How To Decorate Restaurant For Christmas

Christmas comes around when it's nearly cold, and we are covered with the warm love of people around us, drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows in a cozy setting near the fireplace and exchanging gifts in the name of Santa. 

Businesses can elevate the Christmas spirit by creating cute decorations and implementing attractive offers to make the most of this holiday festival.

Tis the Season restaurants can use vibrant marketing techniques - both online and offline to entice passers and existing customers. 

In this blog, we will share some of the most compelling and practical decorating tips to amplify your restaurant's holiday sales.

Planning and Preparation

There are a lot of restaurants in the market, and each of them works differently depending on the cuisine they serve and their target audience. To stand out from the rest, you need to use tactics that align with your brand identity and serve the purpose of attracting the target audience.

To begin with, you can plan in advance what theme and styles you will opt for during the Christmas celebration. From putting A-framed sign boards at the entrance door to Christmas trees and Santa Claus just outside your restaurant, you can definitely make people inquisitive enough to explore your restaurant.

Christmas-Themed Menus and Specials

One of the reasons that people would love a cozy cafe or a high-end restaurant is the exotic meals served with compassion and hospitality. Now this is your cue to make special arrangements for your foodie customers. 

Christmas is all about traditions; without traditional food, it won't feel like one. And if you're a Friends fan, you would know how delicious it gets during Christmas. All the Mac & Cheese, Cut up Christmas candies, the Ross' special turkey sandwich, and Joey's mashed potatoes makes us all go gaga. 

Yes, you imagined it correctly! You can introduce - Christmas + Friends theme!

How does a specially designed menu card featuring traditional food items served worldwide during Christmas sound?

To make the environment a little tipsy, you can introduce new cocktails/mocktails like the Christmas Sangria, Hot buttered Rum, Hot Cocoa with roasted marshmallows, and a traditional creamy delight of the Brandy Alexander. These drinks will definitely spike up your Christmassy grandeur!

Every meal needs a sweet ending, doesn't it? 

An enticing dessert after a scrumptious meal is all you need to end your day.

When discussing desserts, one will never be enough, so enrich your menu by adding desserts like Gingerbread Bundt cake, Pumpkin pie, Apple Pie, Sourdough Cinnamon roll bread, Molten chocolate lava cakes and mousse, Burnt Basque Cheesecakes, etc., and these tasty delights can be a cherry on top to enhance your customer's experience ensuring their return.

Exterior Decorations

During the festivities, it is equally important for owners to make their restaurants look attractive as it is to serve a good meal. And a good ambiance plays an important role in luring customers. 

You can deck up your restaurant's exteriors by lettering the windows with attractive graphics and creative slogans like "Eat, drink, and jingle like you mean it." A fancy entrance, festive signage, and façade lighting with lanterns can light up your whole restaurant.

The outer front of your restaurant can have elements like a Christmas tree with ornaments like candy canes, jingle balls, tinsel, baubles, and Christmas bulbs hung onto it. To entice customers, put an event sign with information about the event and a wreath made of pine cones at your restaurant's entrance.

Interior Decorations

We talked about how we can attract customers by decorating the front exterior of your restaurant, but what happens when they enter your restaurant? 

Your interiors should feel warm and welcoming, just as cozy as they should be during the holiday season. And to make your customers feel at home, you can infuse Pendant Lights, beautiful Chandeliers, and indoor Christmas trees with ornaments.

You can also use red and green garlands, festive rugs, carpets on the pavement and floors, and spray-paint white snowflakes on the walls to create wintery surroundings.

Table Settings and Accessories

A customer looks forward to comfortable seating when choosing your restaurant to dine in, along with good food and good mood.

You can use special scented candles and flowers to light up the atmosphere, some Christmas chocolates or cookies in pine-shaped cones, and soft and fluffy pillows with red and white designs to establish a perfect festive mood.

Restaurants can make special offers for customers wanting to reserve a table and spend quality time with their loved ones.

Staff Attire and Accessories

It takes the whole team to make a business work, and a restaurant is nothing without its staff. They are the face of your brand and a crucial reason customers are drawn to your business. 

To bring them enjoyment while working and get into the spirit of Christmas, you can ask them to wear Christmas-themed colorful clothes like green, red, and brown. 

You can also make a special server's apron for every member. Unisex Christmas bow ties to add something extra to their casual outfit. 

Lastly, make sure the dress code aligns with the overall ambiance of your restaurant for everything to look aesthetically pleasing.

Social Media and Marketing

Now that we've covered offline ways of marketing your business, let's shift our focus to the online segment.

Every business is now on social media since it is lucrative to attract customers online. 

There are multiple ways to do that, e.g., You can create captivating videos of your restaurant and upload pictures of food, drink, people, and so much more. 

Some behind the scene snapshots to make the customers feel a part of your restaurant by knowing what's going on and make them want to visit and create an unsaid bond between the restaurant and the customers.

Plan a Christmas countdown sharing glimpses of your restaurant from the first day till Christmas Eve, every day with a different theme and a different offer.

You can create special holiday hashtags, ask your visitors to use them and tag them on social media to keep the engagement. 

Another thing you can do to increase your brand awareness about your restaurant is to use special coupons or contests for the customers to make their visit interesting. You can play Secret Santa with them. For every gift they bring in for the next customer, some discount will be given to them.

Holiday Music and Entertainment

Christmas Don't feel Christmassy without the carols and music. It is said that music sets the mood and connects people; the same goes for your restaurant business. 

Plan karaoke with a festive playlist for all the singers and non-singer in the house. Entertainment like live music by aspiring musicians, Christmas carols, game nights, and surprise Santa visits makes these days special and memorable.

Maintenance and Safety Considerations

Now that the customers are having a great time, you wouldn't want anything to go wrong, do you?

It would be best to take safety measures while planning to ensure everything goes according to the plan. Make sure the decorations are set up in a way that there’s not even a slight hint of inconvenience. 

Before the restaurant opens, there should be a thorough inspection to ensure there won't be any hazardous incidents. While you might have used candles to light up and decorate the place, it is still at risk of fire. Avoid fire accidents by maintaining fire safety and following the guidelines.

Precaution is better than cure, right? We must not be ahead of ourselves and give the staff the necessary training, ensuring that they can take the situation under control in case of emergency.

Lastly;

It takes a lot to make the festive season a hit for your restaurant. You can do so much with little investment and a lot of brainstorming to create a Christmas vibe and attract many potential customers. There is so much to think from menus to Christmas decoration ideas for restaurants, from promotional offers to organizing events. Many things can go wrong, but with the help of a little research and supportive staff, you can make it worth a while.

Restaurants that try to put in the effort by decorating the place and organizing exciting events for their customers will likely get noticed and attract crowds. 

The above listed are some of the most beneficial ways to market your restaurant business during the holiday season. Follow these and make Christmas a memorable Eve for you and your customers.