Don't you just love it when your favorite restaurant has a special? If you're lucky, you'll find something you really like on special, or at least something you don't totally hate. After all, it is your favorite restaurant, so as long as you're eating there AND saving a few dollars, why not go for it, right?
But what makes a special so special? There are quite a few reasons why a restaurant will have a menu item promotion or some other sort of deal.
Today we'll dig into four of the major ones.
1. The Special Is A New Item
Menu items come and go as restaurants respond to changing consumer taste and the latest trends in food. When a restaurant introduces a new item, they want it to have the best-possible chance at being a success. A lot of time and effort (translated: money) goes into developing new menu items, so when an item goes "live" on a menu, a promotion is used to help raise awareness, drive traffic and get people talking about it.
Once the promotion is over, the item becomes like every other menu item, with the hopes that many people consider it to be their favorite moving forward.
2. It Celebrates A Holiday Or Other Time Of The Year
Most restaurants plan some sort of special or promotion during certain times of the year. Mother's Day, Christmas, etc - are all planned in advance to take advantage of diners who are looking for ways to celebrate. Maybe the special is in the form of reduced prices on certain menu items, or maybe it's a menu item that's available for a limited time only. Either way, the goal is to capitalize on a holiday in order to get more people through the door and ordering food off the menu.
And it works. Holiday times are some of the busiest times for restaurants. People tend to want to relax and enjoy a holiday - not stand over a hot stove cooking for others. And so, they go out, spend money and have someone else do the cooking for them. If you've ever gone out to a restaurant to eat during a holiday, you know what we're talking about here.
3. It's A Competitive Thing
Restaurants compete hard for your money. And, they pay careful attention to what their competitors are doing when it comes to menu items and promotions. If one restaurant has a promotion or special, you can almost always be certain that its competitors will have a promotion as well. The promotion could be very similar - or it could be totally different depending on the restaurant.
Some restaurants aren't afraid to compete head-to-head on similar menu items, while others play it safe and put up a completely different promotion to keep customers from thinking they are in direct competition.
4. The Restaurant Is New
New restaurants need customers to survive. It doesn't matter if it's a franchise/licensed location or a new, one-of-a-kind concept restaurant. The best way to get people in the door is to offer them a deep discount for trying out the new restaurant. The goal is to establish fans of the new brand who will do at least these two things:
1. Become a returning customer, and…
2. Talk about their positive experience with friends.
Loyalty is big business when it comes to restaurants, and it can be very difficult for new brands to break into an area that has already-established brands operating. Offering specials at their grand opening and shortly thereafter can help get a new restaurant an established customer base from which to grow and compete.
So there you have it - four reasons why restaurants have specials for customers. The next time your favorite restaurant has special, think about why they might be having it and what pulled you into purchasing it.
What kinds of specials do you enjoy? Ones that save you money? Ones that celebrate a holiday? Let us know!
