -

Partner with local non-competing merchants to offer on-theblock discounts, host a special night, or just split advertising costs. Even consider partnering with the competition to create events like a Holiday Shopping Night, Taste of Town, Wine Tasting, or Romantic Evenings.

m Separate m To

Catering Menu & Catering “Hotline”

Go Menu in every doggie bag leaving after eat in as well as every to go order.

Sysco Eastern Maryland

Marketing Ideas to help in any Foodservice Establishment