Top Marketing Techniques to Boost Mother’s Day Events and Catering
Mother’s Day events are huge opportunities for the private dining and catering industry. Are you ready?
Mother’s Day is quickly approaching on May 8 and we recognize this weekend presents lots of business opportunities for hosting private events and catering. Moms everywhere will be honored and they should not be cooking on this special day. It is the perfect opportunity for restaurants and caterers to provide a special holiday experience, as well as leverage this opportunity to grow their own business.
Start preparing now for the holiday demand by completing some important marketing tasks. Explore some creative ways to let your customers know you can host or cater their celebration of the special mother figures in their lives.
Why Mother’s Day is a huge opportunity for events and catering
- Mother’s Day is a leading holiday for dining out and food-centric gatherings, period. Only Valentine’s Day and Christmas have come close in revenue.
- More than one-third of adults typically go out to a restaurant for a special meal, according to the National Restaurant Association.
- Even during the pandemic shutdown when people could not dine out to celebrate this holiday, they turned to catering, take-out, or meal kits.
- Ready-to-eat meals and meal kits continue to be a growing market that catering companies, restaurant take-out, and ghost kitchens can take advantage of.
- Mother’s Day promotions raise awareness of your brand, improve loyalty, and drive repeat customers and overall sales.
What Will Mother’s Day Look Like This Year?
Let’s take a moment to reflect on how much restaurant business happens on Mother’s Day. While we know that COVID impacted dining out on Mother’s Day 2020 and even somewhat last year. But what about 2022?
Historically, Mother’s Day events are a huge revenue driver for restaurants. Even in 2020, only months into the shutdown, consumer spending at restaurants was still a high point revenue-wise. This data does take into account that much of the revenue was through take-out, delivered, or catered food.
Now in 2022, we are at a point where most people feel comfortable dining out with others. Americans miss gathering together and experiencing great food. According to Morning Consult’s Return to Normal research, about three in four U.S. adults say they feel comfortable dining at a restaurant or cafe with others. While we all continue to work on recovering from the pandemic and the current economic state, it is expected that Mother’s Day weekend 2022 will be a huge opportunity for increased sales.
7 Marketing Ideas for Hosting or Catering for Mother’s Day
Marketing your restaurant for Mother’s Day specials is so important in order to capture bookings for catering and events among your regular and potential new customers.
1. Signage
Draw attention to people passing by and use the space you have to your advantage. Announce your Mother’s Day menus and specials by using in-restaurant tent cards or posters. Consider printing out clear and concise flyers and hanging them in a visible place inside your business.
Think about using beautiful signage and menus outside as well. Get creative by adding a painted window mural or using chalk on the sidewalk to promote your Mother’s Day events. If you have a good relationship with any local community groups or businesses, ask if you can post your signs in their locations. Make sure to rotate your signage so that it stands out more.
2. Staff word of mouth
Make sure that your entire staff is knowledgeable about your Mother’s Day promotions ahead of time. They can share this information with your existing customers several weeks prior. Having your staff, hosts, and servers knowledgeable about your offerings and encouraging customers to come back for your special Mother’s Day menu is sure to help promote your business.
3. Website
Update your website to explain whether you’ll be open for dine-in, takeout, or catered options on Mother’s Day. Make sure to include all helpful information including hours and cost. If your focus is on takeout, delivery, or catered options, make it easy for customers to view your to-go menu and place an order online. If you are offering private dining, include your lead form. (Tripleseat can help!)
4. Email marketing
Email is a great way to remind customers about what specials or promotions you have for Mother’s Day. Include a link to your lead form or TripleseatDirect page. Make sure you use a stand-out subject line so your customers want to see what you have to tell them. We particularly like “We love your mother” or “What MOM wants, MOM gets.”
5. Social media
Regularly posting to social platforms like Facebook and Instagram can help you reach new customers. Make your posts visually interesting and include links or images of your menu and offerings. Include your lead form or TripleseatDirect link within your pages.
Social media allows you to really engage with your customers and potential customers. Consider adding hashtags for added visibility, such as #mothersday, #mothersday2022, and #mothersdayspecial.
6. Promotions and contests
Consider giving gift cards to customers leading up to Mother’s Day when they make a gift card purchase. This is called a bounce-back promotion and is sure to increase your sales on Mother’s Day and beyond.
So for example, if a guest purchases a $50 gift card in-person or online, give them a $10 bonus card to use for themselves. You can also consider having a give-away gift basket where each mother is provided a ticket. You can announce the winner and invite them back.
Tripleseat customer OceanPrime does a great job promoting gift card promotions on Instagram.
7. Partner with a nonprofit
Another way to market your restaurant is to consider donating some of your Mother’s Day proceeds to a nonprofit. By promoting a partnership, such as with a women-centered nonprofit, you’ll attract more customers who appreciate your charitable generosity.
TripleseatDirect makes holidays even better with more customers
TripleseatDirect provides your customers with a simple online booking solution where they can book, plan, and pay for in-house private events, off-site catering, pickup, and delivery with zero friction. If your venue isn’t using TripleseatDirect yet, head on over to our TripleseatDirect page for more information or to book a demo.
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