As the summer season is coming to an end and students are going back to school, restaurants now have an opportunity to drive more sales and keep students coming back.
Read on to get some tips and ideas on how to promote your restaurant and increase your revenue.
1. Promotions, promotions, promotions!
The cost of pursuing education can place a financial strain on students. Between school supplies, new clothes and electronic devices, the bill can quickly add up.
Increase your restaurant’s traffic by offering discounts and promotions with any valid student ID.
A great way to get your promotions to students is by promoting them on social media. Social media offers a way for restaurants to engage with customers and influence them with their purchasing decisions.
To note: You may also want to reach out to schools directly to spread the word.
Restaurant promotions ideas for students:
- Fixed price menu one day out of the week
- % discount on the entire menu (valid student ID required)
- Teacher appreciation discount
- Partner with schools
- Email student coupons or birthday freebie
2. Maximize your reach with online ordering
Why not take advantage of the back-to-school year to get your online ordering app?
Believe it or not, students represent some of the most spenders for certain types of food delivery. Low-priced food options on apps such as fast food are in high demand.
And with only a small percentage of students having cars, most of them would rather order their food online than having to walk or take transit for hours. By adopting the right solution, whether it is a popular delivery app, online ordering app or a combination of both, restaurants can start seeing a growth in sales and happier customers.
3.Diversify your menu
One of the trends in the food industry is the creation of a diversified menu to drive additional sources of revenue.
By diversifying your offerings, students can enjoy shareable dishes after a study session or test. Shareable dishes like pizza, charcuterie boards or cheese bread are popular as students prefer communal tables.
Alternatively, combo meals are a great way to increase sales without much effort. Select your top-selling items and pair them with drinks and desserts. Make sure to have different meal combos for different days of the week to keep students coming back more often.
Tip: Make your menu available digitally so that students can view your menu and order directly from it.
4. Turn to technology to sell more
If long line-ups are usually a good problem to have, slow service time can turn customers away and lead to lost sales. Restaurant wait times play a large role in the customer experience – a quick look at frustrated customers will be pretty obvious, so managing these lines-ups properly is crucial during peak hours.
Luckily, there are solutions to help your restaurant. Technology like a mobile POS allows staff to takes customer orders in the line and send them directly to the kitchen for processing.
Other restaurant tools such as an online ordering app let customers order online and pick up the food when it’s ready.
Whether you invest in an app or an iPad POS for line-ups, technology can help you keep your customers satisfied and your line-ups short.
5. Hold a back to school contest
Holding a back-to-school contest on social media can be a great way to attract more customers to your restaurant.
Ask guests to take pictures of their food and tag you to give your restaurant a new exposure and engagement with the student’s social media followers.
Are you ready for back to school?
It may seem that the back-to-school season is only relevant to retailers and parents but restaurants can greatly benefit from it. By implementing the right tools, your restaurant increases its chances of bringing more customers and growing sales.
Are you looking for a complete POS Solution? Take advantage of our current promotion and get your restaurant ready for back to school. Contact our team for more info at sales@myr.io or call us at +1 844-695-6664.
