It’s hard to believe but the holiday season is nearly upon us already. Gathering with family and friends is the most popular way customers celebrate holidays, representing the perfect opportunity for your restaurant to stake its claim as the go-to place for unique experiences paired with satisfying meals.
Of course, you want guests to be happy and your operations to continue running smoothly without adding any extra worry to your plate. Thankfully, we’ve got a solution. With Experiences by SpotOn Reserve, you can manage dining experiences, reservations, and your waitlist all from one digital platform. With the added ability to easily book and manage Experiences, you can merchandise your restaurant space for events, special menus and testings, private parties, and holiday menus.
Check out these 5 tips for great ideas to bring in new guests and maximize revenue this holiday season.
1. Offer a private dining room for personal gatherings
Aside from sleds, pine trees covered in snow, and a nice cup of cocoa by the fireplace, large family gatherings are an integral part of the holiday season and festivities. So why not prepare your restaurant to join in on that cheer?
With Experiences by SpotOn Reserve, you can make sure your guests are able to enjoy those large private gatherings without added concern related to space and timing. When you accommodate guests according to their size, they won’t feel distracted from the memorable dining experience at your restaurant either. Plus, since you have a greater awareness of how those larger gatherings operate before they’ve arrived, you can better plan your staff’s time.
And if you’re worried about no-shows and cancellations, Experiences by SpotOn also allows you to charge guests ahead of time to reserve their space. Combined with two-way texting, you can keep them updated about times and ensure their arrival with confirmations.
2. Offer corporate holiday events
The holiday season is also the time of year when you can expect companies to start searching for a restaurant that can handle their larger corporate holiday events. If you want to take advantage of these great revenue opportunities, it’s vital to make sure that every table is set and organized to their standards.
That’s why managing your time and space efficiently through Experiences will make your life easier as a restaurateur. With the ability to charge guests ahead of time to reserve a dining experience customized to your needs, you can decrease cancellations and no-shows to put more focus on providing great moments for your guests.
3. Create a special menu
Offering a special holiday menu can be a great way to entice guests to frequent your restaurant over the holidays. From cozy beverages like pumpkin spice, peppermint, eggnog, Irish coffee, and cinnamon-spiced old-fashioned to traditional holiday dishes like brisket, stuffing, and gingerbread, plenty of flavors and smells can help you craft a seasonal menu to draw potential guests' attention.
With Experiences by SpotOn, you can easily manage your daily table reservations alongside your new dining holiday offerings, so you can keep your restaurant running smoothly by offering visibility to all reservations and all the details in one place.
4. Create a special experience
If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s the importance of diversifying your revenue streams with multiple ways to serve your guests. You can get the most out of the holiday season by offering special experiences and options beyond the dining room. Wine tasting, mixology lessons, New Year’s Eve events, and private parties are the season’s top activities, many of which you can keep around all year long.
With Experience by SpotOn, your guests can effortlessly book your special experiences. Plus, the automated waitlisting features automatically notifies the next guest in line when a spot opens up. Your front-of-the-house can easily view details for each experience reservation, like special requests or events that will help to improve the guest experience.
5. Offer holiday to-go meals
Although gatherings and reunions may be the main attraction for the Holiday season, it’s important to remember that guests will be busy during the holidays and often will prefer eating in the comfort of their own homes. Offering to-go menu options with various courses, drinks, and desserts are all perfect ways for your guests to celebrate the Holidays stress-free.
By requiring guests to book a “holiday takeout experience” in advance, you can:
- Create a great guest experience with the ability for them to order to-go meals in advance (while also creating a sense of exclusivity to help create demand)
- Get the information you need in advance to know how many meals you need to prepare so you can plan staffing and food stock purchases accordingly
There’s no doubt that the holidays are hectic, but there’s still plenty of time to plan and take advantage of the holidays and generate more revenue before New Year’s. To learn more about Experiences by SpotOn Reserve, click below to talk to our team.
