Holidays

How Restaurants Can Drive More Revenue Over Labor Day Weekend

Restaurant marketing tips and ideas to promote online ordering, meal kits, classes and more.

Labor Day marks the end of summer in the United States and starts the transition into fall. For consumers, the long weekend often means spending time with friends and family over a meal. What does this mean for restaurants? There's an opportunity to meet the increase in diner demand over the holiday weekend. Read on for ideas on how to make more profits this Labor Day and the best way to market your offerings.

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3 Ways to Drive Revenue This Labor Day

Whether it’s online ordering for pickup or delivery, offering creative meal kits, or selling tickets to educational classes, here are three ideas for driving revenue to support your restaurant’s bottom line.

1. Offer a Special Takeout Menu

Some people may be having outdoor gatherings. Many are just looking for time to relax without cooking. Online ordering for pickup or delivery is a great way to help them in their pursuits while making their lives easier when it comes to dining at home.

Tiny Lou’s offers family style barbecue as a takeout special for the holiday with a discount when you buy for four people. The spread includes meat, sides, and dessert.

Data shows that 70% of consumers prefer to order direct from restaurants over third-party marketplaces, so make sure your online ordering platforms are set up with an intuitive diner interface to maximize the number of orders that come through.

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Online Ordering for Restaurants

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2. Get Creative With Meal Kits

Meal kits from restaurants have gained popularity in the past few years — everything from ready-to-go picnic spreads to assembly your own tacos. This is a way for restaurants to feed large groups with creative seasonal packages.

At Bluewater Grill, there are lobster roll kits for pre-order ahead of Labor Day. Customers can pick up the kits in person at any of the restaurant’s eight locations.

3. Sell Tickets to Events & Classes

Another creative option for restaurants is to host ticketed events and classes. Corkbuzz uses their knowledgeable staff to offer educational experiences. The restaurant and wine bar hosts a variety of 90-minute sessions on wine regions that are led by their sommeliers.

These types of offerings are fun, informative, and interactive — a key set of criteria for driving repeat business. Customers value the expertise shared and the engaging feel of ticketed events. It’s a way for guests who are loyal fans of a restaurant to show support. Plus, it’s an alternative revenue stream for restaurants looking to boost their bottom line.

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Restaurant Ticketing

Host events like charcuterie board workshops or wine tastings, sell tickets, and keep track of guests with an all-in-one system.

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How to Promote Labor Day Specials

Getting the word out through online marketing is critical, whether it’s on social media, email, through your restaurant’s website or a combination of them all. Here are a few ways restaurants can promote their Labor Day offerings this holiday weekend.

1. Send Emails Highlighting Offerings

Email is a powerful marketing tool for restaurants. A restaurant’s website should include a form to subscribe to the restaurant’s newsletters. Restaurants should send a campaign leading up to Labor Day, highlighting the various specials or events they’re offering with a dedicated call to action button like purchase a meal kit or buy tickets to a class.

Loreley Beer Garden sent an email to their newsletter subscribers promoting their four-day brunch special. What works well about the email is a high-quality featured image, a single paragraph of content that highlights the menu items, and a prompt to book a reservation.

Restaurants that use a direct online ordering system have the benefit of accessing contact information from previous diners, whether they’ve ordered online for delivery or dined on-premise. Thanks to a centralized Diner Database, captured emails live in the backend of the restaurant’s website and can be used for marketing purposes to drive repeat diners.

2. Create a Homepage Pop-up Alert

Pop-up alerts are quick ways to display important information when a visitor first lands on your restaurant’s website. Use this to promote Labor Day specials or events.

Write a compelling message that entices a website visitor to take action and drives to your online ordering, upcoming events page, or reservations platform.

3. Post About Labor Day Specials on Social Media

Social media is vital for restaurants to communicate and create relationships with their guests. This Labor Day weekend, restaurants should promote their specials and offerings in advance to create buzz and spread awareness to as many followers as possible.

Blue Smoke posted on Instagram and shared all of the ways diners can interact with the restaurant over the holiday including visiting in person, ordering catering or delivery, and snagging a shipment of barbecue.

If there is a budget for advertising, consider promoting an Instagram or Facebook post to potentially increase sales. This also can attract more followers and consequently increase converting them into paying customers.

Where To Start & Quick Links

For restaurants who are looking for more resources, check out the on-demand webinars below:

To learn more ways to get creative with offerings this Labor Day weekend, get in touch with your account manager or sign up for a free demo with a BentoBox specialist.

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