Even in the midst of a cost of living crisis, consumers continue to support businesses over the bank holidays in 2023. The King’s Coronation in May saw a +15.7% YoY increase in retail sales as communities came together to celebrate.
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In the summer months, the UK hospitality sector saw an estimated £5.8bn in revenue increase across restaurants, pubs and bars, with an average spend of £138.55 per head.
While none of us know what to expect in 2024, one thing that can be counted on is bank holidays and the opportunities they represent to enterprising business leaders.
Know your bank holidays
Bank holiday celebrations and promotions need careful planning, so be sure to keep an eye on your calendar. The main bank holidays are predictable, though the dates for Easter vary a lot. In some years, bank holidays are moved and extra dates added.
The dates for the bank holidays in 2024 are:
England and Wales
1 January - New Year’s Day
29 March - Good Friday
1 April - Easter Monday
6 May - Early May bank holiday
27 May - Spring bank holiday
26 August - Summer bank holiday
25 December - Christmas Day
26 December - Boxing Day
Scotland
1 January - New Year’s Day
2 January - 2nd January
29 March - Good Friday
6 May - Early May bank holiday
27 May - Spring bank holiday
5 August - Summer bank holiday
2 December - St Andrew’s Day (substitute day)
25 December - Christmas Day
26 December - Boxing Day
Northern Ireland
1 January - New Year’s Day
18 March - St Patrick’s Day (substitute day)
29 March - Good Friday
1 April - Easter Monday
6 May - Early May bank holiday
27 May - Spring bank holiday
12 July - Battle of the Boyne
26 August - Summer bank holiday
25 December - Christmas Day
26 December - Boxing Day
Tighten up your regular operations
Bank holidays often mean an influx of visitors. Before this influx arrives, it’s crucial to identify any inefficiencies in your procedures that could cause bottlenecks on busy days. These will inevitably lead to poor customer interactions that may damage your reputation. The best way to check for operational efficiency is to follow the customer’s journey and see how smooth their path is.
Using a restaurant booking system that integrates with your restaurant point of sale can give you these sorts of valuable insights with ease. For example, Square for Restaurant’s OpenTable integration lets you see how long a customer has had to wait, helping you uncover gaps in performance so you can quickly take action to improve. It can even let you customise floorplans so that you can minimise the need for customers to move around as much as possible. If you offer table service, consider taking payment at the table, too. Square Terminal is an economical and convenient way of doing this.
If customers go to a designated paypoint, make sure it works quickly and easily. Square for Restaurants is designed with the food and beverage industry in mind, speeding your customers through payment and giving you actionable insights into your business.
Identify promotional opportunities
Each bank holiday comes with special opportunities for themed promotions like meal deals, set menus and festive family feasts. The upcoming coronation, for instance, brings with it a range of ways in which restaurants can give revellers the opportunity to dine like proverbial kings.
Where there are promotional deals, there are also cross-selling and upselling opportunities that can increase your Average Order Value and expand your profit margins.
Expand your space
If you have any sort of outdoor space, bank holidays are definitely the time to use it. Using Square for Restaurant’s OpenTable integration can help here too, as it allows you to customise floorplans in an instant, letting you make efficient use of outdoor tables - should the weather be looking decidedly un-British outside.
Embrace the power of pop-ups
If you don’t have outdoor space, you could run a pop-up of some sort. If you want to use your pop-up for sales, you need to sort out your licensing for food and beverage sales, especially if alcohol is involved.
Getting permission is reasonably straightforward in most cases, especially if you’re not selling alcohol, but does take some administration both from you and from the local authority. Local authorities often have multiple applications to process, so get yours in as early as possible.
Cater to those celebrating at home
Don’t forget those customers who prefer to celebrate their bank holiday at home or in the garden. These customers can also enjoy meaningful dining experiences at home with your brand via Square Online for Restaurants. Customers can enjoy your food at home delivered by your team or third parties.
Leverage the value of local marketing
On bank holidays, many people are off work, looking for somewhere to go and something to do. A robust marketing strategy can ensure that these intent-rich consumers find your business and make it part of their bank holiday plans.
Make the most of your socials
Social media is a great starting point. In addition to putting up relevant social media posts, explicitly ask your followers to like and share them. If the platform allows, ask them to tag their friends. Increase the chances of this by creating high-quality posts that people really engage with.
Use local search
Keep local search in mind at all times, particularly on bank holidays. These are days when people are highly likely to be looking for somewhere to go. There is a strong chance they’ll utilise tools and platforms like search engines and Google Maps then follow the results, so do your best to ensure those results point to you.
Partner with local businesses
Think about the businesses that feed into yours and are fed by yours. For example, if you’re running a bar, many of your customers may travel by minicab. See if you can partner with a local minicab company that can advertise your business while you display their details prominently in your bar.
Run paid adverts
Running well-targeted adverts can be a very cost-effective way to bring in customers. Again, go local. If you’re running online adverts, make sure that they’re targeted to your audience or geographically. Also run adverts in local media and put posters in key locations near you.
Contact local media
One of the advantages of running paid adverts in local media is that it can help to get you organic (i.e. free) coverage. Increase your chances of this by creating a newsworthy hook for a local journalist. This also helps your marketing strategy overall.
Offer entertainment
Offering live entertainment can draw the followers of bands, stand-up comedians and other entertainers to your business. Even if you can’t accommodate live entertainment, there’s still plenty you can do with little to no budget. For example in pubs and bars, quizzes are always popular. Also see if you can broadcast sporting events or other one-off performances.