Weekends are easy. It’s the Mondays that test your restaurant’s game.
Let’s face it: every restaurant sees a surge on weekends and holidays. But what about those slow Tuesdays or rainy Thursdays? Boosting foot traffic on quiet days is where the real challenge (and opportunity) lies.
In this article, we explore data-informed tactics to increase your restaurant’s footfall across all days. From optimizing your Google Business Profile and ensuring mobile-friendly online bookings to running targeted promotions, we break down what works and why.
Start filling tables even on your quietest days!
Strategies to increase footfall in a restaurant
Now, let’s look at the top strategies and tips you can try to increase footfall in your restaurant.
Create a Google Business Profile
Your restaurant’s Google Business Profile (GBP) helps you build awareness by appearing for ‘near me’ and location-based searches.
Often if a guest looks up ‘restaurants’ or ‘restaurants near me’ on Google Maps, yours will pop up along with your GBP.
In that profile, you can have guest reviews, share images of your restaurant’s interior, popular dishes, and even your menu.
Have a mobile-friendly site
Having a restaurant website is more important than ever. Even more so, your website needs to be mobile-friendly, as roughly 62.69% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices.
Not only does your website act as a booking machine, but it also builds awareness. You can share your digital menus, get visitors to subscribe to your restaurant newsletter, online bookings, and increase restaurant footfall.
Special online offers
Running special offers is by far one of the top ways restaurants increase footfall during weekdays. You can run these offers as a special banner on your website and across your social media channels.
For social media, you’ll need to regularly share content about your offers.
Special offers can include free beverages, free dessert for bills over AED 500, a special 10% off for groups of 4 or more. Or something else.
The most popular social media channels for restaurants are Facebook and Instagram.
If you have a restaurant CRM, you can also share your special offers via SMS, email newsletter, or WhatsApp Business for Restaurants. Choose the method of communication preferred by your guests.
With SMS marketing and WhatsApp for Restaurants, you can reservation, menu, and Google Maps links to drive traffic.
Bonus: Grab Our WhatsApp Marketing Templates for Restaurants
Run happy hour
Depending on your concept and offering, consider running a ‘Happy Hour’ for certain beverages and salads. This means free refills for guests who dine in between 3 pm and 4 pm (for example).
You can also widen the net and run your ‘Happy Hour’ from 3 pm to 6 pm or some other time.
It could be applicable to weekdays or specific days, like Mondays, when traffic is the lowest.
Use multiple booking channels
Increase your restaurant’s foot traffic by joining or subscribing to multiple booking channels. You can do this independently or via a restaurant reservation system like Servme, where you enable/disable channels in a single click.
Popular global booking channels include: Tripadvisor, Zomato, The Michelin Guide, and others.
In Saudi Arabia, booking channels include: Webook and The Chefz, among others.
If you’re using Servme, you can integrate with all the above and more, like Tea Time in the UK. You can also use Facebook and Instagram for commission-free reservations.
You can also use your website as a commission-free booking channel.
Note, that some booking channels charge commission fees for each booking. As your restaurant grows, you may decide whether it’s worth paying these commissions or not. However, your restaurant website and social channels remain commission-free.
For reservation systems, some charge commissions and some, like Servme, don’t.
Use Reserve with Google
Another popular booking channel is Reserve with Google. While it’s not available in all countries, Google is constantly adding new locations.
Although Google Reserve doesn’t charge commissions, dining concepts can only add it if they use a restaurant reservation management system.
Run monthly giveaways
Giveaways are a popular restaurant marketing idea and tactic. You need to balance frequency with benefits. You can’t run a daily giveaway, but you can run a weekly or even monthly giveaway.
The giveaway should be enticing to prompt diners to engage with your content, tag others, and apply. The giveaway could be a for a main course, a dessert, or even dinner for 2.
Highlight UGC and testimonials
Did you get reviews from guests via social media, your website, or a booking channel? Use this testimonial in your restaurant’s marketing strategy to boost awareness and drive more diners to your venue.
If a guest dines at your venue and tags your restaurant along with their dish and shares it on social media, this is user-generated content (UGC). And that’s like striking gold!
Thank the guest and reshare their content to your account or page. On Instagram, this is often done via the Stories feature.
Resharing what your guests have to say, especially, positive reviews can entice on-the-fence guests to visit your venue.
You can make the opportunity even more enticing for your guests by adding a special offer by combining UGC with a special offer.
Offer a 10% off the bill if a guest shares 1-2 pictures of their dishes with their social media followers. Make sure they tag your restaurant and show their waiter the post so they can be eligible for the discount.
Keep track of review sites
This will help you see what guests are saying about you via these restaurant review platforms.
Some of these platforms can also act as restaurant directories, which you can join. Some sites will even allow you to respond to guests to learn more about their problems or simply thank them.
While they vary by location, some are global and have thousands of visitors each day and week.
If you manage multiple restaurant locations, you may see discrepancies in the services provided in some venues.
Use a loyalty and referral program
A restaurant loyalty program helps you build guest retention and increase repeat business. It’s also a great opportunity to reward loyal customers and increase footfall in your restaurant.
Often loyalty programs come with a built-in referral system, allowing guests to share a referral link and bring more business your way.
Make sure you make your loyalty program worth their while so they can keep coming back and referring more guests to you.
Engage with local influencers
Depending on your restaurant’s budget, consider engaging with local food influencers and bloggers to boost sales and foot traffic.
Influencers have a wider reach and can get more eyes on your venue. However, make sure the food influencers get is the same as what other diners will receive.
A common pitfall is a restaurant going all out with their dishes for influencers but guests complain they received half the portion or the dishes not looking the same!
Create discounted fixed-price menus
One way to increase footfall in your restaurant is to create a weekday discounted fixed-price (prix-fixe) menu. This can include a soup, appetizer, and main course, or an appetizer, salad, and beverage, or even salad, main course, and dessert.
With fixed-price menus, often you’ll have 2-3 menu items for each course (soup/salad/main course/dessert/beverage).
Tailor your offering so it entices guests. You can also offer a fixed-price menu for groups of 2, 3, and 4, to increase traffic and the number of diners.
Add an outdoor sign to entice guests as well.
Offer seasonal menus
Creating seasonal menus, whether for beverages, desserts, or a combination of dishes, can help you increase restaurant foot traffic.
Your seasonal menus aren’t meant to be a revamp of your entire menu. It can simply be 2 new beverages and 2 desserts with fruits that are in season.
Review your competition so you can stand out. Market your menus across social media and your website to increase the chances of guests seeing your offerings.
Consider special events
Running special events like trivia or themed-nights can increase restaurant reservations and footfall. If you run events during weekends, you may consider an online booking system, like Servme.
If you run them during weekdays, they can get more guests to visit your dining concept.
Consider local partnerships
Build partnerships and collaborations with local businesses. Reach out to local banks, which employ thousands of people, and offer discounts to their employees.
Explore partnerships with discount cards like XclusivesCard, Afwarlak, and Premium Card in Egypt, The Entertainer Card, Dubai Pass, and Abu Dhabi Pass in the UAE, among others. Some global discount cards include Qualiet and Bazaryo.
These cards offer instant or refund discounts to encourage first-time and repeat business, both of which can increase restaurant foot traffic.
Additional general tips for boosting footfall
In addition to the above, you can enhance your online and offline presence to get more traffic. Here’s how:
Add a sign to your physical location
If you’re located in a mall, popular shopping area, or any visible location, use a sign announcing your special offers to entice guests.
You can change the information on the sign based on the offer. So, if you have a fixed-price menu, try to highlight the information in brief on the sign. If you have a seasonal menu, mention what guests can get if they dine in.
Make sure it’s simple and catchy without any puns. You can mention the value of the offer on the sign.
Improve local SEO
Improve your restaurant’s website with local SEO tactics for restaurants. These include using search engine optimization (SEO) best practices like having a mobile-friendly, fast-loading website, using keywords to improve ranking, and more.
Local SEO helps you get seen by local searchers. This means appearing for searches like ‘restaurants near me’ or ‘[Italian/cuisine type] restaurant in [city].’
Wrapping it up
Boosting footfall ultimately means increasing restaurant sales and revenues, which means growing your restaurant, adding venues, and maximizing profits.
By leveraging the above tactics, you can increase footfall in your restaurant on low-traffic weekdays. These tactics play into your marketing strategy and can help you attract new guests and retain old ones.
If you want to make the most of booking channels, like Reserve with Google, Zomato, and Tripadvisor, without the hassle of doing it yourself, get in touch with Servme.
Servme is a restaurant reservation and table management system that helps you manage bookings, review restaurant reports, to make decisions and boost revenues and profits.
Nada Sobhi
Marketing
