'Tis The Season?

Cheers, Jan, 2001 by Mike Sherer

TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SEASONAL PROMOTIONS TO KEEP CUSTOMERS COMING IN.

The holidays are over. The relatives have gone home. The decorations have been put in storage for another year. We can finally give our stomachs and wallets a rest. Time to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Not so fast. The holiday period is generally the time of year when business is at its best, a time when you don't have to do much in the way of promotion to keep happy customers coming through the door. Now that January has arrived, you may be happy to have a chance to catch your breath. But this is the time to plan seasonal promotions that will bring customers out of hibernation and your business out of a potentially dangerous case of winter doldrums.

"We're real aggressive in January, February and March because there's not much to do around here during those months," said Russ Kelly, owner of Muldoon's, Omaha, NE. "Except go to bars, of course."

There are holidays, sporting events and other happenings to take advantage of during any season. Coming up in short order are Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day and the NCAA "March Madness," to name a few. How do you pick your spots and leverage holidays or events that help your operation the most?

Object Lessons

First and foremost, decide what you want to accomplish. Promotions, by their nature, are designed to motivate consumers to try your product. That means driving traffic through the door, Beyond that, however, are myriad goals a promotion can help you achieve. You may want to draw attention to a particular aspect of your operation -- a new bar menu or signature beverages, for example. You may want to build business on a traditionally slow night of the week. Or you may want to attract a new type of clientele.

"Our outlook is long term, not short term," said Dale Wilson, managing partner of Trophy's, San Diego. "A promotion is not successful just from the cash register receipts that day. We look at it as long-term apple polishing. We ask ourselves if we'll get good credibility by association with the event, if there's good weight behind the event and will it make us look good. How much more we can make that day is less important than how it makes us look."

Poor Billy's, Woodbridge, NJ, looks for promotions that help sell product. After all, that's what promotions are for. But manager Gilbert Quesada said he tries to pick and choose promotions that help generate a crowd earlier in the evening, for example.

"We look for increased traffic and frequency from most promotions," said Stephanie Steil, director of marketing at Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc., Louisville, CO, operator of Rock Bottom Breweries and Old Chicago Pasta & Pizza restaurants. "But we usually look at how we can increase frequency among medium users."

Make sure the promotion has both short and long-term benefits to your operation. "We always look at promotions as a way of creating traffic and excitement," said Kelly, "not about making money that night."

Season's Greetings

With so many holidays and events to choose from, it's easy to overextend yourslef and your staff. Pick promotions that make sense from an operational and philosophical sense. The promotion has to fit your budget and the personality of your operation.

Rather than try to schedule promotions around several individual holidays, for example, Red Robin keys in on three or four seasonal promotions each year. The chain goes all out, creating new food and beverage items for the menu to create excitement in the restaurants. Last fall's "Lotta Hotta," for example, featured four new margarita-type drinks and new glassware. "As we get more comfortable with our big promotions, we'll add more seasonal promotions," said Neil Culbertson, vice president of marketing, Red Robin International, Englewood, CO.

"Our culture is about beer, so our promotions are about beer," said Tracy Finklang, Rock Bottom's corporate beverage director. "We've tried liquor promotions, but people come to see us for beer. For holidays like Mardi Gras or Valentine's Day, the brewmasters at Rock Bottom will come up with funky recipes like chocolate-raspberry beer. At Old Chicago, we're more likely to tie into sports events." In winter, the chain often gives away lift tickets to ski resorts during promotions.

Start by investigating what's already out there. There aren't too many holidays and events that beer and spirits companies haven't found a way to tie into. In many cases, suppliers are eager to find promotional partners to help sell their products. Call your wholesalers to find out what promotions are being offered and see if any of them sound like a good fit.

"Our vendors bring us promotional ideas constantly," said Wilson. "We look at everything on individual merit. We don't do promotions for promotions' sake. We're also careful of promotions that veer too sharply into the testosterone zone. We try to pick sports events like the Olympics that are more gender-friendly. We have to be careful not to send out a message that this is a place where women and families aren't welcome."