Opening your first restaurant can present enriching experiences and challenging hurdles. Among these is encouraging locals to start dining with you and making you part of their regular routine. It’s worth considering how holding a community event can help here.
Events tend to have a naturally celebratory and positive atmosphere, not to mention being a good showcase for your food. Yet, putting together a memorable event is a tough undertaking. By taking a little time to explore some key steps to holding a great community event, you can promote your restaurant in the most positive light.
Plan Ahead
Hosting a successful community event is not something you can improvise. Particularly when you’re new to the industry, it’s worth taking a little extra time to ensure you get the event right. This leaves a good impression and encourages people to visit your business in the future.
The following are just some of the steps you need to include in your planning.
Identify your audience
Naturally, you want as many people in the community as possible to come along to your event. By getting a better understanding of who might attend, you can make more informed decisions about marketing, menu, and entertainment, among other elements.
You can start with the market research you performed when developing your restaurant’s business plan. Your market research may have data you can use to make decisions to attract the locals you want to be regular customers. From here, you can do a little more research into your demographic’s interests, the types of activities they enjoy doing, and even the music they particularly like.
Choose an appropriate time of year
Timing is everything when hosting a memorable community event. You need to plan for it to be when you’re likely to get the most engagement from the customers. While the height of summer may be good for tourists, it may be less appropriate if you’re focusing on locals as they may be traveling away on vacation. Additionally, consider what dates might clash with other popular local events, or perhaps how you could leverage the crowds from festivals and direct them to your community event.
Use Effective Marketing
It’s difficult to have a successful and memorable community event if nobody knows it’s happening. You need to not just get the word out to the community about when and where your event is, but also get them excited about it. Using effective marketing techniques can help you here.
When you’re creating your community event marketing strategy, remember that these occasions have a deep impact on locals. They bring people together and provide opportunities to share community spirit. For you, this is vital because it also enhances brand loyalty. You should, therefore, start by being clear on what message you want to send to your community about your event. Write a short summary that’s like an elevator pitch you can use on your marketing materials to express why you’re holding the event and what the locals can get out of it.
From here, you can start to produce an event promotion kit. To keep things simple, aim to develop a one-sheet you can use across posters, flyers, social media, and event signage. It should feature the event name and some colors and imagery that reflect the feel of the event. Beyond your short summary, keep text concise, limiting it to the date, locations, and a call to action. Many online digital design platforms offer templates that can make adapting your materials to different formats easier.
You should then schedule your promotion. Consider creating an online calendar that you can share with your restaurant staff and other event stakeholders. Assign dates for social media posts, local newspaper outreach, and sending materials to printers well in advance. Engaging with local food influencers and bloggers to promote your event on their channels can also extend your reach and generate buzz.
Maintain Comfort and Safety
Comfort and safety must be among your priorities for your community event. You don’t want it to be memorable for all the wrong reasons, after all.
This usually begins with making careful choices about the venue. While part of the intention may be to promote your restaurant, it may not be the most safe or comfortable spot if you’re expecting more people than the capacity of your space. If your restaurant has an outdoor area, an alfresco event could be plausible. However, be honest with yourself about how comfortably everyone can mingle and whether you can maintain high accessibility standards for those living with mobility challenges.
Another essential is making sure you have staff at your event who can manage medical emergencies. This may be something as simple as dressing minor cuts. It should also include the correct procedures if someone is choking on their food. Your staff should know how to confirm someone is choking, whether by asking them or recognizing the universal signs of having a blocked airway. Being fully trained in performing the Heimlich maneuver on adults and back slaps for young children is also vital. If nobody on your staff is trained, it’s wise to arrange this prior to the event.
Conclusion
Hosting a memorable community event is a great way to start making meaningful connections with local customers. It’s important to follow careful planning processes, alongside committing to relevant marketing and safety protocols. Pay attention to what your customers say during and after your event, too. This may turn into a regular occasion you host, with the improvements you make due to feedback helping ensure your restaurant brand becomes a positive long-term fixture in the local scene.
