For Restaurants: Earlier the Pumpkin, the Better

Warm apple pie and cider are my immediate thoughts when fall comes to mind, but to the rest of the world, it can mean anything from …ginger bread cookies to the return of pumpkin flavored goodies. Here are some best practices from the Fishbowl team to help your restaurant have a successful fall leading into the holiday season.
1. Earlier the Pumpkin, the Better:
While flavored coffee is the trending to-do, any pumpkin flavored item will be a hit! My favorite pumpkin food is a pumpkin bread loaf with chocolate chips inside of it served with ice cream. Don’t just limit yourself to thinking of pumpkin flavored drinks and make sure to include pumpkin appetizers, entrees, and desserts. And if your fare is more fast casual, think of adding a Guactober promotion like BOGO, free guacamole with the purchase of an entrée, or guacamole burgers.
2. Sports Rule October:
October is one of the best months to be a sports fan! It’s the only month that all major league sports are playing at the same time, with two of them – baseball and soccer – starting their postseasons. A great way to bring people in is to create a “game day special” that is a fixed price and make sure that you have the ability to show several games at once. My personal favorite is when a bar creates deals on appetizers and drinks during certain games. This can help drive customers in during the middle of the day when it otherwise might be slow.
3. Halloween E-mail Tricks:
Fishbowl has found that Halloween-themed mailings start early, with October 26th as the highest volume day. According to our 2018 performance overview, open rates ranged from 12% to 26% with the best engagement seen earlier in October, followed by October 27th. The best subject lines for emails included variations of the word “spooky”, as well as, “trick or treat”.
4. October is OktoBEERfest:
One of the biggest fall events is the Oktoberfest beer festival that happens in Munich, as well as other cities around the world. Personally I love seeing seasonal drinks on a menu but I’m always looking forward to seeing new Oktoberfest beers and spooky theme cocktails such as The Monster Mash and Zombie Brains. For October, our Fishbowl experts suggest, running a promotion serving only Oktoberfest beers along with a providing a special menu for this way it is an exclusive day.
5. Throw a Spooktacular Party:
Halloween falls on a Thursday this year which means that the celebration should last throughout the weekend. Go out and throw a costume party for your customers this Halloween. Make sure at least one of the days you include prizes for adults as this holiday is for them just as much as children. Don’t want to throw a party alone? Get some neighboring restaurants and bars to team up to create a pub crawl for this spooktacular party.
Creating a successful fall marketing campaign will help your restaurant lead right into a wonderful holiday season. Fishbowl has over thirty experts that can help your restaurant during this important time of the year.
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This blog was written by, Zachary Grayson, Fishbowl’s Marketing Coordinator.

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