The best restaurant campaigns are often prepared before the restaurant feels the pressure. A useful calendar balances major seasonal dates with restaurant-owned occasions and tactical pushes for quieter periods.
Reset and reactivate
Value-led set menus, comfort-food occasions, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day planning and lapsed-customer reactivation.
Spring and local events
Easter, bank holidays, terrace launches, graduations, Father’s Day and neighbourhood partnerships.
Summer and return to routine
Family offers, outdoor occasions, tourist catchments, late-summer menu launches and September reactivation.
Peak-season execution
Autumn menus, Halloween, Christmas parties, gifting, New Year bookings and January database building.
Add restaurant-owned occasions.
Seasonal dates are useful, but they are crowded. Your restaurant also needs named nights and recurring occasions that competitors do not own: a roast club, tasting series, neighbourhood supper, challenge night, menu preview or monthly all-in experience.
Work backwards from launch.
For a major campaign, define the menu and economics first, produce the assets, prepare the booking route, brief the team, launch to owned audiences, widen local reach and use deadline reminders. The calendar should include production dates, not just event dates.