It’s the most wonderful time of the year to treat diners. While not all restaurants in Asia can have the luxury of chestnuts roasting on an open fire, you can still cut through the noise and serve your own take on a Christmas feast. Whether you’re a restaurant owner who’s looking for Christmas-themed menu ideas beyond roast turkey or planning a mulled wine promotion, here are some tried-and-tested Christmas marketing ideas that’ll make diners go “ho ho ho” all the way to your restaurant.
1. Make Christmas work for your restaurant, not the other way round
There are a million ways to wish diners “Merry Christmas”, but it’s unfortunate when restaurants Christmas promotions opt for cliché sayings, red and green visuals, or tacky decor. Sending out messages in your unique lingo makes you stand out in the crowd instantly.
At Dee Plee Restaurant located at Anantara Layan Phuket Resort, they’ve tapped onto their captive audience of international resort guests who enjoy beachfront access in the tropics. Their special weekly event, a Sunday Beach BBQ, sees diners slurping freshly-shucked oysters under the starry sky while standing barefoot in the sand.
Take this winning experience up a notch this Christmas by dressing real trees with fairy lights, welcoming a visit from a tropic Santa Claus a beach shirt and shorts, and handing out fruity festive cocktails at a sunset soiree. This tropical Christmas dinner quirky, one-of-a-kind, and is sure to encourage higher attendance and return stays.
2. Don’t underestimate tasting sessions
A well executed tasting session is essential for any restaurant’s Christmas public relations campaign. To ramp up excitement and build a stronger media presence, consider hosting media tastings with key newspapers, magazines and websites, as well as bloggers and social media influencers.
The best time to send invites depends on the type of media. Best practices: Monthly publications need three months advance notice, whereas a month is sufficient for weeklies and digital media. Social media influencers are more flexible with their timeline, but bear in mind that the adage of “the early bird catches the worm” still rings true.
Not all dishes have to be Christmas-themed. Stick to classics like KAUM Bali, a restaurant that adds jazz to home-style Indonesian cooking in a modern, communal setting. The restaurant could feature a “Yuletide Journey through Java and Bali” set menu of beef ribeye steak, gado-gado salad and spicy chili relish. Consider a live station where media guests can try their hand at pounding the relish and rempah, or provide take-home edible gifts in Christmas baubles.
After the tasting, follow up with guests the next working day with a big “Thank you”, a reminder of the festive menu they tasted and a press kit that includes a press release, a menu with prices and hi-res photos.
3. Create a folder of assets media can’t say no to
Get ahead by being prepared and armed with beautifully-shot photos. A blurry background and bad lighting can mess with potential customers’ first impressions. It may be a good idea to hire a professional photographer to take high-resolution pictures of at least 300 dpi.
Ensure that you provide both vertical and horizontal orientations for the media to play around with. A good rule of thumb is to shoot dishes against a white background, but you can try to soften the mood by draping textiles with a slight sheen, or a marbled background.
It’s useful to note, however, that social media influencers and bloggers prefer to take their own pictures rather than use those provided by the restaurant. Instead of the usual 2D photographs, provide other multimedia options such as boomerang videos, gifs, and stop motion videos into your assets folder.
4. Crank up the volume on social media
Social media marketing for restaurants has really encouraged restaurants to get creative. Kimme is a great example. This modern Asian bistro presents its kawaii creations on Facebook and Instagram so that followers can’t help but “like” them.
Complement your chef’s creativity with captions that are true to form, such as “It’s the national dish of Korea, and there’s a great reason why. When you bite into it, all six tastes come alive in your mouth. Yes, including the sixth and most elusive one – umami. FOMO? Link in bio. Merry Christmas! 🎅🎄🎉”. Using emojis can also add fun to a caption instead of just text.
Prefer shooting videos of the chef plating the dish? Add a festive spin by showing behind-the-scenes footage of how planning a party can be tough — yet totally worth it. Having access to the realness of your working team and what goes behind the curtains will get people sitting up and following your feed — hopefully enough to get their fingers moving to book a table and connect with you in real life.
5. Gather your neighbours for a Christmas crawl
If you can’t beat the clock, don’t fret. There’s still time to choose programming that you’re confident of executing by leveraging your resources and community.
Made friends with the owner of a restaurant down your street? See if they’re interested in a food-hopping experience, and try banding other business owners in the same vicinity to put together a swinging good time for ticketed customers. Open the door to complementary services such as liquor tasting flights across establishments, live performances and dessert crawls. Create a Facebook event around it to invite like-minded audiences. While others might appreciate the luxury of cosying up with their loved ones this Christmas, tap into the rich vein of outgoing yuppies and expats who prefer to live it up outsiders.
