Getting ready for the holidays with Loona.ai

For most restaurants, the New Year holidays are a time of high sales and lots of guests. People go out, meet friends, celebrate and spend a lot of time away from home. We made a guide for you on how to get the most out of this time, and you need to start getting ready for it now.

If you do not have a loyalty program yet

Now is the best time to think about setting one up. Before the holidays, you will have time not only to set everything up, but also to actively invite your guests to join your loyalty program as early as December. December and the January holidays are usually a time of high sales for restaurants, and we suggest you do not miss this chance: build a guest database and start actively working with it later.

At this time of year, people are ready to spend more, they are more active and more open to talking. It is the perfect time to invite them to join your loyalty program, but do not forget to give them a small gift. During the New Year holidays, this feels especially right. The gift can be a gingerbread cookie if you have a cafe or a pastry shop, or a glass of sparkling wine if you have a restaurant.

The more people you reach in these days, the easier it will be to set up your communication with them later, thanks to the guest traffic management system you have in place. As we know, January and February are usually a fairly slow season for restaurants. With this approach, you will have a base of loyal guests that you can bring to your restaurant in any slow period with push notifications, inviting them to events, tastings and upcoming holidays.

Of course, bringing guests into your loyalty program should not stop after the holidays. We suggest you work on it regularly: set monthly targets and rewards for staff for giving out new loyalty cards and working with existing ones, and track how staff handle this work. If you keep adding new guests to the program, even 100 people a month, in a few months you will have a core of loyal guests. You can contact them regularly with different push notification automations or email campaigns and invite them to visit your restaurant again.

Work on bringing guests back too

Along with bringing in new guests, we suggest you also work on bringing guests back. For example, when you bring in a guest with new program mechanics, you can plan their return to the venue right away. Here is how: on the first visit, the guest signs up for the loyalty program and gets points for a set time, which they can spend only on their next visit. Instead of welcome points, you can also give a glass of sparkling wine as a gift, or even a bottle. It all depends on how big the checks are at your venue and how generous you are. If you do not know what to choose, our experts will help you work out the most effective options.

A reason to remind guests about you

If you had another loyalty program that guests did not use much, now is the best time to move your guest database to our program, so you can fully work with these guests during the holidays. After that, working with the database means bringing in new guests, getting new and old guests involved in the life of the venue, and growing visit frequency and the average check.

What is more, in November we have our best terms for getting started, because you can use the discounts of our "Black November" promotion, which runs until November 30, 2023.

If you already have a loyalty program

Use this time to the fullest to bring guests back and build warm relationships with them based on trust.

For example, if you are a neighborhood restaurant, you can invite guests to a neighborhood New Year party with a lottery where everyone wins. If you want, only your most loyal guests can come to this event, and you can pick them in your admin portal with filters. Send a push notification campaign: filter your guests first and choose the ones you want to see on that day. This is a great reason to sincerely thank them for their loyalty and wish them happy holidays.

Many restaurants are already booked for corporate parties, and guests have trouble making a booking. If you still have free days, tell people about it. You can also create an offer for your current guests to encourage them to hold their corporate party at your place. If your space is not made for large groups, prepare a campaign that invites guests to meet with a small group of friends. Of course, at this time we suggest you give gifts, but we promise you, checks for New Year celebrations are always much higher. This means the gifts will surely pay for themselves. You can do this with email campaigns, a new tool we added very recently and suggest you start using actively. You can tell all your guests about special offers that your restaurant will have before and during the holidays.

A great offer can be celebrating New Year's Eve itself at your restaurant. Prepare a program and send it to your loyal guests. These are the people who love you enough to come to you on New Year's Eve and share this magical holiday with you.

Do not forget that in Russia, New Year and Christmas are family holidays. So you can plan special promotions for whole families to celebrate at your restaurant, or extra gifts for large takeout orders.

The main thing to remember for New Year is the quality of service and the warm feeling in your venue. Chasing high sales during the holidays, many restaurants try to make money first of all. But as experts in building long-term, profitable relationships with your guests, we remind you: loyal guests bring your business regular money. This is worth more than a quick one-time profit if guests never come back to you.

For many people who choose to celebrate this holiday with you, your restaurant will be a symbol of the new year. So make sure your guests leave with only the best impressions.

Guests come back to your restaurant for your service, your unique style and your warmth, and we help with that.