67 Low Cost Promotions For Your Bar and Restaurant: High Impact

67 Low Cost High Impact
Promotions for Your Bar and

Restaurant
by BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com
BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com
67 Low Cost High Impact Promotions for

Your Bar and Restaurant
Without promotion, something terrible happens NOTHING!
~ P.T. Barnum
To drive a constant stream of customers in your bar, you should be

continually planning promotions.
Use promotions to build business on slow nights, during slow hours, to
attract new customers, to keep your regulars coming back, to convert
daytime customers to nighttime customers, and as a way to
differentiate yourself from the competition.
Done right, promotions can keep your business strong regardless of
competition and economic downturns. Offer your customers
something special and theyll keep coming back for more.
Promotions dont have to cost a lot of money to be effective.
As promised, here are 67 Low Cost High Impact Promotions you can
use in your bar and restaurant today.
These promotions consist of actual promotions being used by bars &
restaurants and are just a sample of the promotions found in The Bar
Promotions Manual by BarBusinessOwner.com and The Complete
Guide to Restaurant Promotions by BarBusinessOwner.com.
Also, every Tuesday, youll receive our latest Bar Profit Tip email
newsletter loaded with practical ways to run a better business.
Were sure youll find several quality promotions here that you can use
in your operation.
Happy promoting!
Liz Klages and Joe Martin Jr.
1. Monthly Birthday Party

Every month its always somebodys birthday. Pick a day where you
need traffic, such as the first Saturday of every month or the last
Tuesday of every month hold a birthday party for anyone who has a
birthday that calendar month.
Decorate your bar with birthday decorations and give the birthday
customers free cover, free or reduced price drinks, a slice of cake and
enter them in a drawing of birthday customers for a free bar gift
certificate. Hold the drawing late in the night, and specify that
customers must be present to win.
Create a birthday drink menu such as birthday cake, cake mix,
chocolate cake, etc.
Promote through in bar signage, on your website, and on Facebook.
Promotion Objectives:
9 Reward regular customers
9 Create fun and excitement
Target Market/Demographics: Males and females ages 21-55
Promotion Cost: $100 - $200
Planning Timeline: 30 days in advance
Promotion Frequency: Monthly
Time Needed to Market and Plan Promotion: 1 hour
Staffing Resources Needed: No additional staff needed
Equipment/Supplies Needed:
9 Birthday decorations (one time expense)
9 Double sided raffle tickets for prizes
9 Gift certificate to your bar
2. Putt for Your Price

This is a fun promotion where customers putt for their drink price. A
hole in one gives them a free drink, while getting closer to the hole
gets them a discounted drink price. To play, customers must first
order their drink before putting.
Youll need to purchase a putting green as well as a mini golf obstacle
to place at the beginning of the putting green to add a degree of
difficulty. Take some masking tape and place it in different areas
around the hole, and then label the tape with different drink discounts.
Putts closer to the hole get better discounts.
To get customers to stay later, have a putt off at 1am where all
customers who purchased at least three drinks can participate. Make
the prize a $50 gift certificate to your bar.
Since it will take time for each customer to putt for their discount,
youll want to hold this promotion on a slower night. As business picks
up, add an additional putting green.
9 Increase customers on a slow traffic day
9 Get customers to stay later
Target Market/Demographics: Males ages 21-45
Promotion Frequency: Monthly & on National Golf Day in October
Time Needed to Market and Plan Promotion: 2 hours
Staffing Resources Needed: Bartender to monitor putting green
9 2 putters, several golf balls, putting green
9 360 degree mini golf obstacle (myminigolf.com)
9 Masking tape and marker
3. Sports Watch Party

Hosting a Sports Watch Party is a great way to create excitement and

drive sales especially if your bar is in an area where the team has
lots of dedicated fans.
Look at the schedule of the sport that is in season (i.e. hockey,
baseball, football, basketball, etc.) and see when the local area team
will be playing away games.
Choose an away game for the watch party and make sure it will be
televised in your area.
Decorate your bar with the streamers in the colors of the team and
logo dcor. Show the game on a big screen television or project it
onto a screen and set any other televisions you have to the game as
well.
Run food and drink specials based on the sport or team for example,
if the game is a hockey game you could develop drinks and name
them things like Slapshot or Face Off.
Hold a raffle for prizes like team jerseys and other team paraphernalia.
Contact the teams office and let them know about the party, inviting
them to post the information on their website or tell their fans in other
ways.
9 Drive sales
9 Attract new customers
9 Get existing customers to come in more often
Promotion Frequency: Multiple times a month
Time Needed to Market and Plan Promotion: 2hours
Staffing Resources Needed: No additional staff required

9 Streamers & Team Logo dcor
9 Prizes
9 Large television or Projection screen
4. Mixology Boot Camp

Turn your bar into a mixology classroom for customers on a slower
night of the week or a weekend afternoon with a Mixology Boot Camp.
Educating your customers on how to make cocktails at home can make
money for your bar during a slow time and plant the seed for future
sales (people appreciate better ingredients and top shelf liquor when
they understand cocktail composition.)
You, your manager or an experienced bartender will teach customers
to make four to five cocktails and talk about mixology. Youll charge a
flat fee for customers to attend from $25 to $50 depending on what
is included.
Make the cocktails a mix of classics (like a Sidecar or Dirty Martini)
and more modern drinks. Customers should receive samples of all the
cocktails that are created and some finger food. You can also add a
dinner option to the ticket for a package fee.
The class should be at least two hours long and include things like
techniques on setting up the bar, cutting fruit, creating garnishes,
proper bar equipment, mixing drinks and cocktail pairings. Distribute
recipes for the cocktails to each customer in attendance.
9 Drive sales
9 Get customers to come in earlier
Promotion Frequency: Multiple times a month
Staffing Resources Needed: Employee to teach mixology

9 Bar equipment
9 Cocktail napkins
9 4-5 glasses per customer
9 Cocktail ingredients
9 Appetizers for customers
9 Cocktail recipes for each customer
9 Mixology tickets or vouchers
5. Oscar Watch Party

An Oscar Watch Party is a great way to bring the excitement and
glamour of the Academy Awards into your bar.
Start building anticipation for the big night with a Countdown to the
Oscars and movie ticket giveaway each week so customers can see
the Academy Award nominees in the theater. Encourage guests to
dress for the red carpet on the night of the event by wearing evening
gowns and suits or dressing up as their favorite star.
On the night of the awards, start the festivities early (around 6:30 for
an 8:30 awards show) so customers can enjoy the pre-show that airs
before the awards.
Lay down a red carpet just outside or inside your bar entrance and line
it with a few staff members posing as paparazzi. They can snap
guests photographs as they enter.
Inside your bar should be a large projection screen to show the preshow and award ceremony and all televisions should be set to the
ceremony as well.
Hold an Oscar Pool game where guests can choose their picks for
winners in all of the major categories.
Give a movie-related prize to the customer who chooses all correct.
Guests can also compete for Best Dressed.
Include a complimentary glass of champagne for customers and add
movie-themed items to your food and drink specials.
Announce a drinking game for guests to take a drink whenever they
see Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the screen or when they hear the
word dress or fashion during the show.
9 Create a buzz about your bar
9 Offer more than the competition
9 Drive sales

Promotion Frequency: Once a year
Staffing Resources Needed: At least 2 Paparazzi Photographers,
Employee to tally Oscar Pool and Best Dressed ballots
9 Red carpet
9 Cameras for paparazzi
9 Best Dressed ballots
9 Prizes
9 Projection Screen
9 Televisions
9 Oscar Pool ballots
9 Champagne
6. Out of Area Team Bar

If your bar is located in an area that has a decent number of sports
fans from other areas of the country, you should look into becoming a
team bar for an out-of-area team. This means you will devote part
(and hopefully all) of your bar on game days to showing the chosen
teams games.
If you are already attracting plenty of local team fans, then this may
not be the best move. If you are not, or there is not a significant fan
base for the closest team nearby, then becoming a team bar may
make sense. You can focus on multiple sports (football and baseball,
football and hockey, etc.) so that you have a steady clientele all year.
Decorate your bar with the chosen teams mementos, gear, and colors
and have your staff wear the teams gear on game days. Also, a being
a team bar means you wont have to compete on price, as customers
come for the games and camaraderie, not discounts.
Promotion will be the key to success once you determine there are
sufficient fans looking for a place to hang out and cheer their team.
Promote your team bar heavily online, on fanloop.com, and team
related forums as well as on your website and Facebook page.
9 Get customers to come more often
Promotion Frequency: Ongoing
Staffing Resources Needed: No additional staff needed customer
9 Team decorations, flags, mementos, etc
7. Classic Rock Bingo

Most everyone knows Classic Rock, so planning a Classic Rock Bingo
Night at your bar can bring in lots of customers.
Music Bingo has been extremely popular in Europe for the past 10
years and has over 700+ bars playing on a regular basis.
Classic Rock Bingo is played like regular bingo but that's where the
similarities end. Youll play clips from the most popular songs of the
past 50 years and players mark off the songs.
Players do not have to be music experts - the title of the song is in
every audio clip. If they still don't know the tune, they can ask the
host.
The bingo game is very simple. Each game is professionally produced
by professional broadcasters. The games feature great music and
interesting trivia about songs featured in the game. All your host has
to do is click the play button and follow along.
Once someone gets a bingo, you simply click the pause button, verify
the bingo and continue on.
The average time for Classic Rock Bingo each night is 2 hours, play 2
games per night. Each game is approximately 30-40 minutes long,
with a 15 minute break between games.
Prizes are important. Contact your beer reps and ask them for T-shirts,
beer mugs and other promotional materials.
You can also hand out gift certificates (valid for their next trip to the
bar). We would also suggest that you have a prize at the end of the
evening to be drawn for the non-winning bingo cards, this will keep
customers at your bar till Classic Rock Bingo is over.
Market this promotion on your Facebook page, your website, and
through in-bar promotion and signage.
You can learn more by going to:
http://www.barbusinessowner.com/public/Classic-Rock-Bingo.cfm
9 Drive sales
Promotion Cost: $300 per month
Promotion Frequency: Weekly
Staffing Resources Needed: Host for games
9 Classic Rock Bingo Game
9 Posters to promote night
9 Computer/cd player and speakers
9 Microphone for host
9 Prizes
8. Salsa Night
Take a slow night at your bar like Monday, Tuesday, or Sunday and
hold salsa dance lessons for several hours, then have salsa dancing
until close. You can charge a cover charge of $10 to $15 for the
lessons to offset the cost of the dance instructor.
Youll want to partner up with a salsa dance instructor, with the
instructors pay coming from the cover. You can also set it up where
the instructor pays you a set fee per participant.
Hold beginner lessons from 7-8:30, intermediate lessons from 8:309:30, then have free open dancing for the rest of the night.
Understand that for most of your customers, this will not be a onetime lesson. Salsa dancing is very addictive; causing your customers
to return week after week and helping you build a slow night into a
reliable weekly promotion.
Market this promotion through in bar signage, your Facebook page,
your website, and any salsa related website in your area.
9 Get customers to come more often
Target Market/Demographics: Males and females 21-55
Staffing Resources Needed: Dance instructor, salsa DJ
Equipment/Staff Needed:
9 Salsa music
9 Dance instructor and salsa DJ
9. Flip Cup Tournament

A great way to fill a Sunday afternoon and turn excellent revenue is to
hold a flip cup tournament during March Madness Selection Sunday.
Have a bracket style competition where teams enter the flip cup
tournament and fight to be champion.
Charge a cover of $50 or higher per team member that includes a 1.5
hour open bar and appetizer buffet prior to the tournament.
During the tournament have half priced drinks for all participants who
dont make it to another round.
Set up premium prizes for the first prize winners, such as tickets to a
sporting event, open bar before the game, limo ride to the game, and
limo ride back to the bar with another open bar for an hour after the
game.
Second place team gets a two hour open bar and third place team gets
a one hour open bar.
Market this promotion on your Facebook page, your website, and
through in bar signage.
9 Drive sales
Target Market/Demographics: Males 21-35
Promotion Cost: $500 $700 (cost offset by tournament entry
cover)
Staffing Resources Needed: Staff member to manage tournament
9 Flip cup tables and cups
9 In house signage
9 Prizes
10. Language Classes

A great way to fill up a slower night is by hosting Language Classes at
your bar. It is a very easy promotion to put together and quickly
creates a regular crowd at your bar on a weekly basis.
Contact a language tutor in your area and invite them to teach a
weekly class at your bar.
Charge a modest fee for the class ($5-$10 per class) and require that
attendees sign up in advance so you know how large the class will be.
Your bar will provide complimentary appetizers to the attendees and
the tutor can either keep 100% of the class fee or you can split the fee
with 80% going to the tutor and 20% to your bar.
Try to theme the food offered and the drink specials to the language
(i.e. tapas and sangria for Spanish or antipasto and Chianti wine for
Italian.)
As this promotion becomes more successful, you can include the price
of 2 drinks and appetizers in the class fee for guests who want to
make a night of it.
To keep the mood light and make class more entertaining, request
that the teacher focus on the kind of language skills that are used in
everyday life for example, what youd need to know to order a drink
in the language.
You can also ask the teacher to lighten it up by teaching a few words
of slang or dirty words in each class.

Staffing Resources Needed: Language tutor
9 Microphone for tutor
11. Film and Movie Nights

Your bar can capture some excitement and mix up your weekly
schedule by showing movies in your bar on slower nights.
Movie nights are great for weekdays or Sunday evenings when you
could use more customers. Set up a large television or a projection
screen in your bar to show the movies.
Arrange your seating and tables so customers will have a clear view of
the screen. You can choose whatever kind of film youd like to show,
but cult classics or old classic movies are good choices.
You can also have themed movie nights such as movies from the
80s or James Bond movies and theme other elements of your bar to
the movie.
You can run just one movie per night or do double features to cover a
larger time frame. If you run double features, be sure to pause in
between to give customers time to use the facilities.
Pick a set night to show movies and release a film schedule in
advance. Listen to your customers for suggestions of the movies
theyd like to see.
Serve free popcorn it will encourage customers to drink more. If
youre concerned about people coming in to see the movie but not
purchasing food and drink, charge a modest cover (like $2-$5) that
includes a coupon redeemable for the same amount towards purchase
of food or drink.
You can put a package together (like dinner and a movie for a
reasonable price) and market the event as a date night for couples as
well.
9 Drive sales

(varies depending on the film shown)
9 Movie screen or large television
9 Movies
9 Popcorn machine and popcorn
9 Printed movie schedule for customers
12. Food Drive

Running a Food Drive promotion at your bar is a different spin on
doing fundraising for charity at your bar. The difference is that your
bar is the one doing the fundraising for charity. You also get the
goodwill and extra traffic from those who want to contribute.
Your bar partners with the local food bank for a Food Drive. Let the
food bank know youll be holding a drive and ask about drop off times
and locations and any other regulations (such as the type of food
accepted.)
Then get the word out at your bar that youll be accepting food
donations on behalf of the food bank for a month-long period.
To encourage donations, tie a discount to it. For example, you could
offer a buy-one-get-one lunch certificate for customers who bring in
$10 worth of food to donate (building your lunch business and
encouraging donations.)
You could also do a percentage off for patrons who bring in food, such
as 30% off any entre when you bring in a donation, or a flat dollar
amount off, i.e. $2 off your bill with a food donation.
Another idea is to offer a specific item, such as a $1 domestic draft
with every can of food donated.
Collect through the month and record the amount of food donated so
you can report the good news back to your patrons then make drops
at the food bank.
You can also partner with another organization (such as the Boys &
Girls Clubs) to transport the food donations, or do it yourself at
intervals through the month.
9 Drive sales
Promotion Cost: $25-$100

Staffing Resources Needed: Staff or volunteers to transport food
9 Box for food donations
9 Area to store food
13. Glass Night

Hosting a Glass Night can help your bar build a steady crowd of
customers on a slower traffic night without a lot of investment or time
needed on your part.
The way it works is that first you contact your beer distributors and tell
them you would like to feature certain brands at your bar in
conjunction with a glass giveaway. See which brands have free
glasses available and use those brands as your featured brands on
Glass Nights. Select one beer (or brand) for the day and give away a
glass with purchase.
Customers buy the beer of the day and they get to keep the branded
glass to take home with them. Many guests will try to collect the
glasses so you will get a following of customers who will come to as
many Glass Nights as they can because they want to have each glass
that comes out
Make the glasses available starting early in the evening and limit it to
only one glass per person with a purchase of the beer of the day. Let
customers know that glasses are subject to change and they are only
available while supplies last.
9 Sell more of a particular product
Promotion Cost: $0
Staffing Resources Needed: No additional employees required
9 Branded glasses from manufacturer/distributor
14. Ladies Night with a Twist

If you can get women into your bar, the men will generally follow, so
putting together a great Ladies Night is definitely worth your time.
The typical Ladies Night promotion is where ladies pay no cover and
get drink specials, but you can put a different spin on your Ladies
Night by adding something extra. You can take Ladies Night one step
further and offer spa services (like manicures and massages) for ladies
throughout the evening, do a raffle with a prize for women like a spa
treatment or gift certificate to a clothing store, or give every woman a
rose as she enters the bar. The drink discounts to offer are drinks that
women enjoy like a free glass of house wine or half off martini
cocktails for women.
You can also add a theme to your Ladies Night like a Little Black Dress
Night (where women in black dresses receive discounts) or Stiletto
Night (where women get a dollar off drinks for each inch of heel.)
Adding a theme makes the event fresh and makes it stand out against
other Ladies Night events.
9 Drive sales
Target Market/Demographics: Females ages 21-45
Planning Timeline: 14 days
9 Raffle prizes and rose for each woman
9 Massage therapist or Nail technician
15. Numbers Promotion

Using a Numbers Promotion is a catchy way to update your current
happy hour or other specials and it is simple for customers to
remember. An additional bonus is that the promotion is easily spread
by word of mouth and sticks in your customer's heads so your bar is at
the top of their minds when choosing where to go.
One way to do a Numbers Promotion is at happy hour such as running
5 specials at 6 dollars until 7:00. You could for example have 5 wines
by the glass and 5 appetizers for $6 until 7:00. A little simpler take on
this is to do appetizers and cocktails from 3 to 6 dollars from 3:00 to
6:00.
Another way you can use a Numbers Promotion is by doing specials
after sports games are over such as a 10th inning promotion for
baseball or a 5th quarter promotion for football. Associate it with the
specials offered for a 10th inning promotion you could offer
something like 10 cent wings and a bucket of beer bottles for $10.
Find a price point that's attractive to your target customers and frame
your Numbers Promotion from there.
9 Get customers to come in earlier/stay later
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: Daily or Weekly
9 In bar signage
16. Chili Cookoff

A chili cookoff can become the pinnacle of your bar event calendar attracting hordes of customers and creating a name for your bar in
your community. It takes some time to plan and execute, but holding
a successful chili cookoff at your bar is well worth the effort. A chili
cookoff will not only bring your regular customers in, but it will attract
new customers and introduce them to your bar.
A chili cookoff is an event that involves a cooking and (sometimes
also) a showmanship competition. Chili is prepared from scratch at the
cookoff site and judged on set criteria by a panel of judges in a blind
tasting. The chili cooks pay an entry fee to compete in the cookoff and
winners are awarded cash prizes.
Charge a fee for contestants. They will be eligible for winning a large
cash prize. The contestant entry fee is where most of the money for
the cookoff will be raised. A typical fee is anywhere from $25 to $100
- most fees are right around the $50 mark.
Select 3 to 5 judges for the competition, including a "head judge" to
be the final word on cookoff rules. You also need to put together a set
of rules for the contestants. Guidelines for things like setup and
registration time, number of chili cooks per team, supplies, booth
decorations, chili ingredients, cooking, how much chili should be
prepared and teardown all need to be included in the rules.
In order to attract enough good competitors for your chili cookoff, you
need to have sizeable prizes for the winning chili. Advertise the prizes
before the event to gain interest. The top prize for chili should be no
less than $200. The average total amount for prizes is around $500 to
$2,000.
You can also charge a ticket fee for people who come to the chili
cookoff to observe and taste the chili. Make sure that there is value
there for your guests and the ticket is no more than $10. For example,
a $10 ticket fee could include samples from the chili booths and live
music.
9 Drive sales

9 Get existing customers to come more often
Promotion Cost: $1,000 - $5,000
Staffing Resources Needed: Greeter, Judges, Employees to sell
tickets and beverages, Employees to set up and clean up, Runner for
chili cooks (to empty garbage, get more supplies, etc.), Live
entertainment, MC
9 Registration forms and pens/pencils
9 Registration table
9 Judging area set aside from other festivities
9 Judging cups and lids (have extras available)
9 Two-part (matching) numbers or name/number sheets for
contestants
9 Duct tape
9 Rope or tape to mark judging area
9 Judging tables (1 table per 15 chilis and 1 work table)
9 Chairs for judging tables (minimum of 6 per table)
9 Chili judging sheets plus pencils for judges
9 Coolers or insulated boxes (1 per table for holding chili)
9 Trash cans/bags at each judging table and each cookoff booth
9 Results sheet
9 Paper plates (for palate cleansers)
9 Large (8" X 11") numbers for teams
9 Computer with Tally Program or Calculator
9 Plastic tasting spoons for judges and spectators
9 Napkins
9 Palate cleansers for judges (such as: crackers or celery)
9 Awards & Prize money
9 Booth for beer and non-alcoholic beverages
9 Ticket booth (if charging for admission)
9 Schedule of events for participants
17. World Whiskey Day

Use Whiskey Day each year on March 27th to tailor a fun promotion
around whiskey. Beware that most women will never order a whiskey
drink, so this promotion will mainly appeal to men. However,
depending on your bars customer mix, this could be an ideal
promotion.
Youll want to create a whiskey menu that includes call and top shelf
options. Include all whiskeys single malt, blended, scotch, and
bourbon. You should create a special whiskey menu that may include
Manhattan, whiskey sour, John Collins, old fashioned, seven and
seven, and Irish coffee.
You can also look to offer special whiskey flights or conduct whiskey
tastings where customers get to taste and rate several different
whiskeys.
Check with your distributors to see what type of promotional support
and swag they can offer. Promote through in bar signage, on your
website, and Facebook page.
9 Sell more whiskey
Promotion Cost: $50 -$100
Promotion Frequency: Yearly on March 27th or over several days
9 Whiskey flight glassware
9 In bar promotional signage
18. Valentines Day Rocks

While Valentines Day is usually seen as a big day for couples to go out,
you can go the opposite way and target those who dont have a special
someone with a Valentines Day Rocks promotion.
Valentines Day Rocks is a sing-a-long to power ballad love songs (and
anti-love songs) where guests can sing to their favorites and enjoy
camaraderie on Valentines Day whether theyre in a couple or not.
Decorate your bar with anti-Valentines Day dcor like broken hearts
and balloons in red and black.
Events can include an air-guitar competition and a ballad rocker
costume contest.
Have a contest for the worst breakup story and use traditional
Valentines Day gifts as the prize heart-shaped chocolates, a dozen
roses, balloons, stuffed animals, etc.
Have drink specials with a love theme like the Chocolate Covered
Strawberry Martini, Amaretto Cranberry Kiss and Kiss on the Lips
cocktail.
Hold a raffle for a Treat Yourself day for one including a gift
certificate for a massage, a meal and a compilation cd of power
ballads.
Have candy hearts available on the bar for munchies.
Charge a modest cover for guests ($5-$10) to come and enjoy the
festivities.
9 Drive sales
Target Market/Demographics: Single males & females ages 21-40

Staffing Resources Needed: Host/MC for contests
9 Valentines Day dcor
9 Stage area for air guitar contest
9 Power ballad music
9 Paper for Worst Breakup stories and Pens or pencils
9 Prizes
9 Candy hearts
19. Cops and Robbers Party

A Cops and Robbers Party can add a little good-humored fun to your
bar events and give you a boost in traffic in the process. Keep the
theme silly rather than serious and you will hit right on the mark.
Decorate your bar with chalk outlines on the floor and yellow police
tape. You can also make a jail area for bartenders and servers to send
customers to.
Have a photo booth or Polaroid camera available to make Wanted
posters of guests and hang them on the wall. Encourage guests to
come as cops or robbers and have your staff dress as cops or robbers
as well.
Have themed games for customers like Pin the Donut on the Cop.
Give each customer who comes in a fake gold coin or plastic pearls
and tell them to try to rob the other customers of their coin or
pearls; the robber with the most loot at the end of the evening will be
awarded a prize.
9 Drive sales
Promotion Frequency: Multiple times a year
Staffing Resources Needed: Host for games, Greeter if handing out
fake coins
9 Dcor - Chalk for outlines, Police tape, Bars for
makeshift jail, etc.
9 Polaroid camera or photographer and Wanted posters
9 Pin the Donut on the Cop game
9 Game prizes
9 Fake coins and/or pearls
20. Win a Free Party

Place a fishbowl at the hostess stand or on the bar with a sign
announcing Win a FREE Party. Instruct customers to drop in their
business card or fill out a contact form. Select cards from the bowl as
the winners. Set aside an hour to contact entrants all at one time.
As the winners respond let them choose from a choice of dates and
times that you need business the most. There will be some contact
going back and forth as party sizes/dates are changed, so youll want
to assign a contact person for this. The winner invites his or her
friends to come to the party and they will fill up your bar on a slower
night of the week.
Include an area decorated for the free party with balloons, party
decorations, etc. Offer half prices on drinks and select menu items
during the first hour. Usually the group will stay afterwards and eat
and drink at full price.
Run the free party as often as your business level dictates (several
times a week, a few times a month) and start increasing your
customers during your slower hours.
9 Get more group business
9 Increase customers on a slow traffic day/time
Promotion Frequency: As often as you wish
Staffing Resources Needed: Person to contact drawing winners
9 Party decorations
9 Sign announcing drawing plus fishbowl for cards
21. Trivia Nights

Bar trivia is great for nights when your bar is slow. Running the games
will bring in customers who want to play and change a slow night into
a lively one. Since trivia is a game that's usually played in teams,
groups of customers will make plans to meet at your bar for trivia
night on a weekly basis.
In short, customers like it, it's inexpensive, can be marketed to your
existing customers, is easy to run, and your competitor down the
street probably isn't doing it. If you run the trivia yourself it will only
cost you the time to do it and the cost of prizes (which are often gift
certificates to your bar.)
You'll want to select a night that is slow; weeknights are best. The
game should only be about an hour long and shouldn't conflict with
happy hour; anywhere from 7:00 to 9:00 pm is a good time. Plan the
game on the same night and time each week so customers can get
used to attending on the same night.
The game should last about an hour from start to finish. That allows
for about 15 to 20 questions at most with 10 questions as a minimum.
Break the questions up into rounds (like 3 rounds of 5 questions each)
so players have time to get a drink from the bar or order food in
between playing.
These days with cell phones that can connect to the internet you have
to set some basic rules so teams don't cheat by looking up the
question online or texting a friend for the answer.
You'll need 10 to 20 different questions (and answers) each week for
bar trivia. Keep the questions simple but interesting. Using themes for
the questions is a good way to go and will make your question search
easier. You can do different themes for each round or a general theme
for all of the questions for each game.
Use gift cards to your bar as the prize for the winning team.
Depending on the following of your trivia night, you may want to up
the ante with bigger prizes or prizes for first, second and third place.
9 Increase customers on a slow traffic night
9 Get customers to come in more often
9 Attract groups of customers
Promotion Cost: $300/month (gift card prizes plus trivia quiz service)
Staffing Resources Needed: Trivia host
9 Trivia rule book
9 Trivia sign up sheet
9 Pens/pencils
9 Questions or Trivia service (we like PubQuizPro)
9 Microphone plus speaker system
22. Bob Marley Day

February 6th was Bob Marleys birthday. Celebrate his birthday in your
bar with a day dedicated to reggae and the island life to bring in more
customers and make sales.
Start by decorating your bar with Jamaican/island themed dcor and
streamers in yellow, red and green. Have your staff wear woven
Rasta-style beanie hats.
Add Jamaican-influenced cuisine to your specials menu oxtail stew,
jerk chicken, and mango flavored items. Run drink specials on drinks
like the Jamaican rum punch, Jamaican ten speed and Red Stripe beer.
Hire one or two Caribbean hair braiders and offer free hair braiding to
customers. You can make the event even bigger by inviting Jamaican
and African merchandise vendors to sale their wares in your bar that
day.
Get a reggae band to play and play Name that Tune Bob Marley style
with a prize for the customer who can name the most Bob Marley
tunes. Top the day off with a candle-lighting and Bob Marley birthday
cake for all of your customers.
9 Drive sales
Staffing Resources Needed: Host for Name that Tune game
9 Streamers
9 Cake
9 Jamaican dcor
9 Candles
9 Reggae band
9 Beanie hats
23. Money Tree Raffle

Tie one dollar and five dollar bills (totaling $50 all together) to a two
foot tree that you keep behind your bar and sell raffle tickets to
customers to win the tree. Hold the raffle later in the evening on one
of slower days, with the winner receiving the money tree.
Sell raffle tickets for $2 to $5 each all week. Promote the drawing for
the money tree through in bar signage and hold the drawing at the
same time each week. This will help you gain a regular crowd at that
time each week.
You will just about break even on your money tree promotion or earn
a small profit this way, as your customers are paying for the
promotion.
Or, only tie money received from raffle tickets to the tree. The tree will
be worth different amounts each week, creating excitement of having
a bigger pot to win, and keeping your out of pocket cost just the price
of the tree.
9 Create traffic on a slow traffic day
Promotion Frequency: Once a week
Staffing Resources Needed: Bartender to sell raffle tickets
9 Two foot tree
9 $50 in one and five dollar bills
9 Double sided raffle tickets
9 In bar signage
24. Logo-Wear Night

If you sell logo-wear with your establishments name on it, such as tshirts or hats, heres a simple promotion you can run that has no
upfront cost.
Pick a slow day or slower hours and run a t-shirt and hat day
promotion where anyone who comes to bar wearing your logo-wear
gets .50 cent drafts with meal purchase, 20% off their bill, or some
other type of discount.
You not only get your loyal customers to advertise your bar in public
and to their friends, you also reward them for coming in more often.
Plus, you will encourage the sale of your logo gear.
Promote on your website, on Facebook, and through in bar signage.
9 Create traffic on a slow traffic day
9 Get customers to advertise your bar
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: Once a week
9 Logo items for sale
25. Mystery Beer Night

Customers love this promotion because there is an element of
surprise: they dont know what they are going to get. You can run a
mystery beer night a few ways.
Take a tub of ice and fill it with both bottles of beer that are not selling
as well (or are close to expiration date) and a few bottles of your more
popular beers. When someone orders a mystery beer, your bartender
pulls a beer at random from the ice and serves it. With the mystery
beer bin, you move slow inventory and get your customers to try
something new.
Another twist is to hold a mystery beer night were you pre-select from
3 to 5 domestic craft beers, charge $3 or more, and serve. The
customer has no idea what is ordered (which is part of the appeal) and
is exposed to a new beer. If you want, you can mark the beer glass
with a colored dot so if the customer wants to know what was served,
the bartender can quickly tell.
Promote through in bar signage, on your website, and Facebook page.
9 Sell more beer
9 Clear out your stock that isnt selling
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: Weekly, Monthly
9 Tub of ice for mystery beers
26. Reverse Happy Hour

Holding a Reverse Happy Hour at your bar can bring in revenue when
you need it and make money for your bar during hours that wouldnt
normally contribute to cover overhead expenses.
Reverse happy hour is the same as a regular happy hour promotion,
but it occurs later in the evening, usually 10pm to close or until
midnight.
Your bar offers a discount such as a selection of reduced price
appetizers or reduced drink prices to be consumed in the bar area only
during that time frame.
Reverse happy hours are successful in driving customer traffic because
they appeal to deal seekers, to customers with non-traditional work
schedules, to customers who get off work later, and to night owls.
Hold reverse happy hour on nights and times when you need the
traffic. Be careful that you don't displace full price paying customers by
holding a reverse happy hour on your busy nights.
Restrict the specials to the bar area only. This allows you to preserve
full margin business elsewhere in your establishment as well as
allowing your servers to proceed with closing their sections as
scheduled.
If your reverse happy hour really takes off on certain nights, be willing
to open seating in the areas closet to the bar to take advantage of the
business. You don't want to turn away customers or make your
reverse happy hour less appealing by not having anywhere to sit.
9 Bring in new customers
9 Bring in large groups of customers
9 Drive sales
9 Create buzz about your bar
Target Market/Demographics: Males and females, professionals,

working class or college students ages 21-40
Equipment/Supplies Needed: None
27. National Rum Day

Take advantage of National Rum Day on August 16th and create a
special event thats easy to plan and profitable. You can run this
promotion for one day or stretch it out over a whole week.
Youll want to create a specialty rum cocktail menu that includes call
and top shelf choices. Your choices for rum cocktails include frozen
daiquiris, pina coladas, mojitos, Cuba libre, Bahama mama, rum
runner, mai tai, etc.
Consider using a Caribbean theme for your rum night complete with
island music and tropical decorations. Your food menu could emphasis
ribs, jerk seasoned chicken wings, and bbq shrimp.
Approach your distributors to see what type of promotional support
they have available for your rum day.
This promotion is perfect for exposing your higher margin menu items
to more people and creating a special party event.
9 Sell more high margin drinks
Promotion Frequency: Yearly on August 16 or over several days
9 Rum drink menu
9 Tropical music and decorations
28. All Night Raffle

If youre having trouble keeping customers in your bar during the later
hours, you need a hook to make customers want to stay later.
The all night raffle promotion consists of giving out a raffle ticket for
each drink purchased (one part of ticket goes to customer, the other
to the bar) after 7pm.
At the top of each hour, hold a drawing and award a prize. Make the
prizes progressively better as the night goes on. Customers must be
present to win (this of course encourages them to stay later). Since
tickets are given for each drink purchase, the more drinks consumed,
the better a customers chances.
Prizes can be swag, gift certificates to your bar, tickets to one of your
upcoming events, and tickets to sporting events for your larger prizes.
Market this promotion through in bar signage, on your website, and
Facebook page. Make sure you take a picture of the winners to post on
your Facebook page and in promotional materials.
Staffing Resources Needed: Someone to manage drawing & award
prizes
9 Double raffle tickets
9 Raffle ticket drawing bowl
9 Several prizes
29. Talk Like a Pirate Day

Talk Like a Pirate Day occurs every September 19th. You can run this
promotion for one day or stretch it out over a whole week.
Youll want to create a specialty pirate cocktail menu that renames
your existing menu items with pirate names or slang. See
talklikeapirate.com for pirate name suggestions and drink menu.
Your food menu should be renamed with pirate names and could
emphasize ribs, jerk seasoned chicken wings, and bbq shrimp.
Use a pirate theme in your bar including pirate decorations like Jolly
Rodger flags. Encourage your staff to dress in a pirate theme and
provide pirate hats, bandanas or eye patches for all. Run pirate movies
in the background.
Approach your distributors to see what type of promotional support
they have available for your pirate night, especially for Captain Morgan
drinks.
9 Drive sales
Promotion Frequency: Yearly on September 19th (or any other day
you like)
9 Pirate drink and food themed menu
9 Pirate themed decorations
9 Pirate themed movies
9 Pirate hats, bandanas or eye patches
30. Rest of the Bottle Free

A great way to increase wine sales is to run a bottle wine promotion
that goes as follows: for every two large glasses of wine purchased off
your wine by the glass menu, the rest of the bottle comes free.
Schedule this promotion for a slower traffic day or slower time frame
to get maximum impact.
You can also run this promotion all month long or on specific days, as
your business and bar promotions calendar allows.
Youll want to look closer at your wine by the glass menu to make sure
that youre still profitable on each wine listed of you follow this
promotion. If not, then remove any unprofitable wines from the list for
this promotion.
Your wine lovers will enjoy this promotion and will stay in your bar
longer, allowing you to sell more food during their visit to help offset
the discount on the wine.
Have your servers recommend pairings with specific food items when
taking the wine order that complement the wine and encourage more
food sales.
This is a really simple promotion to run and can be marketed through
in house signage, your website, and Facebook updates.
9 Sell more wine
9 Attract customers on a slow traffic day
Target Market/Demographics: Males and females 21-55
Promotion Cost: $0

9 In bar signage
31. Monday Blues

Create a fun night to entice customers to visit you on one of the
slowest nights of the week. Piggyback on the dread of beginning the
workweek on Mondays by holding a blue themed night where you
have a large menu of blue drinks, with some at a discount.
Have you staff wear blue, and consider adjusting your lighting to blue
hues. Music can be blues music or whatever genre you like.
Feature drink specials on Labatt Blue, Blue Moon, SKYY Blue as well as
cocktails such as Blue Lagoon, Blue Margarita, Blue Hawaii, Hpnotiq,
Blue Gumball, Blue Kamikaze, etc. Most of these will be blue curacao
based.
Promote through in house signage, on your website, and on your
Facebook page.
Check with your distributors to see how they can assist.
Promotion Frequency: Every Monday
9 Cocktail menu of blue drinks
9 Go over drink recipes with your bartenders
32. Singles Mix and Mingle

Often single customers go out to meet new people but have a tough
time taking the next step and letting someone know that they like
them and asking them on a date or getting their phone number.
Your bar can help people get together and become the destination for
singles by creating a Singles Mix and Mingle event.
To get singles mingling with each other, set up a board with numbered
boxes and have sheets of paper and pens out on a table. Have one of
your employees monitor the board.
Give every single customer a heart or tag with a number on it for them
to wear.
As customers mingle throughout your bar and see someone they like,
they can leave a message to the person wearing that number in the
corresponding box.
Another way to do this is to give all single customers a tag to wear
with a number on it. Then issue single customers flirt cards that they
can give to other single customers.
The flirt cards will have the number of the person on them. Employees
are designated to work as cupids and act as the go-between for
people to give each other flirt cards. When a customer receives a flirt
card, if they are interested they can send one back.
Play fun music, have drink specials for singles and place the board in a
high traffic location so it will be natural for customers to leave notes
for each other.
9 Drive sales
Target Market/Demographics: Single males and females ages 2140

Staffing Resources Needed: Greeter, Person to monitor the board
9 Tags for customers
9 Pens
9 Board
9 Notes or Flirt Cards
9 Tacks for messages on board or boxes to store messages
9 Numbers for board
32. Hawaiian Luau

Having a Hawaiian Luau in your bar can liven up a typical day and help
boost sales. The best times to plan a luau are during cooler weather,
such as the beginning of fall or early spring. This gives customers a
way to get away from cold temperatures and bundled up clothes and
escape to the tropics instead. Your guests will enjoy island themed
food and drinks and will stay longer in the festive atmosphere.
Set the stage by decorating your bar Hawaiian style. Tiki skirts on the
bar, tiki god statues, tiki torches, island flowers (fake is fine!) and an
inflatable palm tree if you can find one.
Have your staff members dress in grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts and
leis. Encourage guests to dress in Hawaiian shirts or tropical attire
when marketing the event.
Greet customers with an Aloha! and give customers leis as they
enter. Hire a band that plays reggae or tropical music, or just play
Hawaiian music on your speakers.
Make tropical drink specials for the evening drinks like Mai Tais,
Painkillers, punchbowl drinks and frozen drinks keep with the theme.
Do a luau buffet with a roast pig, fresh pineapple, mango and guava,
tuna sushi rolls and Hawaiian pizza or offer food specials on seafood
and tropical items.
Hold a limbo contest and a hula hoop contest for customers. A bikini
contest can also work into the theme. If you want to add to the
entertainment, hire a fire dancer or hula girls to do a show for guests.
9 Drive sales

Staffing Resources Needed: Host/MC for contests
9 Hawaiian decorations
9 Grass skirts
9 Tropical music
9 Tiki torches
9 Inflatable palm tree
9 Plastic leis
9 Prizes
9 Tiki god statues or cutouts
9 Limbo stick
9 10 hula hoops
34. Pass the Bottle

Like a grown up version of hot potato, Pass the Bottle is an easy
game that can be combined with drink specials for a simple weekday
promotion.
Contestants pass an inflatable bottle around in a circle to music. The
DJ or whoever is operating the music stops it at different intervals.
When the music stops, whoever is holding (or was last holding) the
bottle is eliminated from the game. The music starts again and play
continues until there are only two players and then finally one. The
last player standing wins a prize.
Get a large blow-up bottle of beer or liquor from your distributor and
run beverage specials based on the brand of the blow-up bottle.
Have staff members mention to the game to customers as they come
in. Then your DJ (or a bartender) will announce over the microphone
that its time to play pass the bottle and give a brief description of the
rules.
From 8 to 20 people can play and you can run more than one game
per evening such as one every hour to give customers more
opportunities to win.
You can also incorporate this game into another promotion if youre
running one that is related to beer or just needs a game to make it
more fun.

Staffing Resources Needed: DJ, Manager/Referee for game
9 Music
9 Large blow-up beer or liquor bottle
9 Prizes
35. Radio Station Tradeouts

Youve no doubt been listening to the radio when the dj mentions what
great food they just ate or are anticipating from a particular
restaurant. This type of social proof in invaluable. You can garner
these radio mentions for your restaurant by bribing the djs with food.
The more radio stations you hit the better; youll need to monitor the
station to hear if you get a mention. If no mention, move on to
another one until you get the results you want.
You can also provide free gift certificates to radio stations as prizes for
their contests in exchange for plugs of your restaurant when they
mention the prizes.
This promotion takes time to contact the radio stations, deliver the
food, and monitor the stations to see if you are mentioned. However,
it can be an effective way to generate positive word of mouth for your
restaurant.
Multiple location restaurants get the best benefits from this promotion,
as listeners are spread all over the city and are more likely to visit a
convenient location to them.
9 Drive sales
Promotion Cost: $400
Promotion Frequency: once or twice a year
Staffing Resources Needed: staff member to deliver food
9 Gift certificates to trade out for mentions
36. National Beer Day

This is an easy, low cost promotion that you can run on April 7th or
throughout the entire week of the 7th. Customers love beer and are
always looking for reasons to celebrate their favorite drink.
Create a specialty beer menu for this promotion where you encourage
your customers to drink your specialty and craft brews. Roll out a
special menu that goes well with beer such as Belgian fries, burgers,
pizza, flatbreads, fish and chips, fried foods, etc.
You can also look to offer special beer flights or conduct beer tastings
where customers get to taste and rate several different beers.
Check with your distributors to see what type of promotional support
and swag they can offer. See if you can get any beer girls to drop by
your restaurant for this promotion.
Promote through in house signage, on your website, and Facebook
page.
9 Sell more beer
Planning Timeline: 30 - 150 days in advance (for beer girls)
Promotion Frequency: Yearly on April 7th or over several days
9 Beer flight glassware
9 In house promotional signage
37. Half Off Wine Day/Month

Restaurants have experienced outstanding success running this
promotion. Take a particular slower day of the week such as Monday
or a slow month such as July and run a half off special on a large
selection of wines.
Work with your wine distributor in advance to obtain special pricing on
the wines you will be discounting. Special pricing will allow you to pass
the savings on to your customers and almost cover the reduced
margins while at the same time driving sales volume.
Try to feature wines across a range of pricing, as some of your
customers will use this promotion as an opportunity to splurge of
higher end wines.
Market this promotion on your Facebook page, your website, via your
email newsletter, and in-restaurant signage.
9 Increase sales of wine
9 Increase traffic on a slow traffic day
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: once a year for maximum impact
Staffing Resources Needed: no additional staff needed
9 In-restaurant signage
38. Holiday Gift Certificate Contest

Selling more gift certificates will give you a nice cash infusion and lock
customers into spending money in your restaurant. The Christmas
season is an excellent time to satisfy customers needs for gift ideas by
promoting your restaurants gift certificates.
Consider holding a contest where you frontline staff compete for prizes
for selling the most gift certificates. Mention that they can sell to
friends and family as well as restaurant customers.
Be sure to mention that you do not want them hard selling customers,
simply mentioning gift certificate availability and asking if the
customer would like to buy one.
Youll also want to have in-restaurant signage as well as mentioning
the availability of gift certificates on your website, in your email
newsletter, and on your Facebook page.
9 Drive sales
Promotion Frequency: once each December
9 Gift certificates
9 Prizes for top three sellers
39. Ballroom and Dining Room Series

If your restaurant has the right demographics, you can increase traffic
on a slower day by holding a combination ballroom dancing class and
prix fix menu each month as part of a ticketed event.
Some restaurants that run this promotion charge $40 - $45 per
person, which includes an hour of ballroom instruction followed by a
three course meal (beverages and gratuity additional), with an
optional cash bar happy hour before the event.
For instance, on a Sunday or Monday night, have an optional happy
hour at 6:30pm, dance class at 7pm, and dinner at 8pm.
Approach local ballroom dancing schools and secure a dancing
instructor for the event in return for the opportunity for the instructor
to market their dancing studio.
Rotate the type of dancing each month between waltz, salsa, swing,
rumba, and foxtrot to add variety.
Promote through in restaurant signage, on your website, on your
Facebook page, in your email newsletter, and by posting an event on
Meetup, via a press release, and by sending a letter to each dancing
school in your area announcing the event.
9 Increase group sales
Promotion Frequency: monthly
Staffing Resources Needed: staff member to sell tickets to event
9 Ballroom dance instructor
9 Dance music
9 Prix fix menu menu
9 Separate area to hold dancing class
40. Pizza and Beer Pairing

A fun way to get customers to dine with you more often is to run a
pizza and beer pairing where you have four courses of specialty pizza
slices that get paired with four 8oz beer selections.
Charge $18 - $22 per person plus tax and tip and require reservations
in advance
You can schedule your pairing to occur during slower times, such as
Saturday afternoon when your traffic is slow.
Depending on the popularity of this promotion you can run it two to
three times a year.
Promote your pizza and beer pairing through in-restaurant signage, on
your Facebook page, in your email newsletter, and on your website.
9 Increase average ticket
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: Several times a year
9 Pizza and beer pairing menu
41. Bald Is Beautiful Day

This fun promotion is designed to increase word of mouth in your
restaurant and get your bald customers to bring their friend in with
them and is very simple to run.
Every customer who is bald gets a free meal ($15 and under) this
special day. Have your server or manager take a photo of every bald
customer and post both on your restaurants Facebook page as well as
to send to the baldie via email (get the baldies email address to send
photo and add them to your email list).
Promote your bald in beautiful day via in-restaurant signage, on your
website, in your email newsletter, and on your Facebook page.
For maximum impact and free press, send out a press release
announcing your baldies day.
9 Build your email list
Promotion Cost: $125 (press release cost)
Promotion Frequency: once a year
9 Press release
42. March Madness

Every March in the U.S. college basketball holds its single elimination
basketball tournament with over 60 teams competing. Winner moves
on, loser goes home. Because of this format, basketball fans of all
ages follow all the action religiously.
Restaurants should try to get in on this popularity by reaching out to
basketball fans by showing multiple games on your tvs, by offering
drink and food specials, and by getting the word out that your
restaurant is an ideal place to go to take in all the action.
If a college in your area is playing, you have a great opportunity to
provide a fun place to watch the game (with pregame and postgame
specials) and serve many customers.
Work with your beer and liquor distributors to arrange some joint
promotions and secure some swag for prizes and giveaways. Pay
attention to the times of the games and adjust your staffing schedules
accordingly.
You can also run a grand prize where customers submit their brackets
and have a drawing for the winning guesses.
Promote on your website, on your Facebook page, in your email
newsletter, and through in-restaurant signage.
Promotion Frequency: once a year every March
9 Games on big screens
9 Prizes
43. Blood Drive

Contact your local blood bank and hold a blood drive in your parking
lot during your lunch hours.
Offer a coupon for a free appetizer or dessert or 25% to those who
give blood and dine with you that day to be passed out to blood
donors.
In addition, offer a free appetizer or dessert to your existing customers
who sign up and participate in the blood drive.
The blood donor center will provide you with a media kit to help you
with in-restaurant signage. Youll also benefit from any promotion that
the blood center does for the blood drive through public service
mentions.
Promote in your email newsletter, on your Facebook page, on your
website, and via in-restaurant signage.
Be sure to encourage your employees to donate blood as well. Blood
mobile banks love restaurants, as they have many employees who
tend to participate.
Also, pass out flyers to businesses around your restaurant to
encourage their employees to stop by to give blood.
9 Increase lunch sales
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: once a year
9 Gift certificate and discounted meal offer to hand out to
blood donors
9 Flyers to pass out to surrounding businesses
announcing the blood drive
44. New Menu Test Drive

When you are in the process of determining which new menu items
should be added to your menu, consider getting your existing
customers to give you valuable feedback on how much they like the
proposed new addition.
You can do this in a few different ways. Serve the proposed new item
at a reduced price to get customers to give you feedback and whether
it is a winner or not.
Or offer $5 samplers where customers can try a small portion of the
item and give their feedback. Or give away free samples to your very
best customers and solicit their feedback.
Youll need a feedback form that each customer can fill out to rate the
item and what they liked or didnt like. This should be passed out when
the item is served to encourage the customer to record their
likes/dislikes accurately.
Go over with your servers in advance the steps you want them to
follow in obtaining this feedback; otherwise, the benefit of this
promotion is lost.
Promote two weeks in advance to your email list and on your Facebook
page in order to insure enough participation.
Your regular customers will be very pleased that you are soliciting
their input on new menu choices and will feel that you really do value
their patronage and are looking for ways to better serve them.
9 Reward existing customers
Promotion Cost: $15
Promotion Frequency: one-time

9 Feedback form for customers to rate proposed new
menu items
9 Writing pens
45. No Corkage Fees

Some restaurants have found that they can stimulate traffic during
their slow weeks of the year by waiving corkage fees.
This type of promotion may appeal to customers who are wine
connoisseurs who have a collection of wine at home that they like to
pair with quality food and will use your restaurant as the place to
savor their special wine.
Keep in mind that the type of customer who would take advantage of
this type of promotion will likely order more than one course and
choose menu items that pair best with their wines (your more
expensive items).
Be sure to add a note to restrict complimentary corkage to two bottles
of wine per table and not available during group or private dinner
events.
Promote your no corkage fee via your email newsletter, on your
website, on your Facebook page, and through in-restaurant signage.
9 Increase traffic during slower customer periods
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: as needed
46. Targeted Limited Time Offer

Every restaurant has a few hours each day where they struggle to get
customers. This void you need to fill could be afternoons on weekdays,
or getting late customers after 9pm.
Consider offering a time targeted discount where you have half price
appetizers, free dessert with entre, discount pitchers of beer, or buy
one/get one during a narrow time window, such as 2pm-4pm, or
Wednesdays after 10pm.
If you discount, you should ideally get something back in return. In
this case, for your discount you get customers when you need traffic.
Targeted limted time offers do not cannibalize existing sales, rather
serve as a driver of new business that you have not been getting.
Promote your limited time offers in your email newsletter and on your
Facebook page.
9 Drive sales
9 Increase traffic during slow hours
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: as needed
9 Email list
9 Facebook page
47. Around the World

A great way to add fun and excitement to your restaurant is by
featuring the food and beverages of different countries as part of an
Around the World promotion.
This promotion will be a month long event where you showcase a
different country around the world each week.
Start by determining which countries your restaurant will do either
by discussing the event with your staff or looking into your current
stock of food ingredients to see what specials could be easily created
for each country.
Popular choices are Mexico, Japan, France, Italy, Spain and the UK,
but you are only limited by the food and drink accompaniments you
can come up with.
Each week, decorate your restaurant with items from the country and
the countrys flag. For example, if you were featuring France you
could decorate with French flags, red, white and blue, Eiffel towers, or
Provencal prints.
Put together a menu that showcases food and drinks from that country
a French menu could be Steak Frites, Crepes, Croissant sandwiches,
Kir Royales, Champagne, Bordeaux, etc. If possible, play music from
that country as well and feature movies from that country (with
subtitles of course.)
Teach your employees how to say hello, goodbye, thank you and
youre welcome in the language and have them use these words
when greeting customers.
Encourage customers to come each week and experience every
country. Print t-shirts saying Around the World in 30 Days or Eating
and Drinking Around the World and give them to customers who
come for 3 or more country events.
9 Drive sales
9 Create a buzz about your restaurant

Promotion Frequency: Weekly for a span of one or two months
9 Dcor for each country
9 Flags for each country
9 Music for each country
9 Special menu items
9 Printed t-shirts
9 Language guide for employees
48. Super Bowl Take Out

Super Bowl Sunday every late January/early February is an ideal
opportunity for restaurants that offer takeout orders to make plenty of
sales.
Many customers want to watch the Super Bowl in the company of
friends in their homes watching their own big screens. However, these
customers also want quality food to enjoy during the game and many
are looking for restaurants that offer a takeout Super Bowl menu.
If you have items customers want for their parties (wings, nachos,
bbq, chicken strips, artichoke dip, fried appetizers, burgers), you have
what it takes to offer a Super Bowl menu.
Create your Super Bowl takeout menu at least 3 weeks in advance.
Recommend that your customers place their orders days in advance.
Promote with in-restaurant signage, on your website, to your email
list, and on your Facebook page.
9 Drive sales
9 Increase take out business
Promotion Cost: $50
Promotion Frequency: every Super Bowl day
Staffing Resources Needed: additional takeout staff
9 Super Bowl takeout menu
9 Takeout containers
49. Company of the Month

Every restaurant has a few larger companies nearby, each with 50+
employees who have the money and time to visit your restaurant for
lunch. Make a list of companies in your area that meet this criteria
this will form your market for your company of the month promotion.
Youll want to designate a company of the month, and then arrange to
offer a free catered lunch in their lunchroom/breakroom one time. This
is designed to get their employees to sample your food. You may need
to do this on a department level if the company is very large. You
should then deliver enough food to feed this department.
Be sure to provide one or two staff outgoing staff members to serve
the food during the hour/1.5 hours you are there. This allows you the
opportunity to interact with prospective customers and provide a
friendly face for your restaurant.
Youll want to have with you plenty of takeout menus with you - hand
out a menu with each plate of food you serve, with your hours and
instructions on how to order takeout food and/or have food delivered.
Contact the human resource director at each company and inform
them you have designated them as the company of the month and
would like to provide a free lunch for their company/department.
Depending on the company, they may have plastic ware and napkins
or you may need to provide these.
While this promotion requires staff time to prepare and serve the food,
as well as planning time, it will insure that your restaurant becomes
top of mind to nearby potential customers who have a high likelihood
of spending money in your restaurant.
Just a few company of the month events will give you enough
customers to drive steady lunch business for awhile. Repeat this
promotion if customer flows from a particular company slows down.
9 Drive sales
9 Increase group business

Promotion Frequency: once a month with a different company
Staffing Resources Needed: two staff members to cater lunch at
company
9 Serving dishes for catered food
9 Paper plates and plastic ware
9 Plenty of takeout menus
9 Banner with your restaurants name and location to
hang behind serving station
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50. Black Friday Promotion

Take advantage of retail stores being extremely busy by catering to
their employees during Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the
US when these stores need all employees on deck for their surge in
business.
Send out 2 to 3 letters to the human resource directors of nearby
retail stores pitching that you cater over Black Friday along with your
catering menu.
Place a deadline to order in each letter along with a discount. The
second letter should have a new deadline with a lower discount.
Youll need to compile the names and addresses of retail stores in your
area choose stores that have at least 10 or more employees in order
to make the order profitable.
9 Drive sales
9 Increase catering business
Promotion Frequency: Once a year every November
Staffing Resources Needed: Catering staff and someone to compile
addresses and mail letters
9 Catering letter to mail to retail stores in your area
9 Envelopes
9 Postage
9 Catering menu to mail
9 List and addresses of retail stores in your area
51. Mid Week Specials

Get your existing customers to come in mid-week by targeting them
with special offers such as Lobster Tail Tuesday or Prime Rib
Wednesday where you offer very attractive pricing only when they
mention this special.
Restrict to existing customers by passing out flyers with guest checks
to customers, via your email newsletter, and on Facebook to your
fans.
You can use this promotion to encourage weekend customers to visit
you during the week when they normally dont come into your
restaurant to drive additional mid-week traffic.
The key to this promotion is not to discount across the board but to
target specific customers with a restricted promotion that only they
know about. Mention that there is limited availability and that first
come, first served for the specials to create urgency and make yur
special offer even more special.
Run this promotion as needed when your mid-week traffic needs help.
9 Drive sales
9 Increase sales during slow traffic time
Promotion Cost: $15
Promotion Frequency: ongoing
9 Email list
9 Facebook fans
9 Flyer to pass out with guest checks
52. Combo Lunch Specials

Getting more office workers to frequent your restaurant during lunch
can be a challenge.
Some restaurants overcome this limit on discretional spending by
packing together one or two attractive lunch options such as a
sandwich, salad, and beverage for a price point such as $9.
This presents a savings for the customer and appeals to the deal
seeker as well. Your goal here is to offering more affordable options to
encourage lunch customers to dine with you more often.
You can run your special combo pricing on certain days or during
certain hours to encourage business where you need more traffic.
Promote your combo lunch specials with in-restaurant signage, on
your website, on your Facebook page, and in your email newsletter.
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: Ongoing
53. Food Drive

Running a Food Drive promotion at your restaurant is a different spin
on doing fundraising for charity. The difference is that your restaurant
is the one doing the fundraising for charity. You also get the goodwill
and extra traffic from those who want to contribute.
Your restaurant partners with the local food bank for a Food Drive. Let
the food bank know youll be holding a drive and ask about drop off
times and locations and any other regulations (such as the type of
food accepted.) Then get the word out that youll be accepting food
donations on behalf of the food bank for a month-long period.
To encourage donations, tie a discount to it. For example, you could
offer a buy-one-get-one lunch certificate for customers who bring in
$10 worth of food to donate (building your lunch business and
encouraging donations.)
You could also do a percentage off for patrons who bring in food, such
as 30% off any entre when you bring in a donation, or a flat dollar
amount off, i.e. $2 off your bill with a food donation.
Another idea is to offer a specific item, such as a $4 burger with every
can of food donated.
Collect through the month and record the amount of food donated so
you can report the good news back to your patrons then make drops
at the food bank.
You can also partner with another organization (such as the Boys &
Girls Clubs) to transport the food donations, or do it yourself at
intervals through the month.
9 Drive sales

Staffing Resources Needed: Staff or volunteers to transport food
9 Box for food donations
9 Area to store food
54. Snap Your Meal

This is an easy promotion that helps your restaurant gain more
customers through social media. You choose a month period to run
the promotion and then all during that month, you challenge
customers to snap a photo of their meal and upload to Facebook (via
Instagram) or Twitter and tag your restaurant in the photo or post.
To complete a challenge, the customer must take a photo of the menu
or chalkboard description of the item, then take a photo of the item
when they get it and a final photo after theyve eaten their item.
Then using Instagram or Twitter, the customer posts the photos to
Facebook or Twitter. The customer must tag the restaurant in their
post or photo so that the restaurant will be notified of the post.
For each completed challenge, the customer will be entered to win a
weekly drawing for a $50 gift certificate to your restaurant. Each
week when you do the drawing, be sure to publicize the winner on
social media.
Notify customers of the promotion via email and also on your website
and social media.
9 Drive sales
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: Twice a year
Staffing Resources Needed: Staff member to monitor entries and
draw & notify winners
9 Facebook page or Twitter account for your restaurant
55. Mystery Envelope Month

One way to celebrate your restaurants anniversary every year is to
run a mystery envelope month where the previous month and during
the anniversary month you have your servers pass out a mystery
envelope to every table.
Inside the envelope is a discount coupon that has either a 5% off,
10% off, 15% off, 20% off, 25% off, 50% off, and a few with 100%
off. Note on the coupon and the envelope that this promotion cannot
be combined with any other promotion you are running.
Make sure the mystery envelope rules are printed on the envelope and
the envelope is heavy enough that the discount is not visible. Print in
large letters DO NOT Open on the envelope.
In order for the customer to redeem, the envelope must be unopened
and undamaged when presented to the server. Once the dining party
has decided how the check will be settled (split, etc.), only then should
the server open the envelope and find out the discount.
Promote with on your website, on your Facebook page, and in your
email newsletter.
Be sure to set a firm expiration date when the envelope needs to be
redeemed by. Remind customers that the envelope needs to be used
by the expiration date.
The last two weeks of this promotion will be the busiest, particularly
the final few days of redemption. Print plenty of discount coupons and
envelopes, as each table will receive one during the course of the
promotion.
9 Drive sales

Staffing Resources Needed: Staff member to print envelopes,
discount coupon, and stuff envelopes
9 Security envelopes with your logo and rules of
promotion on them
9 Printed discount coupons to stuff in envelopes
56. Chocolate Week

Customers of all ages love chocolate some even die for it! Set aside
a week in the winter and run a chocolate week where you highlight
food and drinks that feature chocolate.
Menu items include chocolate cocktails, chocolate shakes, peppermint
hot chocolate as well as food items such as a mole dish, chocolate
bread, chocolate croissants, chocolate pancakes as well as a wide
selection of chocolate themed desserts.
To take this promotion to the next level, offer a chocolate fondue
option that customers can dip strawberries, bananas, marshmallows,
cake, etc. into to. This will require an initial investment in fondue sets,
which you can use again and again when you repeat this promotion.
Promote your chocolate week via in-restaurant signage, on your
website, in your email newsletter, and on your Facebook page.
9 Sell more cocktails
9 Sell more desserts
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: once or twice a year (winter months)
9 Chocolate themed food and cocktail menu
9 Fondue sets (optional)
57. Pop a Balloon Contest

This is a fun promotion that will infuse your restaurant with extra
energy. Every table gets to pop one balloon for the opportunity to win
a prize.
Inside each balloon have a slip of paper folded over with your logo on
it that denotes a prize the customer wins.
When the check is presented have your server come around with 5 to
7 balloons. The customer gets to choose one balloon and pop it to see
what theyve won. Have your server provide a writing pen with your
logo on it to use to pop the balloon.
Prizes should be geared to their next visit in order to drive future
business. They can range from free drinks, 2 for 1s, free entre, free
appetizer, free dessert, $25 gift certificate, etc.
Promote with in-restaurant signage, on your website, on your
Facebook page, and in your email newsletter.
Promotion Frequency: Two to four weeks each year
9 Balloons
9 Helium tank and nozzle
9 Slips to write prizes on and stuff in balloons
9 Writing logo pens to use to pop balloons and give to
customers
58. Sponsored Tastings

If your restaurant needs a little boost on a weekday night and you'd
like to mix things up by offering your customers something new and
different, a sponsored tasting could be the perfect thing. Not only can
a sponsored tasting bump up your traffic on a slower night, but it can
also improve your relationships with beverage distributors in your area
and generate interest in a new beverage.
First decide on a general day for the tasting. Then contact your local
distributors and let them know that you'd like to host a sponsored
tasting at your restaurant. If you don't get anyone who is interested,
start looking for smaller distributors who want to expose customers to
their products. Tell them the type of beverage that you're looking for
and let them know you're open to featuring that beverage in your
restaurant if it gets a good customer response. Ask them what new
products they have that might work well for a tasting.
Your distributor may be able to provide a representative from the
beverage company to help run the tasting and educate customers
about the product. Or if the rep can't be at the tasting, maybe they
can hold a class for your servers to teach them about the product and
how it should be used at a tasting.
When the beverage is decided, get some information about the
beverage and brand from the distributor. Print up little cards (or get
them from the distributor) that describe the different beverages that
will be tasted in the order that they'll be sampled. You may also want
to print up a tasting impressions sheet for customers to jot down their
impressions of the different offerings.
If you're adding free items to the tasting (like hors d'oeuvres or a
palette cleanser like bread), ask the brand rep what would go well with
the beverages that will be sampled. Make sure on the night of the
tasting, the food is ready to go when each drink is tasted.
Set aside a portion of your restaurant or a group of tables to be used
for the tasting. You'll want an area where a rep can talk to customers
without disturbing regular customers.
There are three ways you can price tastings at your restaurant. You
can offer them for free, charge a ticket price that will make some
money for you that night or have a ticket that will simply cover your
costs. Your actual ticket price will depend on your costs and the
extent to which the distributor is willing to sponsor the event. Because
a tasting helps the distributor by promoting a product, you can usually
get the tasting beverage for free.
So customers aren't scared off by a high ticket price, start with a ticket
that will cover your costs and go from there. As tastings gain
popularity and as you use different beverages, you can alter the ticket
price to make it more profitable for your restaurant and start pairing
the beverage with specific menu items.
A free tasting will certainly bring in customers, but doing this can lose
money and hinder your chances for charging for tastings in the future.
However, if the brand is willing to sponsor the entire evening providing product and additional staff, you may want to try it.
Staffing Resources Needed: Host for the tasting, Servers to serve
the beverages
9 Glasses for the beverages
9 Napkins
9 A pen/pencil for each participant
9 Tasting impressions sheet
9 Water for each participant
9 Info sheet on beverages
9 Palette cleanser (optional)
59. Full Moon Party

Every 29 days another full moon occurs. Run this promotion on a
slower day when the full moon falls during the week, or use it to pack
the restaurant on the weekend when a full moon occurs.
Youll want to create the ambiance with blue lighting, glow necklaces
to pass out to your customers, and moon/blue related food and drink
specials.
This promotion works best during warm weather in an outdoor area,
yet can be run inside all year long as well. Promote through in
restaurant signage, on your website, and Facebook page. Have your
staff wear blue or tropical colors.
Approach your distributors for gifts and give these plus gift certificates
to your restaurant away throughout the night, with the biggest prize to
be given out at end of night (must be present to win).
9 Increase dinner sales
Promotion Frequency: Monthly or just during warmer weather
Staffing Resources Needed: Staff member to announce prizes,
host/hostess to hand out prize tickets and glow necklaces
9 Moon themed cocktail menu
9 Glow necklaces (coolglow.com)
9 Double sided tickets for prizes
9 Prizes
60. Cooking Classes

Offering cooking classes in your restaurant allows you to bring in
additional revenue and create a deeper bond with your customers.
This type of promotion works best in finer restaurants and when the
chef has the desire and personality to cook for a group and entertain
them.
Cooking classes can range from customers having hands on
participation mixing ingredients and cooking or with the chef doing the
cooking and the customers watching the action and then enjoying the
meal.
You can charge a fee or $50+ to cover the class, sampling the food,
and include a pairing of wines. Consider partnering with your wine
distributor for special pricing on featured wines.
Classes should be held during slow times in your restaurant where you
do not displace regular business, such as on the weekend, in the
afternoon, etc.
If you have a restaurant cookbook, include it in the fee or make it
available for sale. You can also sell gift certificates for your cooking
classes that customers can give to their friends.
Your cooking class attendees will be more likely customers for your
daily specials and wine pairing dinners on future visits once they meet
and get to know your chef.
Market this promotion through in-restaurant signage, in your email
newsletter, on your website, and on your Facebook page.
9 Drive sales
Promotion Frequency: several times each year

9 In-restaurant signage promoting classes
9 Flyers to pass out with cooking class details
9 Print out of recipes and step by step instructions of
what is being taught
61. Teacher Appreciation Month

Earn goodwill in your community plus drive sales by holding a teacher
appreciation month once or twice a year, in September and again in
May.
Offer specials such as buy one, get one, 20% off, or $10 off bill upon
presentation of teacher ID. Be sure to extend the offer to
homeschoolers upon proof of homeschooling.
You can target different discounts on weekdays versus weekends if
you choose, or for simplicity sake have the same offer for each day.
For added impact, mail out an invitation letter to schools around your
restaurant addressed to the principal announcing the teacher
promotion and inviting teachers to come visit you.
Market this promotion on your website, in your email newsletter, on
your Facebook page, and by sending out a press release to get your
local media outlets to pick it up (media outlets like to publicize
community offers like this).
9 Increase group business
Promotion Frequency: once or twice each year, ideally in September
and May
9 Press release
9 Invitation letter to send to school principals
62. Business Card Promotion

Set up a fish bowl or other large bowl in your restaurant by the
hostess stand, in the lobby, or at the cash register to encourage
customers to drop in their business cards for a chance to win a free
gift certificate for two people to your restaurant for lunch or dinner
(based on when you want more business).
Include appropriate signage on the bowl or next to it announcing your
drawing and what the prize is. Have a manager do a weekly or twice
monthly drawing and send the winner the gift certificate for two by
mail inviting the winner to dine with you.
Have an employee go through and add the contact information of the
business cards to your customer database for future emails or direct
mails. Pay particular attention to any business cards that indicate
human resources or executive titles these contacts are ideal for you
to pitch your year end holiday parties and meeting space availability at
your restaurant.
You can run this promotion indefinitely or periodically. Be sure to pick
different winners when doing the drawing to avoid the same customer
from winning more than once.
9 Acquire contact information to build email list
Promotion Cost: $25
9 Fish bowl for business cards
9 Signage to place on or next to fish bowl
63. Armed Forces Promotion

If your restaurant is in an area with a sizable active military presence,
consider offering a discount to active members of the armed services
and their dependents upon presentation of a military ID.
You can have select days, such as Marine Day Monday, Army Day
Tuesday, etc., or make it available to all active duty members. Be sure
to restrict this promotion to active members only to avoid excessive
discounting.
Make the discount only available during hours your slower days or
hours when you need business the most. Discounts can range from a
% off, 2 for 1s, free appetizer or dessert, drink specials, etc.
Promote through in house signage, on your website, in your email
newsletter, and on your Facebook page.
Promotion Cost: $25
9 In-house signage announcing promotion
64. Prix Fixe Menus

A prix fixe menu is a selection of items from your menu, packaged
together as a multi-course meal for a set price.
For example, a prix fixe menu could be something like an appetizer of
fried calamari with an entre of pasta with short-rib ragu and cannoli
for dessert. A prix fixe can be as many courses as you like, but
typically they are 3-5 courses.
Decide which menu items to feature and give a few choices for each
course and determine what you will charge. It depends on your cost
for the menu items, but most prix fixe menus range from $20-$40.
Print special menus or inserts printed with the prix fixe and the price.
Prix fixe menus can be good to drive traffic, but an additional benefit is
that they help raise your average spend per ticket because the
perceived value of prix fixe menus is high and many regular customers
may opt for the prix fixe instead of ordering a la carte.
Another way you can use prix fixe menus is by offering a set price for
two dinners. You could turn this into a date night promotion.
9 Drive sales
9 Prix fixe menus
65. Motel Guest Promotion

Motel guests around your restaurant make perfect potential customers
to target. Since most motels offer no dining facilities, these guests will
be looking for a place to eat.
Put together a list of motels within a 2-3 mile range of your restaurant
and have one of your employees visit and pass out a stack of your
restaurant takeout menus to the employees at the front desk.
Inquire if you can have the menus placed within the motel rooms or in
the lobby area. You should also consider offering a free dessert per
table or a % off when the customer shows the server a motel key.
If you offer this discount, be sure to note it on the menus being passed
out and have a manager verify and sign off whenever a motel key is
presented to prevent server abuse of this promotion.
Youll also need to schedule a follow-up to each motel every 30 days to
restock/replace the takeout menus.
Planning Timeline: no advance planning time needed
Staffing Resources Needed: staff member to visit area motels
9 Stack of takeout menus for each motel
9 Adding motel customer discount verbiage to your motel
targeted takeout menus
66. Specialty Coffee Week

Ideally run during winter time, a Specialty Coffee Week will allow you
to sell more high margin specialty coffee drinks and encourage your
customers to consume these products more often.
The key to selling high margin drinks is to get your customers to try
them once.
You can schedule this promotion to run all week. Run it for a few
hours early or late to get your customers to come in earlier or stay
later (depending on what you restaurants need are), or run it on a
Sunday. It is a great promotion for breakfast or lunchtime business.
Promotion for Specialty Coffee Week can be done through in
restaurant signage, Facebook, and on your website.
Change your music during this time to a softer, coffee house music
format.
Make sure you print out an attractive specialty coffee menu. Include
an attractive selection of non-alcoholic and alcoholic coffee drinks such
as:
Mochacino
Latte
Irish Kiss
Lady Godiva
Caf Siobhan
Jamaican Coffee
Irish Crme
9 Increase breakfast sales
9 Sell more specialty coffee drinks
Promotion Frequency: Weekly, Twice a month

9 A well designed specialty coffee menu
9 Sufficient glassware to handle warm drinks
67. Seasonal Beer Pairing Dinners

Fall and winter represent an excellent time to hold beer pairing dinners
where fall brews and winter brews are paired with a specially created
pairing menu.
For fall beer pairings in October, choose brews such as season ales and
lagers and for winter beer pairings in November, choose beers such as
imperial stouts and barley wines.
Youll want to work with a few local craft brewers to design the
promotion and find out what beers they can offer. Local brewers love
this type of exposure and are usually very accommodating in helping
you make your beer pairing dinners successful.
You can charge $40 - $50 plus tax and gratuity per person that
includes four to five courses, each paired with a seasonal brew. Take
reservations and require payment in advance to help you determine
how much to prepare.
Promote through in-restaurant signage, on your Facebook page, in
your email newsletter, and on your website.
9 Drive sales
Promotion Cost: $0
Promotion Frequency: Every October and November
9 Beer pairing menus
9 In restaurant signage
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67 Low Cost Promotions For Your Bar and Restaurant: High Impact

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67 Low Cost Promotions For Your Bar and Restaurant: High Impact

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67 Low Cost High Impact

Promotions for Your Bar and

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67 Low Cost High Impact Promotions for

To drive a constant stream of customers in your bar, you should be

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1. Monthly Birthday Party

2. Putt for Your Price

3. Sports Watch Party

Hosting a Sports Watch Party is a great way to create excitement and

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Staffing Resources Needed: No additional staff required

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4. Mixology Boot Camp

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Staffing Resources Needed: Employee to teach mixology

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5. Oscar Watch Party

9 Create fun and excitement

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6. Out of Area Team Bar

7. Classic Rock Bingo

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9. Flip Cup Tournament

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10. Language Classes

Promotion Frequency: Weekly

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11. Film and Movie Nights

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

Target Market/Demographics: Males and females ages 21-55

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

12. Food Drive

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

Planning Timeline: 30 days in advance

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

13. Glass Night

14. Ladies Night with a Twist

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

15. Numbers Promotion

16. Chili Cookoff

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

9 Attract new customers

17. World Whiskey Day

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

18. Valentines Day Rocks

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

Planning Timeline: 60 days in advance

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

19. Cops and Robbers Party

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

20. Win a Free Party

21. Trivia Nights

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

22. Bob Marley Day

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com

23. Money Tree Raffle

24. Logo-Wear Night

BarOwnerTips.com and BarBusinessOwner.com