Field goal. Super Bowl. Touch down.
If these words get you excited, then it's about to be that special time of year that gets you pumped. With 
the exciting buzz of football season comes the friendly spirit of competition...or even just flat out rivalry. As a restaurant owner, you are probably thinking about your competitors and how your customers are considering where to grab a bite to eat. Some of the "big chains" utilize the spirit of the season by offering promotions like discounts when the local NFL team wins, but you don't have to be a "big guy" to reach your own football fans and grow your business.
Host a Spirit Night
It's more than likely that your local high school athletic booster club or pee-wee football league is in need of some fund raising...and probably also in need of some delicious pizza. Offer to host a fund raising spirit night in the restaurant, decorate the restaurant in the team's colors and memorabilia, and donate a portion of an evening's sales back to the team. Offer to let members of the team be present during the event to give your restaurant a "tailgate party" feel. Promote the event jointly with the team across social media and your POP displays. Be sure to schedule some extra staff to handle the increased traffic.
A Delicious Fantasy League
Are customers passionate about some of your signature menu items? Turn your menu into a "Fantasy Pizza League" featuring your restaurant's specialties, and let them compete head to head. Get creative here...set up a bracket, get your social media followers involved, and see which signature pie or recipe wins out at the end of the season. During each week's bracket, incentivize customers to vote or create a speical offer to introduce more cusotmers to the competing items.
Get Involved and Give Back
In addition to the spirit night fundraisers, there are lots of other ways to get involved with your community, enjoy the football camaraderie, AND build your business. Sponsor or participate in a float in the local homecoming parade, partner with a nonprofit to purchase jerseys for a local team, or simply donate time coaching or feeding teams after their games. All of these are great ways to build your brand recognition locally and drive traffic to your restaurant.
Coupon Codes
If you're in a larger city with an active NFL team, get creative! Use your loyalty marketing tools to send an automated email to your customers with a special coupon code valid when the home team wins. Typically the promotion runs for just one day. This also works great with the local high school football team. One tip with this particular type of promotion: once you start, it's hard to stop! Be sure you make the commitment for a full season or predetermined length of time to be sure to meet your customers' expectations.
Contests
Leverage your social media channels to host a contest, especially if you are aiming to drive more traffic to your website or online ordering portal. See if your fans can come up with the most creative Super Bowl recipe, or see who can most accurately predict the score of a game, the reward the winner with some free pizza. Depending on the contest, you can cross-promote with signage in the restaurant or using your email or text marketing tools.
A Winning Game Combo
Want to generate an increase in online ordering traffic during a televised game? Create a custom combo that customers can order and have delivered for the game. You can change it up as frequently as you like, or keep the fan favorite on the menu.
No matter how you go about it, you can use your restaurant's good food and unique atmosphere to take advantage of football season's many opportunities. You don't have to be one of the "big guys" to create and promote successful marketing campaigns and grow your business...one touchdown at a time.
Want to learn more? Download our restaurant Playbook for Success! (c'mon...it's free!)
