Bring Customers Together Revenue With These 4 Restaurant Events

Now more than ever restaurants are getting creative welcoming their customers back by offering unique services such as:

• Virtual events
• Drive-in movie nights
• Concerts or live music
• Cooking and mixology classes

Offering these limited services can be a fun way to discover your restaurant’s unique signature with your customers. Learn more about these events by checking out our top four event ideas that’ll bring the community together while helping you increase your revenue.

1. Create a virtual event that guests can experience remotely

Make staying in a blast amongst your community by offering virtual events during COVID-19. Though it’s different than the traditional restaurant experience, restaurants across the country have tried to make the move to digital to help support their business while bringing the community together. Start by offering different meal kits that fit within the theme such as a friendly competition or group event you’d like to host. 

• For those who want to compete in a friendly competition you can host a wing-challenge that consists of:
  • Ready-to-eat meal kit 
  • Six different hot sauces

In order for guests to participate, all they had to do is join the Zoom call at a specific time. During the Zoom call, guests are challenged to try a different hot sauce per round. This is not only fun to see which local can really withstand the heat but it’s a way to connect with the community virtually during this time of separation.

2. Entertain guests with a drive-in movie night

Create positive memories for the community during this time of separation by hosting a carhop. This can help increase your restaurant’s profits by charging guests an admission fee of $10 per car. This way, you can make at least a $10 profit on top of the revenue you’ll receive from your food sales. Offer meals that would be easy for customers to manage such as popcorn, burgers, fries, or pizza. This way you can cook in bulk and give guests food that would be difficult to eat in their car.

For instance, encourage customers to stop by to grab food and watch a classic movie such as The Sandlot during your first drive-in movie night. If you find that it’s very popular amongst guests, make it a weekly event where and encourage your social media followers to share and to help vote for the next movie.

3. Host a concert or offer a band to perform at your restaurant

Increase the number of customers you have by offering an outdoor dining experience. With recent regulations allowing restaurants to open their dine-in service at a 25% capacity restaurants are making the move to outdoor seating. This way it can increase their customer capacity to help maintain their revenue while also providing jobs for their staff. Take advantage of the outdoor experience by drawing people in with a live band or by hosting a concert. Many local musicians will be more than happy to help their local restaurants as well as them performing their music to an enthusiastic crowd. 

• Have guests come to your restaurant and unwind by having local musicians play during your dinner services like at Hub Stacey’s. This can expand your business by attracting music lovers from all over and is a way to bring the community together to help support these local artists. Spread the news of your restaurant’s live band by posting on social media and filling out your events calendar so guests can plan accordingly. If you’re hesitant about having too big of a crowd, you can also reserve a night out of the week by only allowing guests to come in if they made an online reservation. By doing so will help you control how the audience size and it will encourage more people to go to your website.

• If you would rather host a few than make it a weekly event, host a drive-in concert for customers only on special holidays. For instance, when there’s a holiday within the next few weeks consider hosting a special event that can include discounted bottles of wine, food specials, and parking for guests who wanted to enjoy the concert experience in the comforts of their car. 

4. Offer customers a behind-the-scenes look at how dishes and drinks are made by hosting a cooking class

Offer your services outdoors while hosting a private cooking or tasting class inside your restaurant. This way you can increase your revenue by setting a higher rate for guests to have a unique hands-on experience while sampling different dishes. Additionally, this provides add-on opportunities for guests to customize their class or to give others the gift of the experience by giving gift cards. Another way of how it can benefit your restaurant is by having more control over the number of people who are in your restaurant. First, start by having a set number of people who can be in the class. You can either offer it for group bookings or have a set number of people that can sign up for the class. Make sure that you set certain protocols such as having staff and guests wear face masks to help prevent the spread. You can also provide guests protective gloves for additional safety measures.

• To help customers combat the “Quarantine 15”, the team over at Nefetari’s Fine Cuisine is offering customers a Progressive Weight Loss Workshop. For the 8-week long online workshop, customers will get a schedule, meal prep ideas, and ways to incorporate a healthier lifestyle. In order for users to participate, they were required to pay for the workshop ahead of time and commit to the weekly online meetings. 

If you’d like to maintain your in-dining service but you would like to host an event you can also have a virtual class that guests can sign up for online. This way you can have as many people join your class and offer meal prep kits for purchase. Go an additional step by offering a discount when guests purchase a bottle of wine with their meal kit. By doing so will help increase your profits while also giving guests an enjoyable experience.

These times can be stressful but it doesn’t mean you can’t offer your guests a positive atmosphere with these fun events for your restaurant. If you’ve been curious about exploring different virtual options take advantage of the opportunity of offering an online cook class or competition for your customers. If you have a property big enough to host a drive-in concert or movie, to bring a sense of community back to your restaurant. If it’s a huge hit make it a monthly event that can be continued after the pandemic. Whatever you decide to do for your restaurant, remember to have fun while you discover the event that could make your restaurant a huge hit.