Before you announce any offer, ask one question: what will I keep from each order after the offer? Many promotions succeed at bringing in orders and fail at bringing in profit, because the owner counted revenue and not margin. The ideas below run from the safest for your margin to the ones that need the most care.
Do the sums first, on paper
Take the item you want to promote and write down its selling price, the cost of its ingredients, packaging, and any delivery cost you cover. An illustration: a sandwich sells for 60 and costs 30 all in. A discount of 10 takes your profit from 30 to 20, so you need roughly half as many extra orders again just to break even on the discount. If you are not confident the offer will bring that increase, it is a loss in disguise.
First-order offer: lowest risk if it stays limited
Its purpose is to attract someone who has not tried you, and it is paid once per guest. A gift such as a drink or a small dessert usually beats a price cut, because the gift costs you less than it is worth to the guest. Set a minimum order so it does not go to someone ordering one cheap item.
- Fits: a new restaurant, a new area, or moving a delivery-app guest to your own channel.
- Risk: it turns into a permanent offer that everyone expects.
Bundles: best for raising the order value
A meal with a drink and a side at one price makes a guest add what they would have skipped. The key is to build the bundle around items with a healthy margin, like drinks and sides, not around your costliest dishes. It is enough for the bundle to cost a little less than the separate prices added up, so the guest sees value without you giving away much.
- Fits: families, groups, and office lunch orders.
- Risk: too many bundles clutter the menu. Two or three are enough.
Time-limited deals: fill the quiet hours
If your kitchen is fairly empty between three and five, an offer in that window uses capacity you already have. An offer at peak hour adds pressure on the team and slows other guests' orders, so you pay twice. State the time clearly in the offer and actually end it when it is over.
- Fits: slow hours and your weakest days of the week.
- Risk: guests learn to order only at that time and ignore you the rest of the day.
Reward repeat orders instead of discounting everyone
Loyalty points give the discount only to people who come back, and push its cost until after they have already ordered several times. This is usually cheaper than a general discount because it is not handed to people who will never return. Guests who use your app can be told about their points through notifications.
What to avoid
- A discount across the whole menu: you lose money on items that already sell, and you teach guests not to pay full price.
- An offer every week: it stops meaning anything, and the discounted price becomes the real price.
- Offers the team does not fully understand: the result is an argument at the door or an error on the bill.
- A discount with no goal: if you do not know what you want from it, you will not know whether it worked.
- Racing to the lowest price: someone will always cut more than you. Compete on the dish, the speed, and your brand.
A good offer looks simple to the guest and well considered to you. Start with one small offer, and watch your profit, not just your sales.