Goodbye Weekend Crowds, Hello Weekday Traffic

Goodbye Weekend Crowds, Hello Weekday TrafficMany restaurants see their best sales during the weekends and rely heavily on full capacity with multiple turnovers on Saturday and Sundays to offset lower profits generated during the slower week days. But, now that restaurants are experiencing capacity limitations, they need to be able to evenly generate a profit throughout the week to survive. So how does a restaurant convince their customers to venture out during the week? Here are some ideas from restaurants that are making the shift and say goodbye weekend crowds, hello weekday traffic.

Offer Weekday Specials

One way restaurants are appealing to the weekday crowd is providing specials that are only for weekday meals. Maybe each day features a different deal like two-for-one, free drinks, or a percentage off. Some restaurants are appealing to the family demographic by providing family-sized combos at a reduced price instead of individual meals to take home. If you provide a customer loyalty program, you could implement double points during the week or special freebies for loyalty members that can only be redeemed Monday-Thursday. If you have certain dishes that you normally only provide on the weekends that bring in a large crowd, think about moving them to a weekday too.

Provide Entertainment

Now more than ever, people need fun and laughter in their lives to take their minds off the world around them, even it if is for just an hour or two. So, instead of keeping all the fun entertainment for the weekends, trying adding to the week as well. Live music livens up the place quickly. Or, your restaurant could host a trivia game night during the week to give a fun competition for customers to participate in. Looking for ideas to keep the tables turning and less time in the restaurant? How about teaming up with a local entertainment business that customers can receive a discount for when they dine in with you during the week or spend so much on a takeout meal.

Lunch Catering

While there may not be as many people in office buildings right now, there are still plenty of people working outside of the home that need a meal during weekday lunch time. We heard from one restaurant that implemented a catering lunch menu for large businesses in their area and then provided those businesses a discount on specific days so not more than two large businesses received a discount on the same day. This allowed them to get in the large orders and keep them evenly spread out throughout the work week to keep it manageable with their staff levels. If you have some large businesses in your area, this is a great idea to try.

Pre-ordering and Reservations

One way to effectively manage capacity limitations is by changing your dine-in services to reservation only for the time being to reduce wait times and amount people in your restaurant. If this business model won’t work for you, you could also give pre-ordering a try. Since a lot of the time spent in a restaurant is waiting for the food to be prepared, allowing customers to preorder their meals and then select the time that they will arrive at the restaurant will give them the ability to still receive the dine-in service and not have to wait for their food. Less time waiting will equal quicker table turnovers and the ability to bring in new people in a lesser amount of time. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Creative Marketing

You should try multiple ways to spread out your crowds to keep capacities manageable but it’s all for nothing if you don’t advertise your efforts properly and no one knows about them. Social media is a great place to start. Create fun and engaging posts that will grab your customers’ attention. Advertise your new specials or events in a local magazine or newspaper. Print isn’t dead, use them to your advantage. If you have cultivated an email list, sending email marketing will also boost awareness and drive sales on the days your focusing on. Email is also a great way to introduce flash sales and other timely events that can be time-sensitive and direct people your restaurant during specific times.

The times that restaurants relied on weekend crowds to generate a profit is unfortunately a thing of the past in the foreseeable  future. To offset this, it’s imperative that restaurants focus on bringing in more people during the week. If your restaurant could use more advice on how to refocus your restaurant’s strategies, we’re here to help. Our team of experienced restaurant loan consultants are available to discuss a plan help you navigate during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. Locate a loan consultant in your area to get started.

Goodbye Weekend Crowds Hello Weekday Traffic