Have you got Royal or Footie Fever yet?
With the recent birth of the Royal baby, the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle on 19th May and then the 2018 World Cup taking place in June and July, the next few months look likely to invoke a wave of excitement and pride across the UK – or possibly a dip into disappointment with the football!
Regardless of whether its Royal of Footie fever that hits your establishment, as a hospitality business this is a golden opportunity to tap into the nation’s emotional state with a timely tie-in, event or promotion.
Getting well ahead of the game, The Tea Terrace Restaurant and Tea Rooms in central London revealed its royal wedding themed menu back in December (with a range of dishes that reflect Harry and Meghan’s story so far).
But don’t panic – if you’ve not planned anything yet, here’s a few simple ideas:
Go Royal
If food is your focus, you don’t have to go as far as rolling out a brand new royal menu, but it wouldn’t hurt to ambush the royal theme a little. How about some ‘Best of British’ specials – bubble and squeak starters, roast beef and Yorkshires or Scottish salmon mains, and a sherry trifle or heritage cake to finish. Smaller cafes or restaurants could keep things even simpler with a Royal afternoon tea.
If your business is more drinks-based, maybe a themed event could work – a ‘crowns and tiaras’ night or a fizz-filled happy hour perhaps? Don’t forgot to take advantage of the extended opening hours on the day of the Royal wedding (pubs will be allowed to stay open until 1am on both 18th and 19th May).
Whatever your plans, using a smart POS system like the Good Till makes light work of putting them into action. Use stock management modules to update both the menu screen and inventory list. Easily set up promotional offers like 2 for 1s during a happy hour with your POS advanced promotion features. If you’re bringing in additional staff for an event, the Good Till’s simple to use iPad interface means you can get their training covered in next to no time. And, with real-time sales data at your fingertips, you’ll be able to evaluate the success of your promotion efficiently and accurately.
Football crazy
When it comes to jumping on the World Cup bandwagon, the first thing to say is that you must check out the rules and stick to them. FIFA guards its branding fiercely and has 30 pages (yes 30 pages) of rules about how its official marks can/ cannot be used!
In a nutshell, this means that, unless you’re an official sponsor or affiliate you can’t use any of the FIFA logos or branding and you can’t actually mention the words ‘World Cup’ in your promotion. You’re also prohibited from offering tickets to matches as prizes.
While such restriction makes things a little tricky, it’s still possible to run a promotion, event or offer specials with a football theme.
You can use generic football images or flags and team colours of competing nations. You can draw upon the language of football – ‘footie’, ‘the game’, ‘must-wins’, ‘goooaaaaalll’ etc. You could also offer some football related products as giveaways – scarves or balls for instance.
If you’re running a restaurant or café, maybe some international themed specials using the food, drinks and flags associated with the various participating nations would work well. But, with Italy failing to qualify for the finals for the first time since 1958, sorry pizza parlours – you might need to get a little more creative!
If your business is a pub or bar, then football screenings might be your chosen event. Alongside the beers, think about some tie-ins with drinks from participating countries – offer Russian or Polish vodka cocktails, a Mexican Tequila special or a taste of Spain with some Sangria. To keep the booze under control, you might consider also providing customers with some free snacks too!
As we said above, when it comes to running a promotion or offering specials, the multitude of features which come with your smart POS system keeps things simple. Your footie themed idea can be turned into reality in an instant.
The key to making any kind of themed promotion a success is to always put your clientele first. If jumping on the bandwagon means you’d stray too far from what your clients will appreciate, then they won’t hesitate to turn elsewhere.
So, if it’s genuinely good for your business and suits your customers, go ahead and make the royal or footie connection this Spring… just be sure to stick to your branding principles too!
Find out more about how the Good Till’s POS system can help you run all kinds of successful events, offers and promotions. Call us on 0203 872 2491.