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The holidays are here and that means its time to celebrate the joyous season with holiday decorations at your restaurant!
There is no doubt that interior design plays a powerful role in attracting customers into your restaurant and keep them coming back. Making festive decoration choices can deliver a truly memorable experience that your diners will truly appreciate. Diners are not only expecting your food to taste great, but also appreciate that the ambiance reflect the joyous mood of the season in order for your restaurant to stand out from the competition this holiday season.
When you think of the holiday season, what adjectives come to mind? Happy. Warm. Comforting. Inviting. Flowers. Candles. Fireplace?
Some of the keywords here are exactly what customers would like to see and feel when they dine at your restaurant. The atmosphere you create will be the difference between your customers seeing you as a desirable holiday haven or just another noncelebratory restaurant. So how do you make your restaurant a more attractive destination to your customers for the holidays? The following suggestions can help.
- Stay fresh and vibrant! Fresh garlands and flowers create a clean feeling and set a beautiful backdrop for a fabulous meal. It is true that real, fresh flowers are artworks created by nature and they are more exquisite than any man-made objects or artwork. Besides the standard Christmas tree, some examples of flowers/plants you can add to the walls, windows, tables, or entrance area include White Lilies, Red Roses, Holly, Poinsettia, Douglas Fir, Mistletoe, Norway Spruce, and Cedar.
- Secondly, including holiday items into your menu (think Peppermint Mocha, Eggnog Latte, Caramel Brulée Latte) is definitely an enticing method to attract Instagram-worthy snaps for your restaurant. It’s amazing how a holiday related dessert like an eggnog cupcake or drink can spice up the entire dining experience for your customers.
- A cost effective way spruce up your restaurant this holiday season is up-cycling unexpected material as possible. Aside from being good for the wallet, it’s also great for the environment (people love restaurants that go green). For example, most Christmas tree farms will sell cheaply or even give away remnant branches, end cuts, etc that you can use to decorate your walls or tables at your restaurant. You can also try spray-painting the tips of the pine needles gold and creating garlands or centerpieces. You can use the end cuts for trivets under small votive candles or glue a gold binder clip to the edge and clip the check to it during the holidays.
- Moreover, spruce up your table decor to add subtle, but a joyous detail that your customers will fancy while enjoying your delicious food. The holidays are a once-a-year family/friend reunion, so creating a happy and festive atmosphere using brightly colored tableware will contribute to creating good cheer.
- Additionally, lighting is crucial because it immediately sets the mood as the first impression your customers will have about your restaurant. For example, dimer lighting can create an aesthetically pleasing holiday vibe. Customers dining at dimly lit tables tend to eat at a slower pace and enjoy their dining experience more.
- Last but not the least, for casual restaurants/bars/coffee shops, hosting a special holiday themed event will drive customers looking for unique experiences into your business. For example, on Halloween, it may be fun to host a “Stranger Things” theme party, hosting a “Peanuts” party for Thanksgiving or The Nightmare Before Christmas party for Christmas. If the experience is memorable, your customers will remember that you went the extra mile during the holidays and return to your in the future. If you need help on event planning, read more here.
In conclusion, people enjoy being with their families and loved ones during the holidays, and a warm and welcoming environment helps to entice them to celebrate at your restaurant. How do you know if you’ve done enough? Try putting yourself in your customer’s shoes, would you be impressed by your decorations? If you had second thoughts on this question, its still not too late to do something today to create memorable experiences for the upcoming holidays!
