'Tis The Season?

Cheers, Jan, 2001 by Mike Sherer

As a result of that philosophy, Trophy's has done promotions tied to things like television's "Ally McBeal" and the Academy Awards show.

Consider, too, whether a particular promotion will appeal to your customers. Though sports-oriented operations like Trophy's and Champps Americana have worked hard to attract a family clientele, they recognize that couples who often frequent their establishments are more likely to go out to a white tablecloth restaurant on Valentine's Day. The holiday is a low-key, in-house affair at Trophy's; every woman who walks in gets a long-stemmed rose. Many Champps units have fun with the holiday by running "Dating Game" contests for singles.

Have You Heard?

When you decide which promotions are likely to be most successful for you, put them on your schedule as far in advance as possible. While it sometimes works to your advantage to offer a spur-of-the-moment event, most good promotions require thorough planning.

"I'm not a big fan of the cookie-cutter approach," said Sharon Banta, director of marketing for Champps Americana. "The biggest part of a promotion is planning and communicating with general managers to see if it is operationally feasible and fiscally sound. You may be able to do a quick promotion for something like the Subway Series, but I think you should plan at least 90 days out and keep a promotion on the radar screen a year out. The hardest part is going from putting Out the fires of today to planning ahead"

More and more operators rely these days on suppliers to provide and help execute promotions. Despite the extra help, you still need to put together a plan that notes all the details of who does what. Take into account any operational difficulties you might have making the promotion work and how you're going to track results. Create a checklist of all the components that are going into the promotion -- food, beverage(s), point-of-sale materials, games/contests/events, prizes, staff/training, media plan, decorations, etc. -- and assign responsibility for each area.

Work far enough in advance that you can stay on top of details. Not all promotions require 90 days to plan and execute, but even small ones deserve two weeks or more.

The closer the promotion gets, the more important it is to let customers know what you have planned. Create some buzz and generate excitement for the promotion by spreading the word any way you can. When you partner with a supplier, often they'll pick up the tab for print and radio advertising as well as the cost of in-house flyers, posters, tabletents and wait staff buttons. Champps has its deejays make in-house announcements. Muldoon's uses a 12-foot lighted message board to promote events. Some operations use a closed circuit channel on the house television monitors to list upcoming promotions. Poor Billy's does a lot of promotion on its website.

Tool Belts

The most successful promotions are usually the ones that are the most straightforward.

"We have really busy bars," said Finklang, "so a promotion bas to be easy to execute. It's the keep-it-simple-stupid way of looking at it."