Focus on virtual festivities to boost holiday sales: blog

If you’re looking to make up sales at your restaurant, co-ordinating your food delivery and marketing message with online office parties and family Zoom calls could be one answer.

Although creativity can’t fully replace the revenue that a full festive season would generate in normal times, the fact more Canadians are working from home is an opportunity to capitalize on virtual office parties and other socializing occasions, said Toby Clark, director of research for Mintel, in a recent blog.

The food-service, leisure and hospitality industries have all been forced to show huge inventiveness in order to find a way to function in the new environment.

Full-service restaurants have pivoted to delivery, personal trainers have moved online and city centre restaurants have started to offer meal kits.

Grocery stores will reap most of the benefits from the shift to at-home socializing, Clark said, but there are still opportunities for food-service operators to create meal kits and catering packs for family festivities – especially given Canadians’ desire to support local businesses.

6 ideas!

Canadian Pizza suggests six ways to tap into this trend:

• working with local businesses to distribute gift baskets or holiday packages to employees
• promoting the use of gift certificates for your pizzeria
• adding a holiday touch to your existing at-home pizza meal kit (think Swiss Chalet’s Lindor chocolates)
• co-ordinating with and building excitement about (sanctioned) local holiday events such as Christmas light displays (for example, our town’s park has a longstanding Christmas panorama display: “Panorama Pizza Night”)
• teaming up with local churches and organizations to provide food delivery or gift certificates to virtual church concerts and other online events, for example, Piatto Pizza recently participated in Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra by presenting a demo on making a special pre-show cocktail
• pizza and baked goods go together: partner up with a local bakery to offer indulgent pizza and dessert combos

What is your pizzeria up to this holiday season? Please share your ideas by emailing editor Colleen Cross!