How to create a great restaurant offer

Going into the festive season, it's a great idea to plan out your promotional and offer strategies in advance to ensure customers are visiting your venue. But what exactly makes a good offer? And how do you know if you've done the right deal?

To help you out, we've compiled these simple steps to ensure you're creating a win-win for yourself and your customers when you create offers with Dojo.

1) Who is the customer you are trying to attract?

Do you get most of your tables filled with locals and families with kids? Are you in a busy central zone with a mix of tourists and business professionals? Or maybe you thrive in a uni town with students on a budget?

Once you know who you want to attract, think about what might motivate them to try you out. Are they budget-conscious? Do they want an exciting experience? Or does the idea of an extra treat with their meal appeal most?

Once you have those answers, the offers will be practically writing themselves.

2) What are you willing to offer from your business?

Now you know what your customer is after – are you ready to give it to them? In order to answer this question, you should consider a few things:

• What's easy for you to give – if you've got a low-cost, highly sought-after samosa recipe, it can come in handy right about now.
• What does your inventory look like – do you have a lot of extra burgers this week that will go bad unless consumed?
• Do you have high margins – and would you be willing to part with a bit of profit at certain times to keep your venue full?

Once you've considered all the above, you can...

3) Bring it all together!

What is the intersection of what your customer wants and what you're prepared to give to get them to visit your restaurant?

This is the offer sweet spot.

Got uni students looking for a deal? Give them buy one get one free to reduce your extra beef inventory and get them through the door.

Got business professionals and tourists alike looking for a good time? Create a bespoke menu at a discount that will provide an exciting experience worth coming back for.

And don't forget, you always want to put appropriate constraints on all your offers. For example, you wouldn't want to give £10 off any bill – do that, and someone with a £10 meal just got their food for free. Instead, you'd want to add a minimal spend constraint.

As long as there's a win-win for you and your diners, offers are a great way to get new and loyal customers straight to your restaurant.

Now you know everything about setting up the perfect restaurant offer – why not give it a try?

Introducing Dojo offers

Now that we've covered the basics of creating a great restaurant offer, here are the offers you can set up with Dojo. With us, you can enjoy four new ways to attract hungry diners:

1. Discount – give money or a percentage off their bill.
2. Early bird – exclusive offers for visiting at certain times.
3. Buy 1 get 1 free – two items for the price of one.
4. Free item – a complimentary add-on to an order.

Not sure which one is right for you? Here’s how to make offers a win-win for you and your customers.