4 Quick Tips to Double Your Lunch Crowd
Office buildings are freaking hilarious (at least mine is). It’s not uncommon for the question “What’s for lunch” to spring up around 8am. That sounds ridiculous, but if you forget lunch at home then you’re eating out. It’s a great idea to get that ball rolling early.
If you work in a restaurant, you might not understand the politics behind a lunch break. It’s the highlight of the day! Everyone has to eat, and you’ve got one hour to do it. The power is that offices order food in groups. Do most restaurants understand this culture? It amazes me that local restaurants never stop by our office to offer incentives. They could be killing it! Here are 4 quick office promo tips:
Take a Groupon Approach
Two key features why Groupon works:
1. Sense of Urgency
2. Fear of Loss
Basically, this offer is only good today, buy now or risk losing it forever. QVC uses the same sales techniques, and so can you.
Put together a special offer that includes group buying. Most offices order lunch in group orders anyways. Drop it by an office building and tell them “If you get 10 people together to place an order in the next 2 days, we will offer you $5 sandwiches.” Or whatever your most popular dish may be. Just make the deal worth doing. People will fight to sign up for $5 sandwiches when it comes to lunch. The key is to make the special worth doing, limit the time, and only make the offer valid if X number of people sign up.
Party Trays
People like free food. Ok, people LOVE free food! Drop off a sampler tray by an office next to your restaurant. Include some of your favorite menu items. Make sure to leave lunch menus and even a small incentive. For example “Receive 10% off when 10+ people place an order.” Bait them with the incentive, hook them with the free food, and land 10+ orders.
Exclusive Twitter offers.
If you are a restaurant on Twitter, than you probably have a follower who works in an office. Send them a DM that morning saying “Hey, get 10 orders together and we will give you 25% off for lunch today.” That sets a spark within the office early. That person will start asking around if anyone is interested in ordering. DM ten followers daily and you’re likely to get at least one large lunch order. Make sure you have good relations with these people so they don’t see the offer as spam. This goes back to basic principles of how your restaurant should be tweeting.
Group Happy Hour
Ok, this one doesn’t pertain to the lunch crowd, but it’s worth noting. Office employees love happy hour, especially if it’s close. The key is getting in touch with someone within the office. Have them pick a date and offer a group happy hour. These specials are exclusive to the people that attend. This spreads like wildfire as people constantly ask each other if they are coming to happy hour tonight. Whoever you set up the happy hour with is now your spokesperson. Put them to work on getting a large group together. Numbers baby!
What are some other ideas for office promotions? We have tons, UrbanBacon being one of them! Let’s start the discussion below, its lunchtime!
Tags: groupon, Restaurant Marketing, restaurants, Twitter, urbanbacon