What can I do to boost trade in my restaurant?

What can I do to boost trade in my restaurant on Monday and Tuesday nights? The solutionsGuy Holmes, The Restaurant Ingredient - Industry nights. People who work in the hospitality sector don't often get weekends off, so are more likely to go out at the beginning of the week. - Offer a special discount to the staff of neighbouring bars, pubs and restaurants. Get one of your waiting staff to visit every bar, pub and restaurant and give them flyers printed from your computer. Being popular with the bar staff in the area will have the knock-on effect of being recommended by them. - Special offers and discounts. Your potential customers are more sensitive to price on Mondays and Tuesdays, as these are days that most people stay in. With special offers and discounts, you will ensure that a lot more people will choose your restaurant in the early part of the week. The better the offer, the more people it is likely to attract and, of course, once they sample the quality of the food they will be become regular customers. Offers such as three courses for £15, 20% off normal prices on Mondays and Tuesdays, or two main courses for the price of one always prove popular. - Senior citizen discount. OAPs are sensitive to price and prefer not to go out at weekends, when restaurants are busy. A senior citizen discount can be promoted by contacting bridge clubs, golf clubs and other organisations that have a large number of older people in their memberships. - Sports clubs and gyms. If your restaurant is located near a gym or a sports club, then offer its members some kind of discount. Monday and Tuesday nights are popular times for five-a-side football and other team games, as well as going to the gym. A 10% or 20% discount to team or gym members will encourage those people to get rid of the large appetite from all that exercise. www.tri.eu.com](http://www.tri.eu.com) Ann Elliott, Elliott Independent This is a real challenge. Needless to say, your core offer has to be appealing, and your business thriving in the rest of the week. You can't rely on Monday and Tuesday trade to pull it up. On these nights, you will need to run promotional activity that is really motivating to your target market and then communicate it via advertising, the web, PR, direct mail and local contacts. You could consider: - Meal deals such as two courses for the price of one, or buy a starter and get a dessert for free. - Price promotions, such as 8oz rump steak for £3.95, or curry and a glass of wine for £4.95. - Speciality food evenings, such as a steak night, curry night, Italian night, or menu tasting. - Speciality drink evenings, such as a wine or beer tasting (and pay for taxis home). - Adding value, perhaps by providing entertainment. - Timed deals - for example, 25% off between 5pm and 7pm. - Target-market-specific activity, such as family night, girls' night, OAPs' night, students' night, teachers' night, etc. - Party nights - maybe a "Monday is party night" theme. - Loyalty clubs, such as "the Monday club". - Joint activity - team up with another outlet in town and implement joint activity with, say, fashion shops, health clubs or department stores. - Club evening - invite local clubs and offer a 25% discount. You can use your customers to give you ideas and, most importantly, brainstorm ideas with your team (and reward both groups for doing so). Before doing anything, think carefully about the returns you will gain for time and money invested in driving business on a Monday and/or Tuesday. What would happen if you put the same effort into driving trade on nights with more true potential? [www.elliottindependent.com](http://www.elliottindependent.com) Paul West, Ignite Marketing Monday and Tuesday evenings can be slow for restaurants, as many people tend to eat at home, having spent substantially over the weekend. To tempt customers into your restaurant you need to do two things: offer great value, and offer something particularly interesting - you can't just rely on your standard offering. Try these different techniques to boost your beginning-of-the-week turnover: - Sign up with discount websites such as Top Table or Lastminute, and promote Monday and Tuesday specials. - Give away vouchers on weekend nights for a free bottle of house wine, valid on Monday or Tuesday evenings. - Develop a special set menu for Monday and Tuesday nights that offers excellent value for two or three courses and a glass of wine. - Book good, suitable live musicians and publicise these weekly events well with flyers, advertising or press coverage. - Certain types of restaurant could cook a well-known dish in large quantities that you can offer at a great price, such as paella, and create a fun night out. - Whatever value you decide to add for Monday and Tuesday, you need to make sure it is well publicised. Send e-mails, letters or flyers to customers on your database, and place adverts in the local paper and use that as leverage to secure editorial coverage. Vouchers can also be sent as e-mails or can be included in adverts. - Finally, you could set up an SMS text message promotion. Collect customer mobile numbers and send out promo messages, such as "bring this text message with you this evening and get 20% off your bill". You can even encourage people to forward it to friends. [www.ignitemarketing.co.uk