Your fresh, hand-cut pasta and talented chefs may win diners’ hearts, but you have to get them through the door first. No matter how rich your pesto is or how knowledgeable your servers are, running promotions for food may give guests the extra push they need to choose your spot for their next meal.

You have enough on your plate, so we’ve gathered 13 awesome restaurant promotion ideas that can be rolled out faster than linguini dough.

What are restaurant promotions?

Everyone loves a promo. What’s better than paying less for a meal you love or getting a free beverage or dessert to sweeten the deal? Restaurant offers are a great way to boost sales, bring regulars back and attract new customers. Even if someone has never heard of your restaurant, a special offer can be all it takes to get their attention.

Promos don’t have to be limited to coupons. They can include special menus, drink deals, customer loyalty rewards, unique experiences and whatever special offers you can dream up.

Restaurant promo prep

Before we kick off your creativity with a list of promotion ideas, let’s talk about how to determine which kind of promo is right for your business. As you create the perfect plan for attracting new customers and keeping the ones you already have, consider these factors:

• Know your customer base: Understanding your customers should be priority number one. If you have loyal customers, you’re already doing something right. But go beyond identifying your target customer. Take the analysis further by looking at your best-selling dishes and drinks, any critical feedback you can address and other metrics like your busiest (and slowest) times of the day.

• Understand your challenges: Ask yourself what you hope to achieve by running a restaurant promotion. Do you want to increase drink sales or drive lunchtime traffic? Know what needs to be improved so you can find the right strategy to achieve this goal.

• Look at the numbers: Promotions are meant to save customers money without jeopardizing the restaurant’s bottom line. A smart promotional strategy will increase sales, so determine the limits of what you can offer and how much money you expect promos to generate in return.

13 unique restaurant promotion ideas

Now that you’ve considered your market, goals and numbers, let’s get those creative juices flowing with promo ideas you can start using right away:

1. Collaborate with influencers: Have a local influencer or food blogger talk up your restaurant, and offer their followers a dine-in coupon or discount code for future online orders.

2. Get on the apps: List your restaurant on delivery apps like Postmates or UberEats so at-home diners can enjoy your grub. While you’re at it, why not offer free delivery? People tend to order from the same handful of restaurants, so give them a reason to add yours to the list.

3. Have a selfie station: Good food isn’t the only thing that attracts patrons to dining rooms. Foodies enjoy posting about fun restaurant outings, especially when the location photographs well. Make it easy by adding a quirky photo booth, flower arch or neon sign that’s impossible for selfie-lovers to resist. Your guests will get an Instagrammable snap, and you’ll get some free social media marketing when they tag you in photos.

4. Sell merch: Selling merchandise isn’t just good for product profits: you’ll also get free marketing when loyal customers sport a tote with the restaurant’s name and logo out in public. You can even offer tees and other inexpensive merch as incentives when customers spend a minimum amount on takeout or visit at certain times of the day.

5. Offer personalized coupons: Unless you’re exceptionally close with your regulars, this one will likely require the help of technology. But if you have a computer-based reward system in place, you may be able to track participants’ favorite meals so you can offer coupons for the menu items they enjoy most.

6. Offer specials: Your customers may have a favorite go-to dish, but almost everybody wants to hear the specials. Incentivize experimentation by letting customers know the special is only available for a limited time.

7. Have a happy hour: It may be the oldest trick in the book, but it’s still a good one. Hold a happy hour to get people to stop in with dates or co-workers before the dinner rush. After a round of discounted drinks and yummy appetizer combos, they may decide to settle in for a full meal.

8. Be pet-friendly: If you have a café or bistro with outdoor seating, consider allowing diners to bring their furry friends. Offer special menu items for pets, or include a to-go treat for pups with takeout orders.

9. Run a challenge: Host a challenge on social media and reward anyone who completes it with a coupon. The challenge could be as easy as tagging friends in a comment or as tricky as polishing off every bite of your biggest plate.

10. Host a kitchen takeover: Offer customers a unique dining experience by inviting a local celebrity chef to take over the kitchen for a night. Turn it into an all-night event by adding a tasting menu and live music.

11. Thank customers for spreading the word: Invite visitors to tag you on social media in exchange for a discount on their next meal.

12. Run a giveaway: Offer followers the chance to win a gift card, complimentary dinner for two or friends-night-out package in a social media giveaway. As part of the eligibility requirements, ask followers to tag friends in the comments, then pick a winner at random.

13. Celebrate yourself: Hold a special event for the restaurant’s anniversary. Invite your best customers to join in on the fun by sharing the details with your email list. There are plenty of cute restaurant anniversary ideas to celebrate the occasion, from complimentary champagne toasts and welcome drinks to special menus and free desserts. You’ll earn loyalty by showing diners how much they mean to your business.

Promote yourself in the best way possible

Before trying to attract visitors to your restaurant or website, take steps to ensure you’re looking your best. That doesn’t just mean keeping the restaurant in tip-top shape and serving photo-worthy dishes. You’ll also want to clean up your social media accounts and make web content that Google will rank highly in search results.

Stack your social media feeds with drool-worthy pics, consistent restaurant branding and descriptions that capture the establishment’s vibe. Ensure your website looks sharp and has up-to-date menu items and pricing, and provide an address, phone number and any other contact info visitors might need. And don’t forget to drive traffic between social media and your website by using a Linktree URL so visitors can learn everything they want to know.