Savvy restaurants know that the final weeks leading up to Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years are prime time for wowing guests with events and sensory perks to keep them coming back long after the ball drops.
Creating great experiences involves many factors, including sights, sounds, scents, and, of course, taste, but the ingredient that might be the most appealing of all is feelings, mixed with a little touch of creativity.
Stats to Consider
68% of consumers are planning to celebrate the holidays at a bar or restaurant.
Experiences generate 30% higher check averages than standard reservations.
88% of consumers spend more over the holidays than they do on a typical night out.
67% of diners are seeking more than standard reservations, with experiential feasts more popular than ever.
90% of guests who book an experience at a restaurant book another experience on a future visit.
49% of consumers are booking reservations during the 4 to 6 p.m. early bird timeslot.
52% of diners plan to attend group outings of eight or more.
Holiday Experiences Guests Will Savor
The holidays present plenty of opportunities to create experiences your guests will savor. From an Ugly Sweater Contest andHanukkah Trivia Night to Wine Tastings and Pet Parades, the ideas are endless. To help you strike while the iron is still hot, we’ve put together a few tips for creating last-minute holiday experiences.
Festive Decor and Ambiance
Winter Wonderland Theme: Decorate with fairy lights, snowflakes, and faux snow to create a magical environment.
Cultural Holiday Decor: Highlight diverse holiday traditions with themes like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, or Diwali.
Photo Opportunities: Set up a holiday photo booth or a selfie station with props like Santa hats, reindeer antlers, or a giant gingerbread backdrop.
Wine Tasting Party
Tastings
Holiday Tasting Menus: Offer multi-course menus featuring holiday-inspired dishes and drinks.
Seasonal Cooking Classes: Teach guests how to make classic holiday recipes, like cookies, roasts, or festive cocktails.
Build-Your-Own Treats: Host events like gingerbread house decorating or cookie decorating nights.
Wine Tastings: Offer guests the opportunity to learn more about wine and enjoy their favorites. Consider basing your event on different vintages or regions such as “The Wines that Put Italy on the Map” or "The Top Ten Wines from South America.”
Beer Tastings: Like wine tastings, beer tastings give guests the opportunity to learn about the ingredients and the brewing process while sampling some unique brews. If you don’t want to invest in an entirely new inventory, consider partnering with a local brewery to share the costs.
Ugly Sweater Contest
Themed Dining Experiences
Ugly Sweater Contest: Offer discounts or prizes for guests wearing the worst holiday sweaters.
Caroling Nights: Collaborate with local choirs or musicians to bring holiday music to your space.
Brunch with Santa: Host a family-friendly event where kids can meet Santa or participate in holiday crafts.
Pet Photo Booth with Santa Puppy Love: Generate some love from your pooch parents by hosting a holiday pet parade, costume contest, or photo booth with Santa. To keep the pets engaged, come up with a few items on your menu specifically for them. This can be as simple as offering rawhide bones or cat nip treats to creating a few pet-friendly dishes like beef patties or salmon jerky strips.
Game Day: Families can be at a loss for how to keep the little ones entertained during winter break. Create a special daytime family-friendly game day event that includes prizes, child-sized menu specials, and games little people like to play.
Story time with Santa Story Time: Creating a holiday story time nook in your restaurant is a great way to attract families with small children and draw in revenue during slower times of the day. Hire a Santa or have one of your employees dress up like an elf and read a selection of beloved holiday stories. Create a calendar and post the schedule of books to be read on social media and in your restaurant to entice families with small children to come back for repeat visits.
Dinner-and-a-Movie: If you have the space, consider creating a mini movie theater with themed showings of holiday favorites. Hold a kid-friendly movie event at earlier times of the day before your normal dinner rush and a late-night screening on a weekend to attract customers that might normally be visiting bars or actual theaters.
Offer dinners in easy-to-handle to-go boxes so guests can comfortably move about during the show and take their leftovers with them when the movie comes to an end. Enclose a coupon inside each box for a discounted meal, good for after the first of the year.
Feast of Seven Fishes: Italian-Americans across the nation spend the month of December planning their annual Christmas Eve feast. To help make the night even more festive, offer your customers a way to celebrate the event without doing all the work by creating a “Seven Fishes” online menu that can be delivered directly to their door on Christmas Eve.
Exclusive Offers and Gifts
Gift Card Bonuses: Offer a free gift card or discount for every gift card purchase above a certain amount.
Holiday Hampers: Sell curated gift baskets with restaurant-branded goodies, specialty sauces, or dessert kits.
Loyalty Rewards: Offer extra points or holiday-themed freebies for repeat customers during the season.
Holiday Charitable Events
Charitable Activities
Food Drives: Offer discounts to customers who bring canned goods or other donations for a holiday food drive.
Holiday Giveback Nights: Donate a portion of proceeds to a local charity or food bank.
Adopt-a-Family Meals: Allow patrons to contribute to meal donations for families in need.
Volunteer Opportunities: Organize events where customers and staff can come together to support a cause.
Events and Entertainment
Holiday Trivia Night: Feature questions about movies, songs, and traditions from the season.
Pop-Up Holiday Market: Invite local artisans to sell crafts, food, or gifts on your premises.
Holiday Cocktail Workshop: Offer classes on creating signature festive drinks.
New Year's Eve
New Year’s Eve Specials
Countdown Party: Host a glamorous event with a DJ, live music, or a champagne toast at midnight.
Pre-Fixe Dinner: Design an exclusive menu for an upscale New Year’s celebration.
Kids’ Countdown: Host an early evening celebration with sparkling cider and family activities.
Hanukkah Events
Hanukkah Events
Latke Fest: Feature a menu or tasting platter of latkes with unique toppings (e.g., crème fraîche and caviar, applesauce, or spiced sour cream).
Sufganiyot Delights: Offer a sufganiyot (jelly donut) bar where guests can customize their fillings and toppings.
Hanukkah Dinner Special: Serve a prix fixe menu featuring traditional dishes like brisket, kugel, or matzo ball soup with a modern twist.
Fried Foods Celebration: Highlight the oil-based tradition by offering fried treats like falafel, fried zucchini, or sweet fritters.
Community Candle Lighting: Host nightly menorah lightings and invite families or community members to participate. Offer complimentary small treats like gelt or mini sufganiyot.
Interactive Menorah Experience: Provide a space for guests to light their own menorahs (using LED candles for safety) while explaining the significance of the tradition.
Spin the Dreidel Dreidel Game Night: Set up dreidel-playing stations with instructions for newcomers. Offer small prizes like gelt or dessert coupons.
Hanukkah Crafts: Host family-friendly craft nights where kids can create menorahs, decorate dreidels, or make Chanukah cards.
Hanukkah Trivia: Organize trivia nights centered around the holiday’s history, traditions, and fun facts.
Hanukkah Gift Boxes: Sell curated boxes with traditional treats like gelt, menorah candles, and small sufganiyot.
Family-Style Takeout and Delivery Menu: Offer holiday-ready meals for families to enjoy at home, featuring traditional and festive options.
Gelt Giveaway: With every meal, include a small bag of gelt or a coupon for a future visit.
Latke-Making Workshop: Teach guests how to make classic or modern latkes with toppings and sides.
Take Away
The holiday season presents the perfect opportunity to not only capitalize on the busy shopping rush but it can also be a great time to build relationships with existing customers and turn first-timers into loyal patrons. Creating memorable holiday experiences can help restaurants attract more guests, boost engagement, foster customer loyalty, and expand your customer base.
By Eileen Strauss
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