It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Well, maybe not yet. After all, we still have six weeks until the big day. Nevertheless, it should certainly look a lot like the holiday season at your eatery. As we highlighted in our last blog, it’s wise to promote your restaurant using a holiday-theme over the weeks to come.
One of the suggestions we offered was for you to revamp your menu to reflect the holidays. In today’s blog, we’ll take a deeper look into how to do that!
Temporarily rename your dishes.
As we mentioned in our last blog, you don’t necessarily have to change what you offer. Renaming your menu items with holiday-themed monikers is a great way to add a little intrigue to the dining experience at your establishment. You may even wish to spruce things up a bit – recipe-wise – so that your newly-named items are given that exclusive only-here-for-the-holidays feel. According to Silvia Lilly on KultureKonnect.com, Denny’s got this concept right.
“Denny’s decided to add a holiday touch to its breakfast grand slam and call it the ‘holiday slam’ where guests are able to pick any four items and make it their own,” she informs, “This menu features new items, calorie intake, healthy choices and a list of items to choose from all in one without overwhelming the guest. The design is warm, inviting without overpowering the Christmas theme.”
Creatively photograph your menu items using holiday imagery.
Renaming your menu items is a great start. But, as you know, menus are so much more effective when they incorporate vivid photos. Consider doing a photo shoot that places some of your most sumptuous eats in front of a holiday-themed backdrop. Lilly explains that Starbucks did a great job grabbing the attention of customers with photos of their beverages in festive red mugs. The coffee shop also added the taglines “Sip Something Wonderful” and “Deliciously Merry” to this marketing effort.
“Each drink clearly shows how appetizing they really are, it’s simple and straight to the point,” Lilly details, “Not to mention, they added a little Christmas touch using red and white cups. You can always add pricing and other details but keep it short and sweet.”
Include holiday-themed graphics.
This is probably a no-brainer. If you’re going to change up menu item names and add photos that reflect the holidays, you’ll need to incorporate festive graphics as well. Candy canes, mistletoe, reindeer, Christmas trees – the list of holiday-themed images is a long one. PosterMyWall.com suggests that you start off by adding a fun Santa’s hat to your restaurant logo on your menu.
“Include other small touches like a dancing gingerbread man in one corner, some candy canes hanging off your menu header, or even some mistletoe at the top of your menu design,” suggests the website, “Add a gingerbread house as a backdrop for your menu to keep your customers excited for Christmas celebrations.”
Don’t forget to spruce up your website with holiday imagery.
What goes for your handheld menu goes for your online menu too! Can your customers order food from your restaurant’s website? Unity Payments can quickly set you up with your own online ordering system for your restaurant. It includes the creation of a website (if you don’t already have one) and an app! To get started, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-800-661-3761 or email us at info@unitypayments.ca.
