Money Makers: Ideas for driving food and drink sales at your pub

Scratch card promotion​

Where: ​Exchequer, Crookham, Hampshire and other Red Mist Leisure sites.

Website: ​www.redmistleisure.co.uk​

Twitter: ​@redmistleisure

The idea: ​A 10th anniversary scratch card promotion, offering customers a one-in-four chance of winning a prize.

How it works:​ Any customer spending a minimum of £10 on food or drink, in any of the five sites operated by Red Mist Leisure, receives a scratch card offering them a one-in-four chance of winning one of a range of prizes. These include a free dessert with any adult main course on the customer’s next visit, a free pint of Krusovice, 10% discount on your next visit with a spend of £30 or more and 100 reward points for the group’s Red Card reward scheme. Prizes can be claimed at any of the company’s five sites, regardless of where they were won.

Marketing: ​The giveaway has been marketed through the company’s social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It has also been included in the group’s email marketing campaigns as well as being promoted on internal posters and via TV slide shows in the bar areas of each pub.

Be prepared:​  The cards were designed with a local designer and printed at a cost of £1,400. Prizes needed to be sourced with some prizes donated by suppliers.

Pay-off: ​Increase in social media following; good social media interaction around the subject; positive response from customers.

Key benefits:​ Boosts trade during the pre-Christmas lull using customer bounce back.

Advice:​ Sarah Coxon, group marketing manager for Red Mist Leisure, says: “Make the scratch cards simple and easy for customers; if they have to go online or phone somewhere in order to see if they have won or to claim a prize, they are less likely to engage.”

Best outcome:​ 14,000 scratch cards were produced to be distributed over a 12-week period.

Vegetarian menu​

Where:​ Plough, Harborne, Birmingham

Website: ​www.theploughharborne.co.uk​

Twitter: ​@PloughHarborne

The idea: ​Vegetarian menu to celebrate World Vegetarian Day.

How it works:​ An extended vegetarian menu was offered via the pub’s specials board. Dishes included a squash and pearl barley salad with tenderstem broccoli, sun-blush tomatoes and black olives and red peppers stuffed with pinto beans, cheddar cheese and garlic yoghurt, as well as classic dishes such as a falafel burger and meat free pizza.

Marketing: ​In-house posters were put up a few days in advance followed by e-flyers and social media promotion.

Be prepared:​ The menu consisted of around eight dishes and ran alongside the pub’s regular offering.

Pay-off:​ Offers regular customers something different; attracts a different type of audience.

Key benefits: ​Drives footfall and increases takings on the pub’s quietest day of the week; raises pub’s profile.

Advice:​ Lee Coliandris, recruitment, events and marketing manager at the pub, says: “Look out for foodie events/awareness days that might appeal to your customers. We offer a number of vegetarian dishes already but used World Vegetarian Day to test the water to see whether there is a demand for more.  On the back of the menu’s success, we now plan to extend the range of vegetarian dishes we offer.”

 ​Best outcome:​ Several of the dishes sold out completely.