how to use restaurant promotion template
by Keith Pascal

Whether you’re on a tight budget or believe that food promotions don’t add any real value to your restaurant, creating a well-planned and timed promotional campaign is well worth the investment. Promotions, when done correctly, are an effective way to market your restaurant and boost your restaurant sales. Your restaurant can still be profitable even when you give something away.

At GloriaFood, we have taken the guesswork out which restaurant promotions yield the most benefits by incorporating a marketing module that includes a set of 13 perfectly designed restaurant promotion templates. Today, we will take a deep dive into how they work and how you can incorporate a restaurant promotion template into your menu to attract new customers and reward loyal ones.

restaurant promotion templates

Consent needed

How to Use a Restaurant Promotion Template to Create Promos: The Basics

1. To create a promotion for the restaurant, go to Admin -> Marketing -> Promotions -> Self-made promos. Then, click on “Add promo deal” to create a new promotion. Select your desired restaurant promotions template.

open a restaurant promotion template

choose a restaurant promotion template

2. Change the promotion’s headline, description, and background image.

food promotion example

3. Set the promotions discount level and minimum spend amount.

food promotion ideas: order discounts

4. Click on the Save button to finalize your promotion.

save restaurant promotions

You may also like: 15 Unique Restaurant Promotion Ideas that Will Increase Loyalty in 2022

How to Apply Rules and Restrictions to Promotions

Within each restaurant promotion template, some further rules and restrictions can be applied to help you fine-tune your promotions and achieve a specific goal.

  • Happy Hour – Set a promotion to show at certain hours of the day or days of the week.
  • Delivery Area – Create a promotion to reward customers in one or all of your delivery areas.
  • Cart Value – Allow or restrict the promotion depending on a total cart value or range.
  • Payment – Allow customs to reap the rewards based on their payment method, i.e., cash or credit card.
  • Expiration – Set durations for promotions, e.g., a promotion can expire in one week.
  • Client Type – Configure your promotions to entice first-time customers or increase client retention by targeting returning clients.
  • Frequency – Allows you to set whether a customer can benefit from a promotion only once or whether they can use the promotion multiple times.
  • Exclusivity – Allows you to decide if multiple promotions can be applied to the same item or only one promotion can be applied to an item at a time.

restaurant promotion template rules

Happy Hour

After selecting the food promotion template you want to apply for your Happy Hour promo, go through the following steps:

1. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select the “Limited showtime” option from the “Display Showtime” dropdown. This will display the promotion on your menu only on your chosen days and times. Use the “Always show to eligible clients” option to display the promotion on your menu.

happy hour restaurant promotion

2. Click on the “Add” button to insert the days and times you want the promotion to be available, then click “Save.”

limited time promo

restaurant lto promotion

3. Scroll down further down the page and click the “Show advanced settings” link.

restaurant promotion settings

4. In the “Fulfillment time” section, select the “custom selection” option, then set the days and times you want the promotion to be applicable.

customize restaurant promotion template

restaurant promotion customization

5. Scroll back to the top of the page and click the “Save” button.

save restaurant promotion template

Your promotion will be displayed in your menu at the times you set in the “Display Time” setting.

restaurant menu promotion

Delivery Area

Suppose your restaurant offers delivery as a service option, and you receive lower orders from a specific zone. In that case, you can set custom promotions for that delivery zone to encourage customers to order more.

You can see data on the performance of your delivery zones in your admin dashboard by going to Reports -> Extended -> Delivery Heatmap.

food delivery heatmap

The red shades show areas with more frequent deliveries, while the different shades of blue are areas of less frequent delivery zones.

You can create and hand out flyers with a food delivery promotion to encourage orders from less popular areas.

1. Start by choosing a restaurant promotion template, then on the Settings screen, select “Custom Selection” from the “Order Type” option, then choose delivery from the dropdown menu.

food delivery promotion ideas

2. Select the delivery zones you want the promotion to apply to, then click “Save” to use the promotion.

take away promotion ideas

Related: How to Improve Delivery Efficiency at Your Restaurant

Payment

Reward your clients for using a preferred payment method by selecting the “Only for selected payment methods” option, then select the payment method you would like the discount to be applied to.

restaurant payment method promotion

Expiration

To set runtime for your promotions:

1. Click on the “Show advanced settings” option.

promotion - advanced settings

2. In the “Fulfillment Time” dropdown, select the “Custom Selection” Option. Then place a checkmark next to “Available between” and set the date range you would like the promotion to run.

customize promotion template with expiration date

Client Type

You can configure promotions to reward either new clients, returning clients, or both. You can achieve this by clicking on the “Client Type” dropdown box and selecting your desired client type.

restaurant client type promotion

Only returning clients

Some additional parameters populate in the “Show advanced settings” section of the page if you select the “Only returning clients” option from the client type dropdown. These settings allow you to reward your returning clients based on three independent factors.

  • The number of times they have ordered from you in the past – can be a fixed number, e.g., if a customer has ordered from you five times before, they are entitled to a discount on their 5th order. This can also be fine-tuned so that the customer receives a deal on every 5th purchase they make.

restaurant promotion advanced settings

  • The cumulative dollar amount that they have spent at your restaurant over time – this can also be set as a fixed amount, e.g., your client will receive a discount if the total of their orders over time aggregates to a defined amount (i.e., if the sum of all their orders placed at your restaurant amount to more than $100)

set promotion based on client's total order amount

  • The client’s last order – This rewards customers with a specific previous order, for example, the previous order’s time (as soon as possible or order for later), payment method, source (Facebook page, website), etc.

set promo based on client's last order

Frequency

You can limit the number of times a customer can be eligible for a promotion so that each customer can only receive a promotion once by selecting the “Only once per client” checkbox.

If the option is unchecked, your customers will be entitled to that promotion throughout its lifecycle.

order frequency promotion

Exclusivity

Promotions can be set to Not exclusive, Exclusive, or Master promo deal.

Not exclusive promotions allow the customer to use other promotions in the same order.

Exclusive promotions prevent the customer from using other promotions on items that already have promotions.

Create a promotion to increase your sales Use our restaurant promotion templates to entice your customers to order more

Master promo deals allow your customers to redeem promotions even if the item is discounted by a promotion marked as exclusive. For instance, if your clients have a menu item in their checkout cart that has been discounted by 5% from a promotion marked as exclusive, another promotion flagged as a “master promo deal” for 5% can still be applied, causing that item to be discounted by a total of 10%.

exclusive restaurant promotion

How to Create a Promotion Coupon Code

Within each restaurant promotion template, you have the ability to create coupon codes that you can share with select customers. Here’s how:

1. Set the “display time” option to Hide from menu (redeem with coupon code). The promotion will only be applied once the customer enters the code in the checkout cart.

restaurant coupon code

2. Check the Use coupon code option and enter the code you want to use.

create a restaurant coupon code for delivery

Your customers will be able to redeem the promotion by entering the code in the checkout cart.

restaurant menu checkout

Advanced Restaurant Promotion Template Settings

You can find the advanced promotion settings at the bottom of the screen on the final page of setting up a promotion.

advanced promo settings

Limited Stock

The “Limited stock” option allows you to set the quantity available for a promotion, e.g., only 20 clients can redeem a free item promotion.

limited restaurant stock

Order Time

The order time dropdown lets you choose whether promotions apply only to customers who select “Now (as soon as possible)” or “Order for later.”

For instance, if you wish to incentivize clients to buy ahead of time to manage inventory better, you can provide a discount to people who choose “Order for Later” with a message like “order for tomorrow and receive a 5% discount.”

restaurant promo order time

Fulfillment Time

The fulfillment time option lets you set the days and times when a promotion can be redeemed. It also enables you to define the duration of a promotion. For example, you can create a promotion and edit the dates so that it only lasts one week.

order fulfillment time

Highlight Promo

There is also a configuration option that allows you to highlight a promotion to draw attention to it. Not all customers who visit your menu will see the specials or remember them when it’s time to order. They might go to the menu and begin adding products to the cart.

You can set a minimum cart value that, when reached, alerts the customer with a pop-up message notifying them of the promotion and pushing them to order more to take advantage of it.

highlight restaurant promotion template

The highlight will be displayed as a pop-up message at the bottom of your menu.

restaurant menu promotions

How to Send Automatic Promotions to Your Customers

Our online ordering system also includes a feature that sends automatic email messages to your clients in order to improve your customer retention rate.

Autopilot segments your clients into groups based on their total number of orders and the date of their most recent order. Customers who order frequently, those who have recently ordered, and those who are slipping away are all targeted.

The feature comes with three ready-made campaigns:

  • ​​Encourage second order
  • Re-engage clients
  • Cart abandonment

Take a look at this Youtube video for a step-by-step tutorial on how to activate Autopilot and create promotion campaigns that will entice more of your clients to order.

Consent needed

Related: 5 Simple & Effective Customer Retention Strategies for Restaurants

Conclusion

Restaurant promotions bring joy to your clients by making them feel special and appreciated. Eventually, they give them that final push to place an order with you.

Customers frequently associate promotions with a sense of urgency. This raises the perceived value of the deal in their eyes and leads to faster orders.

By using a restaurant promotion template that you can finetune according to your needs, you save time and money while rewarding your customers with special promos.

photo of GloriaFood blog writer Keith Pascal
Keith Pascal

Keith is an online marketing specialist with a particular skill set that helps his clients build and maintain their brands. He prides himself in creating content that allows restaurant owners to navigate the tricky waters of the restaurant industry.