17 Restaurant Promotion Ideas To Boost Orders And Customer Loyalty

When business slows down, it’s easy to blame the season, the weather, or people “not going out like they used to,” but sometimes all customers need is a good reminder or the right reason to show up again.

The right promotion at the right time can reignite business, whether that means a packed dining room on a slow weekday or reconnecting with loyal customers who haven’t ordered in a while.

If you’re looking for restaurant promotion ideas, you’re in the right place.

In this article, you’ll find:

1. Smart, practical promotion ideas that drive repeat visits and orders
2. Real-world tactics to engage your customer base without relying on discounts alone
3. Flexible approaches that work whether you’re focused on foot traffic or growing online ordering

Restaurant Promotion Ideas: How to Choose the Right One

The best restaurant promotions align with your goals, operations, and guest preferences, not just what’s trending on social media.

Start by asking: What are you trying to accomplish?

Do you want more foot traffic on slower weekdays?

Are you trying to increase your direct online ordering?

Encouraging repeat visits from loyal customers?

Or bring in a wave of new customers who haven’t tried your place yet?

Figure out your goal, then match it with a promotion that fits your restaurant’s operations and venue.

For example, if you run a skeleton kitchen crew, avoid deals that could overwhelm the line. If you’ve got a big outdoor patio, maybe a summer evening special event is the best move.

The promotion should fit in with what’s already working, not stretch you and your staff too thin.

Most importantly, know your audience.

A restaurant marketing strategy that works for a sports bar might fall flat at a vegan cafe. Tailor your promotions to attract and retain local customers, which helps strengthen local loyalty and increase foot traffic through community engagement and targeted offers.

Leverage your restaurant’s social media insights, feedback from staff and customers, and even your order history to shape your decision. Digital marketing can complement traditional promotion tactics, helping to enhance your online visibility and reach a broader audience.

The goal is to create a win-win: something your customers are excited about and staff can get behind without overburdening them.

Now, let’s dive into the 17 best restaurant promotion ideas to increase your customer loyalty and reduce the slow times at your restaurant.

Restaurant Promotion Ideas Your Customers Will Love

You don’t need a full-fledged marketing team to pull off these promotions. The trick is to read each one carefully, write down the ideas that jump out at you, then select the promotion ideas that work best for your venue and operations.

A well-planned promotional campaign, promoted through multiple marketing channels, can significantly increase customer engagement and maximize the impact of your restaurant promotion ideas.

1. Launch a Loyalty or Rewards Program

A strong loyalty program is one of the most effective restaurant promotion ideas for driving repeat visits and building real customer loyalty. Loyalty programs play a crucial role in improving customer retention by encouraging guests to return through exclusive rewards and incentives.

Use a system to track diner orders and, after a certain number of visits, reward customers for their loyalty with a discount on their next order.

Rewarding customers for ordering direct creates long-term habits that boost your sales. If you want to keep loyal customers off third-party apps, motivate them to keep coming back.

If you’re looking for a loyalty program, ChowNow’s Rewards Program is designed to reward diners and keep them coming back to your direct ordering channels.

2. Promote a Limited-Time Menu Item

Few things drive action like the phrase “only available for a limited time.” Creating seasonal or short-run menu items, or introducing a special menu tailored for specific occasions or target audiences, is one of the simplest ways to generate buzz without overhauling your entire operation.

It could be a fall-inspired cocktail, a one-week burger special, or a collab dish made with a local farm or bakery.

The goal is to give both new customers and your regulars a reason to come in now, not “someday.”

Limited-time offers also give you content for social media, email, and your website. Just make sure your staff is hyped and trained up—when done right, these promos move fast.

3. Run a “Buy One, Get One” (BOGO) Deal

BOGO is a classic for a reason. As a type of special deal, BOGO incentivizes customers by offering them added value and encouraging them to take advantage of the promotion. When used correctly, expect to attract customers, new and repeat, immediately.

Only use this deal on menu items that cost you very little to produce. For example, if you want to do a BOGO burger, limit the toppings and use less expensive ingredients, like American cheese, instead of cheddar.

This promotion not only drives more customers, it gives guests a reason to bring a friend, increasing your average check size and exposing your food to new customers.

4. Host a Themed Night

Done right, a themed night turns a slow shift into a can’t-miss ritual. By positioning these themed nights as community events, you can engage local customers, promote your brand, and foster loyalty through memorable experiences that connect your business with the community.

Think Taco Tuesday, Vegan Friday, or “Wine & Pasta Wednesdays.” These recurring events give existing customers a reason to come back regularly, and give new customers something to talk about.

The magic is in the consistency.

Promote the theme weekly on your restaurant’s social media, highlight it on your menu, and train your team to deliver a fun, on-brand experience.

It doesn’t need to be over the top—it just needs to be memorable enough to make it part of someone’s routine.

5. Promote Mobile App Downloads

If you have a mobile app, you need to market it, not just let it sit in the background.

The more people who download it, the easier it becomes to drive online ordering, send exclusive offers, and build real customer engagement. Promote discounts or limited-time offers to encourage customers to place an online order through your app or website.

Use your restaurant website and social media to tell people what they’ll get: faster and easier checkout.

For example, this section on a restaurant website encourages users to download their mobile app.

Make it feel like a VIP access pass, not just another tool.

6. Create a Photo Contest On Social Media

Launch a simple photo contest. Ask diners to post their meal, tag your restaurant’s social media, and use a custom hashtag for a shot at winning a free meal or gift card. Share eye-catching social media posts to promote special offers and deals, increasing engagement and attracting more attention to your restaurant.

It’s low-effort for them and high-reward for you: real user-generated content, stronger social media engagement, and wider visibility without increased spending on ads.

This works especially well if you serve photogenic food or drinks (bonus points for mouth-watering images). Just be sure to share entries and announce the winner; people want to know it’s real.

7. Send Exclusive Promos Via Email

Email isn’t dead—it’s direct, personal, easy to automate, and gets checked daily.

Use it to share special offerings like limited-time discounts, early access to new menu items, or loyalty program rewards. By encouraging customers to take advantage of these exclusive deals, you not only boost engagement but also encourage repeat business through ongoing incentives and personalized promotions.

It’s also a great way to keep both existing customers and new customers in the loop without relying solely on your restaurant’s social media algorithm.

And if managing promo emails sounds like too much? Don’t do it manually.

Automated email marketing makes it simple to trigger offers based on customer behavior, like sending an email after 30 days if a customer hasn’t ordered in a while or a thank you email after placing an order.

8. Partner with a Local Business or Influencer

Partnering with local businesses or influencers is a smart way to reach new customers who already trust someone else’s opinion. Collaborating with restaurant partners and local influencers is a creative restaurant promotion idea that can expand your reach through joint events, social media campaigns, and unique collaborations.

Working together, you can cross-promote each other’s businesses and both benefit from a growing customer base.

Think co-hosting an event with a nearby brewery, cross-promoting with a fitness studio, or having a local food creator showcase your new menu items on their social media account.

You get free advertising through someone else’s platform, and they get content or value for their audience.

Just make sure the partnership actually aligns with your brand. A good fit feels natural, and that’s what leads to real customer engagement.

9. Offer a Family Meal Bundle

Families want dinner to be a fast and easy win. Offering family-style bundles simplifies the process and makes your restaurant the obvious answer to “What’s for dinner?”

Create shareable packages with mains, sides, and drinks that serve 3–4 people. Promote them through your online ordering system and highlight them on your restaurant website.

Bonus if you make it feel like a deal, even without having to offer discounts.

It’s not just about convenience, it’s about becoming part of their routine.

10. Run a Fundraiser Night

Nothing builds goodwill like giving back. Hosting charity events and participating in local events can significantly strengthen your restaurant’s reputation and community ties. Hosting a fundraiser night where a percentage of restaurant sales goes to a local school, team, or nonprofit taps into your local community while bringing in people who might not otherwise stop by.

It’s a win-win: you fill seats, support a cause, and get shared across the organization’s social media and email list. Plus, people are more likely to return if their first visit was tied to something meaningful.

A well-run fundraiser is the perfect marketing campaign to build stronger relationships with your local community.

11. Behind-Closed-Doors Supper Club

Exclusivity sells—especially in the restaurant industry. Hosting a reservation-only, off-menu tasting night creates buzz and makes regulars feel like insiders. These unique dining experiences help differentiate your restaurant, attract new guests, and create memorable moments that keep people coming back.

It also gives you the chance to test seasonal menu items or new ideas in a low-risk setting.

Promote it through your website, a homepage banner, or private invites to your email list.

Cap the guest list and make it feel like something that’s earned, not given.

12. Pop-Up Kitchen Takeovers

Customers love seeing your brand in unexpected places, like a farmer’s market or local brewery. By leveraging the pop up concept and launching a small pop up restaurant, you can test new markets, generate buzz, and attract new customers in a flexible, low-risk way.

Whether hosting a guest chef or doing a one-night-only menu, pop-up restaurants create urgency, spark curiosity, and help you reach new customers who might not have found you otherwise.

They’re also great for testing new concepts without a full-scale launch.

Promote the event on social media and use the buzz to grow your list, followers, and foot traffic.

13. Celebrate Food Holidays

We all should thank whoever thought up these silly “holidays” because they are ready-made restaurant marketing opportunities.

National Pizza Day.

Ice Cream Month.

Burger Week.

Tapping into a trending food holiday helps you show up in feeds, run special offerings, and leverage word-of-mouth marketing without creating a marketing campaign from scratch.

Put together a fun graphic paired with a limited-time menu item and promote it across your social media channels. Consider offering special deals or a free dessert during food holidays to attract more customers and make your promotions stand out.

Boost customer engagement by letting customers vote or suggest toppings as add-ons and have fun with it.

14. Create a Weekday Lunch Special

Turn your slowest shift into a reliable revenue stream. Targeting off peak hours with special lunch promotions can attract more business professionals and students looking for convenient dining options. A fast, affordable combo or discounted lunch bundle can draw in office workers, students, or anyone nearby looking for value.

These promotion ideas are especially effective for repeat business and improving weekday restaurant sales.

15. Neighborhood “Dinner Passport”

Instead of competing with your neighbors, team up to try to bring traffic and awareness to your part of town.

A neighborhood “Dinner Passport” is a collaborative promo where several nearby spots join forces to create a multi-stop dining challenge.

Each visit earns a stamp; completed cards can be exchanged for a free meal, prize, or entry into a giveaway.

It’s fun, low-pressure, and taps into the power of your local community to bring in more customers. Adding a referral program to your dinner passport can boost sales by encouraging existing customers to invite friends and family to participate, increasing both engagement and overall participation.

16. Customer-Generated Dish Contest

Ask guests to submit their own recipe ideas (drink or food), then feature the winner on your menu for a week. Consider collaborating with local artists to design promotional materials or event themes for the contest, adding a unique community touch.

It’s a fun, interactive way to spark customer engagement and tap into your loyal customer base.

Share finalists on your restaurant’s social media, let the audience vote, and build hype before the winning dish even hits the line.

17. Behind-the-Scenes Sneak Peeks

Pull back the curtain and give guests a behind-the-scenes look at your kitchen, staff, and bar program to give customers an emotional connection with your brand and put a face to your business, not just a logo.

Use Instagram Stories, Reels, or TikTok to tease new dishes, introduce team members, or walk through a station on the line during dinner rush. These raw, unfiltered moments make your restaurant marketing feel human, not corporate. You can also offer branded merch or free desserts as incentives in social media contests to increase engagement and attract new customers.

It’s an easy, zero-cost way to build trust, boost social media engagement, and connect with your target audience beyond just promotions.

Want to see this in action? Nick the Greek nails the behind-the-scenes vibe in this Reels post, giving followers a peek at their team in action as they hype up their new Pistachio Cream Froyo with Dubai Chocolate.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nick The Greek (@nickthegreek)

Restaurant Promotion Ideas – Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I choose the right promotion for my restaurant?

Start by identifying your specific goal: Do you want more foot traffic on slow weekdays, increased online orders, repeat visits from loyal customers, or new customer acquisition? Match your goal with a promotion that fits your restaurant’s operations and capacity. For example, avoid deals that could overwhelm your kitchen staff or consider outdoor events if you have a large patio.

2. Which promotions work best for small restaurants with limited budgets?

Low-effort, high-impact promotions include photo contests on social media, celebrating food holidays, behind-the-scenes content, and themed nights. These require minimal investment but can generate significant engagement and buzz. Email marketing to existing customers is also cost-effective and yields strong returns.

3. How can I increase online orders without relying on third-party delivery apps?

Focus on promoting your mobile app downloads with exclusive offers, send targeted email campaigns with special deals, create limited-time menu items that drive urgency, and offer family meal bundles through your direct ordering system. Building a loyalty program that rewards direct orders also helps keep customers off third-party platforms.

4. What’s the best way to run a BOGO deal without hurting profits?

Only offer BOGO deals on menu items with low food costs. Limit toppings and use less expensive ingredients (like American cheese instead of premium cheese). The goal is to attract customers and encourage them to bring friends, which increases your average check size and exposes new people to your food.

5. How often should I run promotions?

Consistency is key for themed nights (like Taco Tuesday), but avoid overwhelming your audience with constant deals. Space out major promotions and use a mix of ongoing programs (like loyalty rewards) and limited-time offers. Test different frequencies and measure results to find what works best for your customer base.

6. How do I measure if my promotions are actually working?

Track key metrics like foot traffic during promotion periods, online order volume, average check size, customer return rates, and social media engagement. Compare these numbers to your baseline performance before the promotion. Also monitor which promotions generate the most repeat customers versus one-time visitors.

7. Can I run multiple promotions at the same time?

Yes, but be strategic about it. You can run a loyalty program alongside themed nights or combine email promotions with social media contests. However, avoid overwhelming your staff or confusing customers with too many simultaneous offers. Make sure each promotion has a clear purpose and doesn’t cannibalize the others.

Test, Measure And Repeat Your Promotion Ideas

The best restaurant promotion ideas aren’t gimmicks—they’re tools for building real, lasting relationships with your customer base. Test what works, track the results, and keep showing up in ways your guests actually care about. Ongoing marketing efforts are essential for growing your restaurant business and boosting sales, as they help you stay connected with customers and adapt to changing trends.

Contact ChowNow to learn how smart restaurant promotion ideas such as Automated Email Marketing and a Rewards Program can drive more direct orders, boost customer loyalty, and keep your business growing on your terms.