Mother’s Day Promotional Ideas: 6 Ways to Make Mom’s Day

We’re a little over two weeks away from the most popular holiday to dine out – Mother’s Day. If you want to drive traffic to your restaurant, you’ll need a plan in place to make your restaurant diners’ choice on May 13^th. The National Restaurant Association found that 92 million adults will dine out on Mother’s Day. The same survey also found the following:

• Mother’s Day is the most popular dining-out holiday, followed by Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day.
• Thirty-two percent of mothers surveyed said having a meal with their loved ones is the best gift they could receive.
• Mother’s Day brunch is more common with Americans 65 or older.
• Diners 35 to 44 prefer celebrating over dinner.
• Forty-four percent prefer celebrating over dinner.
• Here’s how Americans say they’ll celebrate Mother’s Day in restaurants: 10 percent will have a special breakfast; 25 percent will eat brunch; 45 percent will do lunch; 47 percent will celebrate at dinner.

You know all the important statistics so now it’s time to get your plan in place. Let’s dive into our top 6 best Mother’s Day restaurant promotional ideas.

1.) Mother’s Day Drawings

Leading up to Mother’s Day, run a contest(s) to win restaurant-oriented prizes. You could do several giveaways of various price ranges. Some examples could be free meal for mom, free cocktail and/or appetizer, a percentage off of your meal, etc. You could also do a larger giveaway such as free meals for the whole family or $100 gift card. Start your Mother’s Day promotion a week or two before the holiday. Contestants could be required to ‘share’ a Mother’s Day-related post from your restaurant’s social media page. Put the contestants into a drawing and announce the winner on your social media page. You could also run a contest on social media. Have followers post their cutest or even their most embarrassing photo of mom and the kids. Give it a few days and pick a winner! Non-restaurant related prizes could be an option as well. An example would be that every mother that visits your restaurant will be put into a drawing to win a free spa day, gift certificate to a local boutique, etc. You could put the first 20 people to make a reservation into a drawing. A restaurant reservation system is an easy way to manage these reservations and provide accurate wait times to those that don’t make an early reservation.

2.) Signature Mother’s Day Drink

Create a spin on your typical drink menu with a signature drink just for mothers. Make it colorful and fun. Pomegranate mimosas? Watermelon sangria? Coconut mojito? These are just a few options you could offer. If you don’t want to include a signature drink, you could always offer half-price wine or champagne.

3.) Prix Fixe Menu

If you want to provide a more exclusive and upscale experience, a prix fixe menu might be perfect for your restaurant. To give your guests options, consider offering two prix fixe menus – each at a different price point. Review your best sellers to determine which menu items would be the best fit for this menu or try out something new. Always remember that you should offer 3 items in each section. For example, your starters could offer soup, crab cakes, or shrimp cocktail.

4.) Mother’s Day Week

Why dedicate just one day to mothers when you can celebrate all week? Some diners might not be able to celebrate on Sunday and/or might appreciate other days of the week to make mom feel special. Having a mother’s day week will appeal to all different audiences. Leading up to Mother’s Day Sunday, choose a few nights to host celebrations. Some ideas might be ladies night for mothers and their friends, mother and kid’s dinner night, or mother and father dinner, etc. On Ladies’ Night, make sure to have several drink and appetizer specials. On Mother and Kid’s Night, children could eat free. On Mother and Father Dinner Night, it’s all about ambiance. Focus on creating a romantic environment. Dim the lights, light the candles and choose a more relaxed playlist. This would be a good night to bring in live music as well.

5.) Keep it Kid Friendly

Since Mother’s Day will bring in a lot of families, ensure you have enough supplies to keep kids occupied and mothers at ease on their big day. Have a good stock of high chairs, coloring pages, and crayons. Through a kitchen display system, you may want to route kids’ orders to the kitchen first, that way parents can get their kids settled in and eating before everybody else’s food arrives.

6.) Promote on Social Media

Whatever Mother’s Day promotion ideas you decide to go with, make sure to get the word out there on social media. Share your promotions frequently and start soon. If you don’t plan on running any Mother’s Day promotions, show moms some love on the 13th. Post pictures of moms that visit your restaurant and encourage followers to share pictures of their mother’s dining at the restaurant. Want to get the scoop on everything restaurant tech, marketing, industry news, and more? We got you covered. Subscribe to our blog to get weekly updates on the most buzzworthy restaurant industry topics. Subscribe to the blog for more interesting restaurant content!

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About the Author

Emily Wimpsett was a Content & Social Media Specialist at QSR Automations. Emily was born and raised in Louisville, but considers herself a die-hard University of Kentucky fan. For college, Emily attended Indiana University Southeast and obtained a degree in Communications with a track in Advertising. In her free time, Emily enjoys just about every water related activity, but she is partial to kayaking and whitewater rafting.